Mash Is Not A Sausage

EMI released a licensed mash-up album yesterday, 'Mashed', proving either that mash-ups have now broken through to the mainstream, or that they're now utterly passé. Or maybe that's the same thing. (Heavens, look at how boldly counter-cultural I am! It's almost gauche.) You can see who gets mashed here, or you can listen to four tracks on their MySpace page.

I know some people don't like mash-ups because they're basically novelty records. The novelty in this case is one that I like - in theory - as mash-ups let you listen afresh to familiar music. In practice, though, too many of them are raucously overly-busy. The DJ types responsible rarely trim off enough fat, so we end up with a track that's stuffed to bursting with too much song, like two sausages rammed into a single skin.

The EMI collection's haphazard Take Me Out/Buffalo Gals blend is a typical example of this - it's rough, hectic and tedious. More successful is the combination of Rapture by Blondie with Riders on the Storm by The Doors, which brings new clarity to Jim Morrison's vocals - though Debbie Harry's rap hasn't magically become any better. The real success of the album, though, sees Peggy Lee's Fever vocals overlaid onto Passengers by Iggy Pop, perfectly matching Peggy's wily femininity to Iggy's driving muscularity.

I suspect Mashed is an attempt to bring mash-ups to the safely middle class bourgeouis music buyer - dragging it out of that swarthy underground of safely middle class bourgeouis internet users - which is how Liberty X, Madonna and Kylie's New Order mash-up found their way on there. It's Now That's What I Call Mash-Ups for cocaine sloanes who think they're underground because they DJ in wine bars. I doubt it'll be worth investing in - even good mash-ups usually get tiresome after the third listen - but Passenger Fever is a bit of a gem.