This piece of classical music basically laid out the blueprint for modern blockbuster movie soundtracks, John Williams, James Horner, Howard Shore and a host of other composers scarcely let a movie go by without some piece that sounds like it could have come from the Planets Suite. Of course, I'm not an expert on the subject of classical music, but I still remember this from my music classes at school. Anyway - it's another reference to 'War Of The Worlds' which I'm sure will feature another rousing John Williams soundtrack to accompany the latest generation of special effects.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000003CU0/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02

Yes Hybrid did a brilliant job on this prog rock concept album, the original is actually ok, the rest of the album is too cringe inducing for me to think about. There have been a few awful dance remixes - the Ben Liebrand remix is probably the most common one, but all of these don't even live up to the original. The Hybrid Mix finally brings out the suspsense that the music really requires, they know how to make the lead string line really come to life and give the whole track the malevolence that matches the theme.

Let's hope Spielberg has done a good job on the film.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009MAPV8/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02

More people have probably heard the ragga vocal sampled by SL2 for 'On a Ragga Tip' an early rave anthem - at least in the UK.  (SL2 being Slipmatt and Lime, for those of you who care). And beyond that there's really not much to know about the record, Jah Screechie has been sampled all over the place and I can't find any info on him beyond the fact that he's an obscure dancehall MC - well who'd have thought it? I Just searched for him on Amazon.com and the top link that comes back is my Music Musing's blog - so I guess that makes me the expert on him?

Anyway, I just chopped this up and the ragga vocal is now playing outta my phone every time I get a call, and people keep asking me where it comes from - so - maybe it's time to track him down for the comeback.

Anyway, it is available on the compilation 'Future World Funk: On The Run' - so if you're curious it looks like an interesting acquisition.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0009I8QK4/qid%3D1120105292/sr%3D8-9/ref%3Dsr%5F8%5Fxs%5Fap%5Fi9%5Fxgl/102-9522932-6372950

The Prodigy have gone on quite a musical trip, their first massive hit 'Charly' was discarded by many 'serious' critics as being a novelty record. But 'The Prodigy Experience' is probably the only 'rave' album which has any real musical value. Their second album picked up on the scene after the Criminal Justice Bill had basically made warehouse raves illegal - 'Music For The Jilted Generation' is easily their finest album, dark, breaky and totally danceable. Keith Flint began to emerge as a front man, letting Liam Howlett (the real genius behind the music) sit in the background shaping the sound of the band. But while MFTJG is the best album, 'Breathe' is easily the best track in their catalogue. It's a wall of grungey samples with Keith doing vocals over the top in his most demonic style, like a less frenetic version of Firestarter. But while the tempo is slower it's just as energetic, with the brutal sounds being altogether more focussed and exacting, repeated listening just makes you realise how brilliant Liam's production is.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000701Q/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02

Available for a limited time at this link, and it's quite simply the best 'live dj gig' I've ever seen - taking spectacle to new highs. 2 Turntables, a mixer, a crate of vinyl - some of it specially cut for the occasion, 8 video screens, masses of lighting, fireworks, dancers and thosands of people singing 'what the f*ck' alongside Star 69.

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Favourite moment is when he drops a fresh white label which kicks into a hard tribal acid number, the lights subdue and strobe to complement the dark style. Norm runs out to the front of the stage and sits down cross legged watching the awesome light show... and then after a minute or so of the music getting deeper and darker we start to heard the melody of 'Walk Like an Egyptian' rising through the sea of acid noises... cue the crowd going nuts and images of everyone with a massive grin on their faces.

Dave Clarke is the dark baron of techno, his music is hard as nails and his mixing is both frenetic and technically precise. His mix album 'World Service' was essentially recorded without any re-edits or digital trickery which is commond found applied to mix albums by lesser performers. He's also been around for an awful long time but was stuck in a contractual dispute that left him unable to release anything new for a while (I guess he just practised DJ'ing for the days the the lawyers sorted things out). Anyway, The Compass was an ultra exclusive 12" (300 copies on one sided vinyl) he released on International DeeJay Gigolo records - I count myself lucky to have a copy and I'd play it whenever I knew the audience would dig it. The Lyrics are simple - 'Eastside Rules - Westside Rules - Nortside Rules - Southside Rules' - that's it - everyone roolz. But, Josh Wink especially rules, since he took the basic techno track, beefed up the bassline and then, halfway through, the record just drops into this *awesone* acid techno mode which just obliterates the original record.

Dave Clarke commented that he'd never felt so heroic as when he played this record for the first time and the acid line dropped on the unsuspecting audience.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005S3D8/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02

It's been a massive weekend, for months she's been saying hi and hiya, but she now says it when she meets people and waves to them, it's uncanny. She's saying Da Da as of this weekend too....

And she's started playing music, wierd abstract stuff, the kind of stuff you get when you hook up a dubby synth to a massive echo chamber and let baby hit the keys and tweak the knobs.... probably not ready for prime time but she loves is and goes nuts. I also let her play with a record, sticking her hand on it to stop it and move it back and forward for a never more appropriate version of the baby scratch.... I just need to teach her that she can't lift the record off the platter while the needle is still there

I really meant to only have one week of crazy covers, but this is a highly topical choice. It's another track from the 'Help' compilation which yesterdays's choice was selected from. This was recorded in 1994, just before band member Richey Edwards disappeared without a trace. Anyway, this weekend was the legendary Glastonbury music festival and in addition to the estensive list of musical talent the other regular feature of the festival made a big appearance - rain. Torrential rain, flooding the campsite and covering the site in mudbaths.

For my own troubles I discovered a leak in one my bathrooms, leaking down into a downstairs bathroom.... so that's my raindrop link.

I love this version of the record, it's both carefree and melancholic, and when it appeared after Richey's vanishing act it felt aptly appropriate to the band's recent history. The band of course went on to transcend their little corner of indie rock to become one of the cornerstones of British rock music, no necessarily something that Richey would have approved of, but we'll never know I guess.

I was listening to a news story on the presidential election in Iran and they played an excerpt from one of the campaign videos - I of course had no idea what they were saying, but I instantly recognized the music as being Elmer Bernstein's immortal theme tune to 'The Magnificent Seven'. It is the classic heroic western theme, from the days befoe filmmakers took the genre into darker territory. Of course, 'The Magnificent Seven' is itself something of a 'cover version' - remaking Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece 'Shichinin no samurai'.

Anyway, the cover version in question appears on the War Child charity compilation 'Help' which is full of all sorts of interesting artists doing unconventional things - I could pick a couple of other kooky cover versions from this compilation. But, this Drum n Bass version of the theme  with machine gun sound effects and samples from Radio B92 takes the cake as the wierdest track on the album. It's not so surprising when you hear that The One World Orchestra is another pseudonym for Bill Drummond and Andrew Cauty, just another day at work  for those guys I guess.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001FJ7/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02

It's a 'secret' track on the Broken EP - a cover of an Adam Ant record, which is perfect for the pantomime like overacting style that Trent Reznor employs. Trent is a brilliant producer, and an even better actor, he plays the part that the fans want - in the same way that Adam Ant acted as the Highwayman/Pirate/Rogue.So maybe it's not such a crazy cover, but it is my favourite track by NiN.

 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000001Y5J/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02