Oakenfold - A Lively Mind

This chart-friendly offering from one of the UK's best-known dance DJs is Paul Oakenfold's second artist album, and offers no real surprises, sticking to routine dance beats and standard synth sounds. The latest single and opening track Faster Kill Pussycat (featuring vocals from Hollywood starlet Brittany Murphy) has been getting lots of mainstream radio play, and will most likely go down a storm this summer in the Ibiza super-clubs, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. As usual Oakenfold has collaborated with many big commercial names, including Pharrell Williams and Grandmaster Flash, but the tunes are lacklustre and leave the listener thinking he has wasted a valuable opportunity. Oakenfold's new album isn't particularly good or bad, it's just ordinary. Something better was expected from such a big-name superstar DJ, and it'd be nice to see him push the boundaries a little to provide something new and exciting instead. [Karen Taggart]