HAPPY MONDAYS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: 'Loose Fit' isn't always the first song name that springs to mind when thinking about the Happy Mondays, but the immediately identifiable opiate guitar riff is up there with the band's most memorable and infectious. A highlight of the group's third album, Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches, the track was already dancefloor ready before this pack of re-dos arrived on the scene. We're glad it did, though. Greg Wilson and Che Wilson open the scoring, keeping things thoroughly Manchester and acid-tinged, it's a trip through the blue lights and sweat of a warehouse at 2AM. The Grid's EOE Edit and subsequent Remix take the tempo down and the atmosphere deeper, almost druggier if that could humanly be possible given the wider context here. Topped off with a post-club overture in the form of the epic downbeat Perfecto version, and you might want to stick it in the shopping cart now.

Review: A veritable time capsule of a bygone era that now seems enviably innocent - fallout of Thatcherite politics, economic crises, and wars in the Middle East aside. Perhaps not too dissimilar from today, then, irrespective of your personal feelings towards Happy Mondays the baggy Mancunian swagger-ers did contribute one of the most distinctive voices to the Madchester and indie-acid crossover era, and one that oozed an air of disassociation from mainstream politics of the day. Adding to the sense of this being a period piece, Balearic Beats comprises four remixes of Ryder et al's original work, three of which from one of the leading figures in the dominant narrative about house music arriving in the UK - Paul Oakenfold. The tracks are low-slung, hypnotic, and have an atmosphere that's as thick as the air on a Mediterranean evening.