March 2, 2007

Mint Royale: Pop Is…

There is a point to the Royale famiy after all

6 / 10 Being best known for their appalling moments (the ice-cream van theme from Jamie Theakston and Zoe Ball vehicle The Priory; the Terrorvision ‘Tequila’ remixes; that howling ‘Singin’ In The Rain’ ad), Mint Royale have gone down in indie-dance history as “the shit Bentley Rhythm Ace”. Who? Exactly. But as this retrospective shows, that was never the whole story. The bossa-nova-house-ish ‘Blue Song’, the achingly downtempo ‘Dancehall Places’ and the candy hip-hop ‘Something New’ show that, as they got older, they got more soulful – and infinitely better. Meanwhile, Top 20 hit ‘Don’t Falter’ with Lauren Laverne is another reminder of how XFM’s gain was a bitter loss to pop music. Not essential but more worthy of a place in your record collection than, say, contemporary Fatboy Slim is.

Dan Martin

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