Almost single of the week: Enrique – Hero. El nino Iglesias has clearly decided he’s famous enough to drop his surname. Artists such as him and Kylie do this just to piss off those of us with alphabetically filed singles collections. Whatever. Enrique’s candlelit performance of this was one of the most moving parts of the hastily-arranged Tribute For Heroes TV programme for those killed on 11th September. At the time, it felt as if it related to the New York firefighters, although lyrically it doesn’t at all. Whether it has that emotional resonance now is anyone’s guess, but does it need it anyway? This is Enrique’s first single for over a year, when we last heard him supporting the ailing career of Whitney Houston. It’s beautiful, and so is he (even if he can’t mime – see below). Nuff said.

Britney Spears – Overprotected. And here’s another one who’s doing all the UK TV appearances this week. After flirting with the Neptunes, R’n’B cred and animal torture with I’m A Slave 4 U, she’s gone back to the first mould and stuck it back together. Well sort of – this is really catchy and I’m surprised how much I like it already. Still can’t stand her though. Something about her in interviews just makes me think, ‘eeeeeevil’, and I don’t believe a single word she says, about anything. Not sure why.

Dirt Devils – The Drill.
If this was a real hardcore dance track, it would actually have the sound of drilling on it. And people screaming, like in Driller Killer. Or at the dentist. But it doesn’t, because it’s about a different sort of drill; the emergency procedure kind, hence there’s an ‘Evacuation Mix’. Do you see what they did there? Actually, it’s stretching a point to say this is ABOUT anything at all, but it’s the sort of mindless dancey stuff that I love. It sounds a lot like something else, but I can’t quite put my finger on it at the moment.

Mercury Rev – The Dark Is Rising
One that slipped through my net last week, but couldn’t be ignored after hearing it on the Top 40. Beautiful, and well deserving of their highest chart placing ever (#16). There’s a fantastic version of the Irving Berlin classic ‘Blue Skies’ on one CD, which is worth ten times the measly £1.80 that I paid for it. If you know why this has a Chopin piano piece on one CD and another one on the DVD single, please let me know. It’s very nice, but it’s not very rock’n’roll, is it?

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