May 24, 2002 By "ready Ready Set Go," Simon And Milo 4 min read

When we last heard from Simon and Milo, they were the twosome Prozzak, perpetrators of the 1999 kiddie techno release “Hot Show.” The animated Canadian duo – faux-British singer Simon (Jason Levine) and his faux-Austrian instrumentalist companion Milo (James McCollum) – became stars in their homeland with a manic Europop dance sound akin to Aqua, the Vengaboys and others.

Now they’ve repackaged themselves for “Ready Ready Set Go,” though the story’s the same: Simon is a chronically lovelorn lad whose romantic misadventures with women are buffered by caretaker pal Milo.

A few of “Hot Show’s” catchiest and most emphatic tracks have resurfaced on “Ready Ready Set Go” – such as the anthem-like “Omobolasire,” which chronicles Simon’s love for a Nigerian woman, and the free-flowing “Europa,” where Milo steps up to protect his rascally pal.

New songs reflect changes in music during the past few years, including advanced technology in electronic dance music (harder beats on “www.nevergetoveryou” and extra buoyancy on “Infatuation”) and the neo-punk sound popularized by blink-182 (“Pretty Girls,” “Get a Clue”).

But with the exception of the amusing surf-house-rock hybrid “Strange Disease” and a teasing twist on Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” (“It’s Not Me It’s You”), the holdover tracks are the better songs.

“Ready Ready Set Go” is seriously crafty albeit wholly mindless fare for a dance-music fan’s juvenile side.

Rating (five possible): 3

“When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You’d Hear,” various acts

Enjoy the images of winged swine on the cover and marvel at the improbable lineup on the track list while you can, because the novelty of “When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You’d Hear” wears off almost immediately once the disc begins playing.

Unlikely cover songs were far more interesting before the great karaoke flood. Now weird and wretched renditions of hits are just waiting for an audience at neighborhood bars across the country.

“When Pigs Fly” is almost that amateurish. Right away listeners are inflicted with an awful duet from Ani DiFranco and Jackie Chan, who cover Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable.” Sure, it’s a bit of a kick to hear the martial-arts star stumble along, but DiFranco, who’s completely out of her element as a romantic crooner, is every bit as bad.

Then there’s the pitiful numbers – Don Ho’s “hip” rendition of Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey” and Roy Clark’s cornball take on Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” (think of a “Saturday Night Live” parody). Meanwhile, the Oak Ridge Boys’ earnest version of Kansas’ “Carry On My Wayward Son” is amusing for about 15 seconds, and the Box Tops’ sneering cover of Blondie’s “Call Me” would probably go down better with a cocktail.

More surreal than bad are Billy Preston’s soulful take on Duran Duran’s “Girls on Film” and The Fixx’s smoky version of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” And a couple of songs are actually worth hearing: The Connells deliver a clever interpretation of Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Brain” (treating it as beatnik poetry with harmonic vocal choruses) and Lesley Gore storms through AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” with weathered gusto.

But for the most part, the tracks on “When Pigs Fly” are not only songs you never thought you’d hear, they’re songs you’d never want to hear again.

Rating: 2

“I’m About to Break,” Baby Anne

Baby Anne starts with a flourish and carries the momentum through to the end on her new mixed disc, “I’m About to Break.”

The Florida-based performer – one of the most popular female DJs in the country – mixes a cohesive, yet individually distinct, collection of electronic-beat dance songs and blends them with brilliant, almost seamless, segues.

The continuous-play, instrumental-focused collection is rich in highlights.

Speedo’s “Phat Beat” flutters along in an aggravated loop, coated in an electro-suction rhythm, before the song turns inside out in a fascinating sonic twist. And Baby Anne mentor DJ Icey is represented with “Thor,” an evocative jaunt through electric friction and metallic resonance.

Meanwhile, Dynamix II’s “Sedona” orbits through intense shape shifting powered by staticky throbs, and distorted grunts and angry electronic “insects” push along Jus Chris’ fidgety “Cut’n and Scratch’n.”

Baby Anne also includes her own “Fury,” accented by synthetic missiles and heavy vibrating rhythms.

The worse missteps of the collection – the drops in energy of Tall Paul’s “Precious Heart” and the overly fractured structure of Keith MacKenzie’s “From the Bottom” – are relatively minor.

Rating: 4

(Contact Chuck Campbell of The Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee at http://www.knoxnews.com.)

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