Air: Everybody Hertz : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Even by the standards of a remix album, Air's latest is a bit insubstantial. Everybody Hertz offers seven remixes of three tracks from the French band's 2001 album, 10,000 Hz. Legend, two new edits, plus an acoustic outtake, "The Way You Look Tonight," that suggests a Velvet Underground ballad sung by a heavily sedated Pepe Le Pew. There's not much Air left: Modjo, a Parisian duo who've built dance hits around samples, dispense with Air's studio work entirely on "People in the City," preferring to play it themselves as cocktail jazz. The Hacker's remix of "Don't Be Light" builds a thumping club arrangement around the vocoder-ed title that sounds just like New Order's 1983 milestone, "Blue Monday." Best of the lot is the Neptunes' rendition of "Don't Be Light," now a sleazy slow jam featuring the hip-hop production team's Pharrell Williams gasping, "I could just taste your pussy." The rest may leave you famished.

BARRY WALTERS
(RS 891 - March 14, 2002)