Some records just have an IMMEDIATE impact, and this is one of them. After hearing this track used on Sky TV’s ‘Soccer AM’ programme, the quest was to track it down and add it to the CD collection.
The PR sheet describes Sonny J as ‘the musical man of mystery,’ and a ‘dexterous, shadowy figure of the musical world.’ It has certainly proved difficult to find out much more about the guy. However, his debut single, ‘Can’t Stop Moving’ was a bit of a gem and ‘Enfant Terrible’ proves to be a quality follow-up.
The CD version contains three re-mixes (The Losers Re-mix; Riton Re-Dub, and The Shortwave Set Re-mix) in addition to the original, ‘Radio Edit.’ The latter is the opening track, with the first ten seconds and guitar riff resembling U2’s ‘Vertigo.’ Just the first ten seconds, mind! The count-up is uttered by French-speaking female voices as opposed a poorly pronounced Spanish, but thereafter it bears more reference to an Apollo 440 / The Mighty Dub Katz collaboration. And that’s a good thing. The lyrics sound like – but probably isn’t – a rap done by French school-kids, and the three-minute track is interspersed with Space Invader type sound effects.
The two middle re-mixes are good enough in their own right and are a lot more ‘dirty’ in their sound, but at over five minutes each, the impact achieved by the opening and closing mixes on the four track CD is diluted somewhat.
However, it is the Shortwave Set Remix that does it for me. With a banjo-style ‘riff’ throughout and vocals sounding like a female Japanese bubblegum group singing in French, this is a real ‘cheeky’ and ‘busy’ track with all sorts thrown into the mix. For instance, there’s even a Harpo Marx / or Goon Show type honking horn featured at various points!
If this doesn’t get your foot tapping, your name is most likely Heather!