My Computer Mechanism Wants You Mentally

with each passing year, the idea of fatboy slim becomes more and more untenable. it’s been four years since his last album and, really, that one only got a pass because of the video with christopher walken making like jules munshin. clearly, big beat has run its course, finding refuge in the occasional x-games commercial — even madison avenue is blanching at it at this point. if anything, however, norman cook is a sage man, demonstrating a penchant for reinvention. after four years of deliberation, monitoring trends, finger on the pulse, he has emerged from the lab with a novel idea: he will be the new uncle kracker.

at first sight, it makes as much sense as, i don’t know, sampling jim morrison, but the more one thinks about it, the more it makes (business) sense. “the joker” features bootsy collins on vocals, and, if your classic rock q(104) is low, it’s a song by the steve miller band, probably better known to most as either “some people call me the space cowboy,” “some people call me maurice (guitar sound replicating a wolf-whistle),” or even “the pompatus of love.” unlike uncle kracker’s “drift away” or any of his hits that kinda sound like “drift away,” norman’s take on “the joker” doesn’t have that down-home, front-porch feeling, probably because norm has an e-mail account — perhaps it’s more akin to uninspired smashmouth (and, hey, if you’re thinking “it’s summer, where is the obligatory smashmouth hit” be sure to pick up the princess diaries 2 ost; honest-to-goodness uninspired smashmouth, but we know you’re picking it up for lindsay lohan’s debut anyway). given that this is the same man who participated in the housemartin’s #1 u.k. cover of isley-jasper-isley’s “caravan of love,” perhaps this is a logical progression. even so, that record, a capella, of all things, is downright revoultionary when compared to this desultory recasting.

it’s a hard song to say much about and an even harder song to hate. still, given how massive it’s bound to be, you may find a way before summer is over. “the joker,” it should be noted, is cook’s u.s. single: i imagine that steve miller’s brand of good-natured boogie didn’t take the u.k. by storm. and, yes, u.k. fans, if you think a cover of a thirty-year old fm rock standard is retro, wait until you hear what he’s got lined up for you: apparently, it’s about the internet.