A Solid dance album from the Solid Base

Now it was not really that the album needed a strong push to get people to buy. Truth to tell, even long before Isabelle and Thomas set foot on local shores, most of us were already dan-cing, strutting or at the very least tapping our feet to the beat of This is How We Do It. The tune by Solid Base is so infectious that it keeps going around in your head and you just find your-self coordinating your movements to its rhythm without being conscious of it. It is a sure thing that the graduates of 2000 will remember that they danced to the song during those memorable proms and balls.

There was no mistaking that the recording of This is How We Do It was European. Dance music from Europe has a light-hearted feel and is less soulful than that from the US of A. I thought at first that it was something by the Vengaboys, this dance act from Spain, which is not really made up of all boys. But it later turned out that it is by Solid Base, which is indeed European because the duo hails from Norway and first made their mark as performers in Sweden.

These two started out as soloists. Isa-belle studied classi-cal music singing in in Stockholm but later branched out into pop with solo performances and studio work. Tho-mas was earning his expenses working as a DJ but was constantly in the process of putting together a dance act that would combine hip hop with fine singing. Once the songs were ready, he and his producer friends, Jonas Eriks-son and Mattias Eliasson, went looking for the right singer, which turned out to be Isabelle.

As a result of the combination Solid Base became a Scandinavian dance group, whose music boasted of a wide variety of influences. Thomas calls the blend, Happy Music. It is his rap and funk meeting up with Isabelle's classical. They then infused the merger with lots of soul and the pop and reggae beats that they both like. And so Thomas rapped and Isabelle sang and they were so good they began to make hits as Solid Base.

This is How We Do It is the first hit out of Express. Watch out too for Come On Every-body and Sha La Long, which are sure movers on the dance floor. The beat some-times slows down as in Set Me Free but you do need some respite from all the frenetic movements. On the whole though, Express is solid dance music of the sort that Pinoys really enjoy.

Another recent Manila visitor was comedian Rob Schneider who came to town to promote his movie Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo. Rob is part Filipino and he is another graduate of the TV show Satur-day Night Live, who is making good as an actor so the visit was also a sentimental journey of sorts and an opportunity for Pinoys to bask in the glory of this mes-tizo's Hollywood success.

The film turned out to be a blast and just in case you still have a dance hang-over at the thought of Schneider doing his clumsy routines or prancing around in his undies in the wacky comedy you have a strong chance of being able to extend the laughs by getting a copy of the movie soundtrack.

There is fun music to be had in this excellent and defini-tely no-fail collection of old and new favorites from Deuce Bigalow. Lead song is the rock remake of the pop classic Can't Smile Without You by Sean Beal. Other cuts you will surely enjoy are two versions of Call Me, the original by the top group from the '70s, Blondie and a new take by Emilia Maiello, which is not as good as the first one; You Sexy Thing by Hot Chocolate; Spill the Wine by War with Eric Burdon; Get Down Tonight by KC & the Sunshine Band; Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye; I'm Not In Love by 10CC; Magnet & Steel by Walter Egan; No Worries by Hepcat and Lift Me Up by Jeff Lynne.