United

Like most French bands, Parisian four-piece Phoenix couldn't give a toss about musical fashions or fads. Judging by the glorious confusion of styles and genres displayed on United, their flashy debut, they care less about the passing of time and more about listening to old Leif Garret and Andy Gibb singles.

The unmistakable sonic textures and melodies of late 70's/early 80's American pop radio pervades much of this finely crafted collection of high class pop. There are cleverly inspired pastiches of Hall & Oates ('If I Ever Feel Better') Steely Dan ('Honeymoon') and West Coast country rock ('Summer Days.') while 'Too Young' veers close to Todd Rundgren's gem 'I Saw The Light' - no harm there.

It comes as little surprise to discover that the members of Phoenix once backed Air onstage and there's an unmistakable Air "moment" halfway through the Boz Scaggs influenced blue-eyed soul cut 'On Fire'.

Wallowing in the melodic nostalgia of these polished creations makes the mindless riffing on 'Party Time' all the more unwelcome. Likewise with 'Funky Squaredance' a three-part nine- minute epic which is over-ambitious and overwrought, the heavy metal riffing at odds with the overall mood of the album. The closing track 'Definitive Breaks' skilfully appropriates the syncopated rhythms of Michael Jackson's, 'Thriller' and other 80's dancefloor fillers such as Indeep's 'Last Night A DJ Saved My Life'

With judicious use of the skip button United makes for a fine, if flawed debut.