Into every life a little rain must fall...

Some days are better than others. The last time we looked, I'd just had a day full of corking albums. But as rain follows sun, Ying follows Yang and dogs follow you if you have a biscuit, then there was probably going to be some less than great tunes on the horizon.

This was that day.

So we spin the wheel, and what do we kick off with?

Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces

I think I've mentioned this, but both Matt and I have stuff on our iPod that belongs to our better halves. And this was one of mine. Or rather, not one of mine. One of Katie's.

Country music. There's an old joke about it that goes:

What do you get if you play Country music backwards?

You get your house back, your wife back, you sober up and your dog returns from the dead.

For years, country music was the sole preserve of chaps who dressed like cowboys, strummed acoustc guitars and sang with a particular nasal twang. But a few years back a new trend emerged.

Young women.

I blame Shania Twain myself.

Suddenly there's lots of young girls playing fiddles, (or is it violins? What is the difference between a fiddle and a violin?), guitars and so on, singing about whatever it is that country singers bang on about.

It was ok. A bit overproduced, but some half decent tunes. All of which doesn't go down particularly well in Nashville apparently - not proper, but there you go.

DSP rating - 6

Surely things would look up after this? Well sort of...

Leftfield - Rhythm & Stealth

It's serious dance music, as opposed to, say, something like D.I.S.C.O. by Ottowan.

I bought it because it had Phat Planet on it. Well that and the fact that I'd bought their first album and quite liked it.

You'll know Phat Planet, even if you don't recognise the title.

Remember that Guinness advert? The one with the grizzled old surfer?

Something about sitting and waiting, because that's what he does? And then he finally goes out into the breakers, and there's all these CGI horses out there too?

And all the time, there's these heavily processed drums, going Dum de da dum de da da. Dum de da dum de da da.

Well that's Phat Planet.

I don't think I'd heard the rest of the album for ages. On reflection, I think I was pleasantly surprised.

DSP rating - 7

Ok, so maybe things are actually looking up!

Or maybe not.

Another of my beloved's CD's. And it made the Dixie Chicks look like Beethoven.

Let Loose - Let Loose

Oh dear...

Matt chose this because, apparently, they played a gig in his home town of Lowestoft and about eight people turned up. I may have got this wrong - I'm sure he'll correct me if he ever turns up.

Now to be fair, I quite liked the single, Crazy For You. It was catchy, in a disposable pop kind of way. Sadly the rest of the album was just disposable. I sat through it, because that's how Shuffleman works.

But I didn't enjoy it.

DSP rating - 4

Right. Time for one more today - let's make it a corker!

Hmmm.

William Orbit - Pieces In A Modern Style

William Orbit, or William Wainwright as they probably still call him at home, has been around for a while, but probably came to most people's attention when he worked with Madonna on her Ray Of Light album. You may remember the single 'Frozen'. It had a very distinctive style - a sort of electronica / strings mash up type of affair.

This was Mr Orbit's doing, and appears to be his signature style. This particular album is a collection of fairly faithful renditions of classical pieces, done with electronics. I have a String Quartet doing the entire 'Back In Black' album by AC/DC.

This is nothing like that.

I have to say I quite like it in small doses, particularly as it has two of my favourite classical pieces on it - Barber's Adagio For Strings, and Mascagni's 'Cavalleria Rusticana'.

As an hour's worth of music though? It would be great as something on in the background, or something to shut your eyes to if you'd just come in after a hard day, but it's not really something that you'd want to listen to, from end to end.

Even so, I give it a DSP rating - 7