I feel like, the Music Sounds Better With You (Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust)

Member Name: samredmore

Product:	Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust
Date:	02/08/01 (769 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent track, Everybody likes it, Classic anthem

Disadvantages: No real disadvantages

Think back to the summer of 1998.

1.) Which house track do you remember most fondly?
2.) Is it one of your favourite house tracks of all time?

If you answered "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust, for question 1, then I say 'well done, that is the correct answer'. If you answered differently, you're wrong. Actually, you're not wrong, everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but in my opinion, which this is, yours is wrong.

Although there were many good tracks out at the time, such as David Morales' "Needin' U", undoubtedly, in my view, and I'm sure many others, Stardust's offering was the top tune of the summer, of the year even.

If you answered wrongly (in my opinion) for question 1, question 2 does not apply to you. If you answered correctly, I am sure your answer to question 2 was 'yes'. "Music Sounds Better With You" - to hear it is to love it. As they say.

The track was released on 16th April 1998, and was played continually throughout the summer, and right through to present day on 'Dangerous' Dave Pearce's Dance Anthems show on Radio 1. The track was released on the record label 'Roule'. Roule is a French record label, and "Music Sounds Better With You" was its fifth, and by far most successful release. Other releases on Roule include tracks by Thomas Bangalter, who is part of Stardust, and DJ Falcon.

Alan 'Braxe' Queme, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk, and Benjamin 'Diamond' Cohen, who also sang the vocals on the track, wrote "Music Sounds Better With You". It contains a sample from Chaka Kahn's "Fate", and was recorded at Daft House, in Paris.

The release of "Music Sounds Better With You" sparked many remixes and mash-ups (where two tracks are played over the top of each other), including Stardust vs Everything But The Girl "Mus
ic Sounds Wrong", Stardust vs Madonna "Music Sounds Better On Holiday" and Stardust vs Lovestation "Stardrops".

If you happen to have read my opinion on "Days Go By" by Dirty Vegas, you will already know I consider the quality of most dance videos to be very poor, with an increase in quality of late. However, "Music Sounds Better With You" was released with, in my view, a very good video to go with it, despite this happening three years ago.

The video features a boy who buys a model aeroplane, and follows him as he builds it. Each day, the television is on and shows the music charts. At first, Stardust is a new entry at number 5, but by the end of the video, when the boy finishes building his plane; they are at number 1. At the end of the video, it shows the boy going out into the hills to play with his newly assembled model aeroplane, only for it to land on a cloud. It then shows the members of Stardust throwing the plane back down again for him. If you haven't seen the video, this description probably sounds a little strange, but it is a good video anyhow. At the moment, the music video channel 'Kiss' seems to play it quite a lot, as part of their 'Ibiza season'. So check it out if at all possible.

Despite the fact that there are so many remixes of the track, the 12" vinyl copy is a one sided record, with only the original mix on side A, and the words 'music sounds better with you, love might bring us back together' scratched into side B.

The original mix is simply an extended version to the one played on the radio, and is almost certainly the version you'll have heard if, as is likely, you have heard the track. For those of you who haven't heard it, I would describe it to have a similar sound to Modjo's "Lady (Hear Me Tonight)" and also Phats & Small's "Turn Around", but just considerably better, and with a better v
ideo. This year's "Bel Amour" by Bel Amour has also drawn comparisons to itself and Stardust.

"Music Sounds Better With You" is a very uplifting track, and is guaranteed to bring a smile to the face of anyone listening, even Alex Ferguson.

One of the things to make the track so good, in my view, is the simplicity of it. Basically, there are three main elements to the track, the bass line, the guitar riff (sampled from Chaka Kahn [I think]), and the vocals. That is all.

The track starts off with just the guitar riff, which is the sound that features most strongly throughout the track, and, other than the vocals, is probably the bit you're most likely to remember. This loops four times until the beat, cymbal and the bass line are brought into the track.

Again, this loops four times, when the vocals come in.

"Ooh baby, I feel like,
The music sounds better with you.

Love might bring us back together
I feel so good

I feel like, the music sounds better with you,
Love might bring us back together."

That's the vocal, as I'm sure you're aware.

This vocal plays twice along with the bass line, cymbal, beat and guitar riff, after which everything cuts out to just a beat. There are 8 of these beats and then the bass line, cymbal and guitar riff come back into the track.

The track then builds up a little, with an extra sound effect being added. After four loops of this, the vocal resumes, whilst the guitar and cymbal cut out and the bass line becomes somewhat muted. This is the closest the track comes to a breakdown.

Half way through the vocal, the cymbal comes back in, as the track builds up again. After the vocal finishes, we are treated to the same eight beats on their own as before, after which the rest of the instruments and sounds come back into the track. The track is at its peak at this point.

It then j
ust continues looping the vocal after that, and continues this way until the end, when it fades out in an 'incredibly annoying when trying to mix' fashion.

The only complaints I have with the track are the start and end, which are both incredibly tricky to mix.

At the start of the track, because there is only the guitar, you may think it sounds right and assume you have the two tracks in time thus happily bringing in Stardust, and sending anybody listening into ecstasy. 'What's the problem then?' I may hear you ask. Well, it may sound fine whilst there is only the guitar playing nice and quietly, but as I said, after four loops of this the bass line comes in. the track takes a sudden increase in volume, which doesn't usually make the mix sound too hot. Also, even though the guitar on it's own sounds right, when the beats come in, double beats, a DJs worst nightmare, are likely to occur, as it is difficult to tell if they are in time when there is no beat. The people listening so ecstatically just moments before will no longer be so keen.

At the end of the track, it does not break down at all, making it sound too cluttered when you bring the next track in. Also, although tracks that suddenly cut out with the tune running through to the end are annoying to mix, at least they cut out at the end of a bar. In Stardust's case, if you mix it when it is at the end, it will stop half way through the bar, which is about as friendly on the ear as the earlier mentioned 'double beats'.

One last bad point about the track is that it is only available on import, due to it being on Roule, a French record label. This could make the track difficult to get hold of and could mean it is a little pricier than some other tracks.

Having said these complaints however, I would just like to say what a brilliant track "Music Sounds Better With You" is and, even after 3 years of continual listening; it
is showing no signs of becoming tiresome. Go and buy it now if you don't already own a copy.

Thank you for reading my opinion. Please feel free to leave a comment if necessary.

Sam

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