You never forget a name like Ben Volpiere-Pierrot (or Vol-au-vent-Parrot to the Smash Hits generation), although - let's face it - you're more likely to remember him for that, the stupid hat he used to wear, and the fact that his entire band had posher sounding names than Tim Rice-Oxley, than you are for any of the mediocre dance-pop Curiosity Killed The Cat used to peddle.
So it's interesting to hear what Element - aka Bimbo Jones, remixer for Usher, Deep Dish and others - will make of Name And Number, originally a top 20 hit for VP and his cohorts and previously sampled by De La Soul.
Sadly, the answer is not a lot. The CD single offers five different edits, with the Soul Seekerz Vocal Mix coming out as the winner, but it's pretty mediocre fair: average late '80s electro-pop given an average 21st century reworking that's so shamelessly aimed at the mobile phone market it should be taken out and shot at dawn. Sometimes, it seems, there are only reworkings of old music so there can new ringtones, too. For shame.
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