Alice DeeJay-"Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" Review

The 90s was a great period for the trance/house scene, producing such great talents like Ace of Base, Real McCoy, Daft Punk, Moby, so on and so forth. However, continuing into 2000 was quite a difficult challenge, since the world of mainstream music was now in the thrum of teen pop and R&B. During this time, most of the club/dance producers went underground to figure out how to adapt to this new phase in pop. Well, everybody except Alice DeeJay, a euro-trance collective from the Netherlands. They attempted to simply incorporate the fizzy energy of Max Martin into dance, creating what would become the first bona fide club hit of the new millennium, "Better Off Alone". So successful was that one song that most people forgot that soon after, they released a full-length album, cheekily titled "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" Interestingly, though, the public really didn't miss out on much. From listening to the record front to back, you get so enthralled by "Better Off Alone" that for a quick moment, you actually thought Alice DeeJay could have been a trailblazer for European trance-pop. It's disappointing, then, when you realize that much of "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" doesn't muster enough energy to even try to combat the staying power of its big single. It has its impressive moments--"The Lonely One" turns up the tempo and breaks the monotony, while "Got to Get Away" is a stark and dark contrast from the sunshine and rainbows that percolate the rest of the album--but far too often, this is a record that settles for middle-grade dance-pop that streamlines Hi-NRG, House, and Techno so much that club connoisseurs will be fleeing from the dance floor instead of inhabiting it. To the casual EDM fan, "Who Needs Guitars Anyway?" could be somewhat thrilling. Consumers of electronic music in general can find at least one song other than "Better Off Alone" to appreciate. But for all intense and purposes, Alice DeeJay are too willing to grate ("Will I Ever" is based off a "na na na na whaee ohhhhh" chorus) than saturate. For best enjoyment, take it in small doses, anything bigger and you might feel your teeth ache from the onslaught of high fructose corn syrup.

Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Back in My Life                  2. Better Off Alone                         3. Celebrate Our Love
4. The Lonely One              5. Who Needs Guitars Anyway?     6. Will I Ever?
7. Elements of Life                8. Fairy Tales                                       9. Waiting for Your Love
10. No More Lies                11. I Can See (See It in Your Eyes) 
12. Everything Begins With an E  13. Got to Get Away   14. Alice DeeJay