The William Fairey Brass Band: Acid Brass

It's become commonplace to find musicians setting the classic-rock works of the Stones, Pink Floyd, and Led Zeppelin to symphonic scores. It's a novelty, to be sure, but sometimes individual tracks (like, say, "Kashmir" on the recent Zep orchestral album) sound great, with the bombast of a full orchestra heightening the original, more mundane bombast of Led Zeppelin. The William Fairey Brass Band, as arranged by Rodney Newton from an idea by Jeremy Deller, aims its sights slightly lower than classic rock, but in the process strikes upon something surprisingly entertaining. Brass bands and acid-house music are both popular in Great Britain—the former a much older tradition, the latter much bigger with the kids. Acid Brass combines the two, presenting 10 classic acid-house songs (including The KLF's "What Time Is Love" and 808 State's "Cubik") played by a 25-piece brass band. If the musicians weren't so serious about the endeavor, it wouldn't quite work, and as it stands, A Guy Called Gerald's "Voodoo Ray" sounds pretty silly when played by a marching band. But the arrangements retain much of the simple hookiness of the originals. Unfortunately, Americans might recognize this as the kind of stuff played during halftime at college sporting events, but who wouldn't prefer to hear those guys playing The KLF instead of tackling "Tequila" for the millionth time