24 August 2002
Ireland went buck-wild for Euro-dance in the early 2000s. Why was this? Well, Ireland had gone buck-wild for Euro-dance in the early 1990s too and, as I proposed in my thesis here on ‘Maniac 2000’, those were both feel-good times for Ireland in general. To borrow the MBA vernacular of our Celtic Tiger ruling class, maybe the conversion of having a mad early-’00s weekend was buying the CD single of that dancefloor bliss.
Mad’House’s cover of ‘Like A Prayer’ isn’t just faithful; it’s fundamentalist: same key, same vocal style, same gospel euphoria. If you’d told me sight-unseen this was a late-’80s deep house remix B-side of Madonna’s single I’d have believed you. Okay, there’s nothing innovative added, but the lack of ’00s sprinkles is another plus: the track has space to breathe and smartly lets the strong song do the heavy lifting. Besides, is white-hot innovation even what Saturday-night floor-fillers want from their Saturday-night floor-fillers? Given the original is a terrific record, that’s all good for Mad’House: although they play safe right down the fairway, I’ll damn their ‘Like A Prayer’ with the faint praise of calling it the best of our early-’00s Euro-dance chart-toppers.
