DELTA - Could You CD1 and CD2 (Mercury)

Delta on a major label! Well, it had to happen - when a band are well-liked and get rave reviews, the majors are sure to want to sign them. A band have got to be something special when their debut album, a low budget affair consisting only of demos and b-sides, gets CD of the week (5 stars) in The Guardian. The follow-up, Slippin' Out attracted similar critical acclaim - number 22 in NME's top 50 albums of 2000 (ahead of Johnny Cash, Marilyn Manson, Paul Weller, Madonna...), along with assorted rave reviews. All this is quite an achievement for records released on a minute indie label. It was, therefore, inevitable that they should get snapped up by a major.

In typical major label style, this is out on two separate CDs with different tracks, and also a 7" which I don't have. This is a marketing tactic I hate - why should fans have to buy the same single more than once - but as Delta are my favourite band and I wanted to hear all the songs, I must admit I was persuaded into buying both CDs. CD1 has the radio edit and a video of Could You and two other songs, Window and Do It Anyway. CD2 has the full version of Could You and two remixes by Bent and Alpha.

Long gone are the early 70s style rock songs of the band's early days - Could You is basically pop, with a soul touch. That's 'soul' in the best sense of the word, not the watered-down dance-pop stuff that gets classed as soul these days. I'm using the word soul here just because it's music with soul, simple as that. The lyrics have a sexual theme, but without any explicit language, and the melody is one of the catchiest they've ever written. The other two songs came as a surprise the first time I heard them. Window is fairly noisy with quirky bits, completely unlike anything I've ever heard from them before. Do It Anyway is also a complete diversion from their previous material. The verses make me think of reggae a bit, even though this isn't actual reggae, and the chorus puts me in mind of some sort of traditional music from continental Europe, but the exact country escapes me. Seems ironic that their most hard to pigeonhole music should come out on a major label.

The first time I saw the video was on New Music Television, a programme I expect a lot of people missed as it's on at some unearthly hour in the morning. A shame, as it gives exposure to a lot of up-and-coming bands from all over the world, who probably wouldn't be shown on any other terrestrial TV programme in this country. It was somewhat bizarre to see Delta on the telly. The video is filmed in a basement, and the camera swings round to focus on each individual band member at a time (and a woman - don't know who she is, perhaps the wife/girlfriend of someone in the band?)

CD2 includes, as mentioned before, the full version of Could You, which is only a few seconds longer than the edited version - it just has a slightly longer instrumental bit at the end. Then there's the Bent remix which is electronic but not exactly dance, the vocals are slightly speeded up and there's some handclaps added. The Alpha remix is more laid-back, with a floaty and dreamlike atmosphere. Remix CDs are normally a waste of time, but these versions are worth having.

With major label money behind them, Delta now stand a chance of becoming the megastars I always knew they would. Let's hope so, eh? They write songs that NEED to be heard by as many people as possible, so it would be criminal if they didn't become famous.