Oakenfold's latest album stodgy

Paul Oakenfold, "A Lively Mind" (Maverick)

Oh, to be Paul Oakenfold, a globe-trotting superstar DJ who breaks the hot tracks and produces his own music with the aid of — let's be honest here — any other artist looking to increase their cool quotient. With that mix of success and connections, you might think Oakenfold's latest album, "A Lively Mind," can't miss.

Well, it's not a full swing and a miss, but the album suffers from a too-safe blend of electronic sounds that are slowly paced, overpolished and not very progressive.

There's lots of `feat.' action here — tracks featuring

Murphy helps Oakenfold's cause a bit on "Faster Kill Pussycat," as the Hollywood actress growls and coos through the standout dance track, proving she's no rookie on the microphone. But then comes the iffy stuff, such as Pharrell's assist on "Sex N' Money." Relentless, redundant, repetitive and uninspiring from two guys who ought to know better. Other tracks suffer from a similar pulse paralysis.

"A Lively Mind" is high on production value, but low on memorable beats. The Brittany Murphy track is the only one worth hearing twice.

Somewhere there's a 40-something guy driving around in his mid-life crisis Porsche with the top down playing this CD and trying to impress the cool club kids.

Mr. Porsche is failing, and this time it's Paul's fault.

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