David Guetta's certainly not been short of a hit or two in the past couple of years, but is his new album any good? We gave it a spin to find out.
The French DJ-producer's previous album One Love boasted a star-studded line-up of guests and Nothing But the Beat follows suit, bringing together the likes of Chris Brown, Jessie J and Lil Wayne, to name but a few. He must have one bulging phone book!
There's plenty here to get excited about - a singing Nicki Minaj sounds virtually unrecognisable (in a good way!) on Turn Me On, Jessie J's effort Repeat is literally crying out to be a single, even if it does sound suspiciously like previous Guetta production Club Can't Handle Me, and Chris Brown gives a typically polished performance on I Can Only Imagine.
Not all of the collaborations work, mind - despite some impressive falsetto vocals, Usher's contribution to Without You feels distinctly 'phoned in', while the alphabet double entendre of Timbaland and Dev's I Just Wanna F isn't as clever as it thinks it is.
If it's party records that you're looking for though, Guetta serves them up by the bucket load. No nonsense floor-filler Crank It Up sees him reunited with Akon to great effect, while Night Of Your Life is exactly the type of record that Jennifer Hudson should lend her voice to more often.
The most intriguing hook-up is his inspired pairing with Sia. Titanium sees Guetta giving the Australian songstress some long overdue commercial appeal, while Sia's vocals bring a quirky twist to an otherwise fairly straight up, urban-dance record.
While the bonus CD of instrumentals is probably for die-hard fans only, the first disc is definitely worth adding to your iPod. Impressive stuff.
Best track: Titanium (feat. Sia)
Rating: 4 out of 5
