Previewing your new album with a killer hit single can be a bit of a mixed blessing - it may guarantee sales, but it also raises expectations that often just can't be met. Such is the dilemma facing Mint Royale, a cheerfully irreverent duo from Manchester who specialise in giddy, chart-friendly dance tunes. With 'Sexiest Man In Jamaica', they have a surefire hit on their hands, a gloriously silly song which features the ex-boxer Prince Buster boasting about his success with the ladies to the accompaniment of an orchestral victory march. It's an excellent start - but sadly, nothing else on Dancehall Places quite reaches the same standard. Not that it's completely negligible - some sprightly electronic blues tracks recall Moby at his finest, while elsewhere the pair make respectable stabs at everything from disco workouts to ambient soundscapes. De La Soul, Sub Pop singer Damien Jurado and Jez Williams from Doves all make vocal contributions, and the whole affair is quite charming in a gentle, amateurish sort of way. The only problem is, most of it is so disposable that you forget it two minutes after it's finished playing - which means that, pleasant though this album is, it can hardly be called essential.
