THE latest offering from superstar DJ Oakenfold is predictably high quality but unfortunately does not offer anything off the beaten track.

The first taster of A Lively Mind, featuring actress-turned-singer Brittany Murphy, is fairly mainstream and sets the tone for the whole album, which is fairly similar to the last collection.

A variety of guest artists including Pharrell Williams in Sex'n'Money and Grandmaster Fla-sh in Set It Off ensure the album appeals to a wide range of people and lends an urban flavour to the album.

But Oakenfold has not departed from the dancefloor and showcases his new signings Spitfire and Ashley from the band Bad Apples, who bring their own vocal individuality to the set.

All in all A Lively Mind is what we would expect from Oakenfold, a smooth, well-produced and well thought-out album -- but now he's set his benchmark, he really needs to take things a step further to impress us.

ECB