**1/2 Lo-Fidelity All Stars

ON THE FLOOR AT THE BOUTIQUE

(Skint/Columbia)

A good mix CD is only as good as its raw materials. On the Floor at the Boutique comes up strong in that department, with everything from an obscure soul singer (Felice Taylor) to classic techno (Humanoid and Prodigy), remixes of BDP and Jungle Brothers tracks, and the faux French house of Les Rythmes Digitales. This stopgap from London's premier big-beaters -- the Lo-Fidelity All Stars of "Battle Flag" fame -- lets you taste the rainbow, delivering so many different musical colors that it puts most other monochromatic mixes to shame.

But a good mix CD is also a thing of seamless wonder, and too many of the transitions here are either abrupt or simply non-existent. So in spite of all the great material, On the Floor at the Boutique doesn't provide the requisite non-stop thrills. Done properly, the switchover from Tams' 1968 faux Motown tune "Be Young Be Foolish Be Happy" to Prodigy's "Out of Space" would have everyone, well, on the floor, shakin' a tail feather. The cheap dissolve Lo-Fidelity employ would more likely find clubgoers heading for the bar. Portishead DJ Andy Smith pulled off an equally eclectic DJ mix with far more finesse on 1998's The Document, where he segued from Jeru the Damaja into the Meters into the James Gang by interlocking the beats from one track to the next. Yet even there, the genre shifts proved too jarring for a flawless party jam. Perhaps airing out a diverse record collection and turning the beat around are simply mutually exclusive activities.

-- Kevin John