Review by DjBatman
3½ stars out of 4
Currently available as a japanese cd re-release with a few bonus tracks,
this was the first Norman Cook (yep, Mr. Fatboy Slim!) album after his
departure from UK group Housemartins (famous for their acapella number
"Caravan of love"). Since then, Cook appeared under a
s***load of different identities, and with this project he was oriented
into melting dance beats with reggae/blues/funk/jazzy sounds. There are
various covers or better interpolations of classic tracks, from Herman
Kelly's "Dance to the drummer's beat", to the Jacksons-inspired
"Blame it on the bassline" (rapping provided by MC Wildski).
There is a impressive list of contributors, from Billy Bragg to Double
Trouble, from Lester Noel to Lindy Layton, who was launched by Cook with
the S.O.S. Band remake "Dub be good to me" which also appears
here (Lindy had her solo album out a while later and recently resurfaced
as one half of electronic duo Hardknox). This track also caused some legal
troubles because it lifted the bassline from The Clash's "Guns of
Brixton". But, not only Cook claims it was not a sample but a remake;
he even had already used it on the b-side of a previously released single,
"For spacious lies" (also featured here). In a subsequent album,
Cook joked about this incident ("Is there hope / ahead of our time
/ Brother can you spare me a bassline?") By the way - "Dub be
good to me" is still massive; while the most exotic moment is "The
ragged trousered percussionists", in which a 4/4 beat is accompained
by African vocals, flutes and -er- tango?!? Later, Cook would have explored
more ragga stuff on "Excursion on the version", a wonderful
follow-up album for the Beats International project (apparently deleted,
now) that had lots of subliminal samples from Queen, Marvin Gaye and others
and (curiously) some of these came from classic and recent film soundtracks
like Twin Peaks, the 007 series and A Summer Place.
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