Customer Reviews

Halfway Between Gutter & Stars

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

First off, you must realize that Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is not another "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" or "Better Living". Rather, Fatboy seems to be trying to take his music in a different direction by letting some more outside influence, especially funk, into it.

At first, I didn't like this CD. I wanted more tracks like "Praise You" and "Right Here, Right Now" and this CD didn't give them to me. However, after listening to it, really listening to it, I think this is fatboy slim's most intellegent and interesting work. It provides a different kind of music experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for the same.

Okay, here we go: "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" was easily one of the most entertaining albums I've ever heard. Filled with tons of fun party tracks and at least four classic anthems ("The Rockafeller Skank", "Right Here Right Now", "Gangster Tripping", and "Praise You"), it was THE pinnacle of big beat. However, there was no way for Fatboy Slim to create "You've Come A Long Way Baby II" without it sounding like a parody or weak imitator.

So instead, Mr. Norman Cook decided to delve into the realms of funk, gospel, and house - and it's incredible. There are some moments here that are very much big beat, such as "Ya Mama", but the album's real peaks are in the deeper dance tracks. "Weapon of Choice" is futuristic funk, "Drop The Hate" and "Song For Shelter" are wonderful house songs, and "Sunset (Bird Of Prey)" is a great trance tune from a non-trance artist. Even the Macy Gray tracks, which I was very skeptical about, are stellar.

So no, this doesn't stick to the Fatboy Slim blueprint, and that's a good thing. If you're willing to try something new, this is your album. I was very impressed - Fatboy Slim does it again.

Let me start by saying that if you are expecting this latest Fatboy Slim to be similiar in fashion to the heavy house flavor of "You've come a long way baby", you won't find it but I promise you won't be disappointed either.

"Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars" is so diverse in style from beginning to end that I think it's hard for any fan of Slim to be disappointed. There are a couple of songs on the CD that are reminiscent of the previous album, carrying the house/club beat with awesome sampling. At the same time, there are some more "trance-style" tunes on the CD that are Moby-influenced no doubt.

Personally, I liked the diversity of this CD. If you don't have a narrow taste for this genre and aren't looking for a "remake" of "You've come a long way baby" then there is a good chance you will enjoy this album. The pace of this CD is slower overall but the composition of the music is second to none of Slim's other albums.

While reading reviews for this album, I read one reviewer who commented that "Bird of Prey" is a song that "crys loudly and pretentiously for attention (and airplay)."

The lyrics were actually written in 1969 by Jim Morrison, lead singer for The Doors, and the vocals in the FatBoy Slim version are Jim's vocals dubbed in... The track was never released by The Doors (until their recent box set). It was written by Jim himself (with no help from the band) and included acapella on his underground "Rock is Dead" opera album, which was released in very limited quality overseas and is practically impossible to find in its original version today.

The "Rock is Dead" album criticized the very foundation of modern commercial radio and "pop rock music," at least in the way Jim saw it in the late 1960s... It is ironic that the reviewer perceived the lyrics to "Bird of Prey" as an attempt to sellout, when actually the roots of the track were rooted in self-awareness, philosophy and Jim's perception of big record labels/execs killing rock and roll by stifling musicians' creativity.

To my knowledge, no attempt was ever made at releasing this track to any studio.

The reviewer also writes, "Pretending to be cerebral is a very bad thing." Indeed.

Pure beauty. I don't understand everyone when they say that fatboy has no subtlety or intelligience in his music. The warm, funky grooves fatboy slim puts out make all the so called 'intelligient' trance and jungle look plastic and unfeeling. This album is put together in a way that makes it feel more like a journey through stormin norman's music rather than just a collection of songs... Chill out, listen to this cd with a little herb, and make sure you listen from begining to end... You will leave feeling happy. Yea.

And this is one CD you ABSOLUTELY have to check out. I have listened to and bought just about everything Fatboy has ever done. I was prepared for a little "success road" complacency on this CD, especially after Fatboy's recent success. I was ABSOLUTELY, completely, dead wrong. This CD could possibly be as good as -- or better than -- "You've Come A Long Way, Baby". That's saying a lot.

And for those critics who say this CD doesn't "flow" (what Fatboy CD ever does?) they are thankfully right -- because the music on this CD "fuses", rather than "flows", in a manner only Fatboy can accomplish.

If you are looking for some of Fatboy's familiar big beat flavor of techno, you'll find a good dose of it on this CD. If you are looking for Fatboy's creative infusion of samples, you'll find a good dose of that, too, including a Jim Morrison (Bird of Prey) sample. I'm not a big Jim Morrison fan (no hate mail, please), but the Jim Morrison-based song on this CD, "Sunset", is killer. If you are looking for some creative use of outside talent, it's there with the likes of Macy Gray in "LoveLife" and "Demons", and Ashley Slater in "Retox" (could be my favorite). And if you are looking for Fatboy's creative use of "explicit lyrics", then check out "Star 69" -- this has to be the best F-word song I've ever heard (I'm not a big user or fan of the F-word, but this song makes the F-word seem, well, like a pretty cool word after all).

But if you are wondering what kinds of freaky, creative, new sounds Fatboy has been putting together, then crank the stereo and listen the final track, "Song For Shelter", featuring Roland Clark and Rodger Sanchez. It's possibly the best thing on the CD, depending on your mood. It gives me chills how creative this piece is, and may be the best example of where Fatboy is headed in the future.

Get this CD, listen to it real close a few times, and you'll agree with me: this could absolutely be the best Fatboy Slim work ever.

Fatherhood seems to taken Fatboy Slim out of Never-Never-Land, and now he has grown up. Lacking much of the reckless abandon that characterised "You've Come A Long Way Baby," this album is a semi-intelligent mix of disco, funk, hard house, and yes a bit of breakbeat. It's still music to party to, but there is no hedonistically delicious "Gangster Trippin'" or "Rockafella Skank." The closest we get is "Star 69," a wonderful hard house tune that could mix right next to anything Timo Maas has done; but it's more apt for Ibiza than Cream or Gatecrasher.

"Love Life" with Macy Gray is truly functified and while I've never really cared for her solo work, I love this! "Sunset" is haunting (it was only a matter of time before Jim Morrisson's voice become sample fodder), but tasteful. It reminds me a lot of some of the gospel tinged tracks on Moby's "Play."

Essentially, we have a grown up artist experimenting with different styles, but somehow his party-animal attitude keeps seeping through the cracks. It's like a frat boy getting married. A very enjoyable album, especially for those who were not fans of his (Cook's) past work.

Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, is once again branching out and breaking previous molds. While we still have the wonderful trends, the addition of many modern singers to perform original works is a fantastic move. The very last track is a perfect snapshot of the true feeling of a rave, the events going on around you, the events happening within you culmunating into a giant feeling of happiness and nostalgia. Long live Fatboy Slim!
DJ Amata - WUPX Marquette

When i bought this album i did'nt think it was to good but now i've listened to it over and over again its ace, much better than Youve Come Along Way Baby. All the songs on it are good especially 2: Star69 and 7:Retox, Retox has to be my favorite song ever it starts of with some drums playing then some more join in and then some more, 5/5

Let's face it, it ain't YCALWB, but it still smokes. I'm partial to the bigger beats such as Ya Mama, Mad Flava, and Weapon of Choice(which sneaks in a sample from what I consider fatboy's best track, Don't Forget Your Teeth - on CD EP only). This is probably ironic as I think this CD may just herald the start of the end for the big beat sound. I mean it seems to have had a good long run but there are times on this CD that seem a little hackneyed, like it's time to move on. Don't get me wrong, I'd still fight off the chap who tries to take this CD from me but, as much as I love the heavy stuff, I hope the other tracks on this disc point the way to the future(and that fatboy can find inspiration in less obvious ways[Moby] when he get there). BTW, the bonus track is a much needed remix of the somewhat tedious but lovely Sunset track - worth every penny in my book.