Customer Reviews

Malcolm McLaren Presents World Famous Supreme Team Show Round The Outside, Round The Outside!

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This 1990s album is a Latin hip-house affair with a crew of sopranos and rappers. Witticisms abound: "You're from the ghetto, I sing libretto." The tracks Opera House and Diva Loves Opera House are busy but happy marriages of rap and opera with a female vocal that soars classically one moment and gets street-smart the next. A male vocal raps II Be or Not II Be over a mid-tempo funky beat, a track that progresses as a soulful female becomes gradually more prominent.

Amongst its many samples, the charming Romeo and Juliet rap contains snatches of the Pointer Sisters' Fire and both Buffalo Gals II Remix & The Supreme Team Show Remix reflect the trends of the time in their percolating rhythms and innovative vocal arrangements. Real brilliance is however only found on Un Coche de Agua Negra (A Coach of Black Water -- said to be adapted from a poem by the great Spanish poet Lorca). This catchy track with its soulful vocals is embellished by Aretha Franklin's Spanish Harlem wafting in and out of the seductive mix to create a song in a million.

McLaren's gift was that of successfully integrating disparate sounds, including African, Caribbean, folk, opera & waltz in a commercially appealing blend. Despite Round The Outside's very worthwhile moments of glory, there are long monotonous stretches that reveal the album was aimed primarily at the dancefloor so it's not quite on the level of Duck Rock, Fans or Waltz Darling.

an odd but really fun album - rap with classical themes (ie: william shakespeare, opera references and the like)