New Deal

The New Deal | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Jive
• ASIN: B00005OACF
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #174,456 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars live on record is better, but live live is better better, November 24, 2001

By 

[e-mail] (swarthmore pa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Deal (Audio CD)

A few weeks ago, I went to a concert by the best hip-hop band in the world. I've seen them before, and knew they would deliver an exciting and dynamic set. And they did. However, what really got me excited that night was not the Roots, but a trio of unlikely looking fellows in button-down shirts who were on the stage when I walked into the venue. Like the Roots, this group's MO is to take a genre of music often decried for an excessive reliance on machinery, and to inject it with an incredible level of energy through the exclusive use of live instruments. (...) Even more than the jazz-inflected funk verite of the Root's hip-hop, though, the New Deal's music is something truly unique, perhaps paradoxical: live techno. Using only a drum set, a bass guitar, and a couple of keyboards, the New Deal create what they describe as "progressive breakbeat house." It's odd that a group whose performance philosophy is not unlike that of a post-bop jazz combo - collective improvisation directed by spontaneous nonverbal communication, and reined in only by a groove and perhaps some sense of harmonic direction - should feel compelled to pigeonhole themselves into a sub-genre with such specificity. But that description is a surprisingly accurate one. It just drives the point across that the New Deal aren't some self-indulgent, jam band prone to twenty-minute solos, but a tight ensemble with one undisputable purpose. Forty-five seconds into their self-titled debut studio album, just before a low, sinister disco-throb bursts into stunning syncopated three-four synth-funk, a voice advises "if you've got a pair of headphones, you better get 'em on and get 'em cranked up." I say forget that - drop the 'phones and get on the floor. This is dance music, as infectious and funky as it is clean and precise. It is, indeed, progressive breakbreat house. They do such a good job of imitating electronically created music that it's hard to distinguish anything "live" about their self-titled debut studio recording. It comes across as enjoyable and funky, but essentially deriviate techno. Not to say that it isn't a worthwhile recording on its own merits, independent of process, but ultimately what's special about the New Deal is the fact that they are a live band. Until you witness them in action, you just have to take their word for it. And if you have a chance to see them, do not miss it. Take my word for it. (6/10, but 4/5)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy "This is Live" first., March 5, 2002

By 

Brian Dolan (Somerville, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Deal (Audio CD)

I saw New Deal live, bought the live albums, and then picked up this studio album. [The amazon listing was recently changed to call this "Live", but I think it's like "studio live" rather than "in a club live"] The entertainment value descends in the same order. What I love about these guys is the human energy that comes through into what's typically machine-driven music, and I think some of it got polished out of this effort. Don't get me wrong -- it's still outstanding -- but try this last.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely mind-blowing, October 3, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: New Deal (Audio CD)

i've heard alot of these guys' live shows, but now that they have released their first studio album, their ready to take over the world! this is an amazing album, really puts everything else on jive electro to shame imo. definitely worth checking out...