Customer Reviews

Triptych: Mixed By Fred Deakin

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

While Fred Deakin of Lemon Jelly did pull this triple compilation together, don't be deceived and think this is a Lemon Jelly album. It has quite a range of material on it, but may not align with your idea of what a Lemon Jelly album is. Additionally, there is no new Lemon Jelly track included either.

But if you're looking for a mixed chill out/trippy/funky album, perhaps you might enjoy it.

I am a huge fan of the Breezeblock, heard on BBC's Radio 1 station. Besides Lemon Jelly, I've heard Breezeblocks by Four Tet, Propellerheads, Roni Size, Groove Armada, and more. The Lemon Jelly Breezeblocks are by far my favorite - they seem to pick tunes that are incredibly relevant to my interests.

These CDs are like recorded Breezeblock sets, so if you've heard any Lemon Jelly Breezeblocks and enjoyed them, you will definitely enjoy Triptych. Some of the tunes will be recognizable as ones that made it on the Breezeblock sets. 3 CDs FULL of a HUGE range of musical styles, all selected and mixed by the wizard Fred Deakin. One one single CD you can hear classic Technotronic, Bananarama, Living Colour, Dudley Moore (on the piano), the P Funk All-Stars, Ramsey Lewis, and George Michael! There's literally something for everyone - I really anticipate putting these on in the background for small social gatherings and watch people's reactions. It's just such an incredible mix of a variety of genres - at times I find it incredible how the tunes transition - on CD 1 you go from a popular Penguin Cafe Orchestra tune straight into a Pete Seeger rendition of "Ode to Joy" on the banjo! And it always works.

I would say this CD falls in the chill-out/trippy/laid back category, and nearly every tune is catchy and enjoyable, in my opinion of course. Highly recommended for anyone who is familiar with Breezeblocks, or anyone else looking for a one-of-a-kind mix of an incredibly diverse selection of electric and acoustic genres spanning approximately 30 years ago to the present. The $35 price tag is a little daunting, but if the artists on the CDs are of interest to you, pick this up - highly recommended.

First off, as mentioned before, this is not a new Lemon Jelly album. Simply put, this is a compilation consisting of choice cuts from Fred Deakin's record collection. I wish I had a collection like this!! Lots of different stuff here, ranging from old-school rap, house, drum n' bass, folk, whatever... you name it, it's here. Definitely a departure from their usual material, but a testament to their influences. If you're curious to know where they get their ideas and inspiration from, this mix is a hands-down must-have. The best part of the package is the insert, in which Fred gives insight to each and every track on the album, mainly in how or why he picked that particular track and what it means to him. If you're looking for an eclectic mix for your collection, one that contains a little bit of everything, look no further!!

I really love the concept or conceit of this compilation. To wit, get an influential member of a popular recording artist to put together an extended set for consumption by his curious fans. Curious, I say, about presumably what influences went into the kind of music that one's well-liked artist puts out. When confronted with this proposition my big concern was that the music presented to me wouldn't be to my taste because the underlying group, in this case, Lemon Jelly, is one that I enjoy but don't really love, if you get me. To check my fears, I checked the play list and found it filled with nobody that I completely hate; although, few that I really like either. This led me to rationalize that, even if I didn't much care for the selections lying within, I would at least have a couplefew hours of music filler to keep me entertained for well, at least a couplefew hours, if no more. The price on this comp. was well above twenty which actually was a good thing in my mind for I believe that the relative price level of a music CD on Amazon says a lot about its worth and durability. Meaning, for instance, that if an album has a very low price even though it is a recent release, it is likely not very entertaining, and so on. On the other side of the equation I thought this was an excellent oppty to get a first hand look into an artist's psyche and aesthetic and that anyway, it might be an oppty to find some good new music. Anyway, I pulled the trigger and here is what I found: I don't like this very much. For, although there are a few catchy tunes, most of the stuff has very little appeal to me. Worst of all, the only unifying theme that I can discern is that it all has an easy-listening feel. Actually, this shouldn't be all that surprising considering the anodyne style of music that Lemon Jelly puts out but on the other hand, it is difficult to see where the inspiration for the sparks of brilliance that Lemon Jelly often exhibits issued from. For, the music here has very little coherent or logical progression from here to there, if you get my meaning. To say that this compilation is a disappointment would not be too far from the mark but to say that it was a wast of money would be for I do think it was worth buying and listening too, if even for the disappointment factor. I can't recommend this to anyone but I also wouldn't discourage anyone from buying it either.