We All Have a Plan

Slicker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 1, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Hefty Records
• ASIN: B0001BKAK8
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,573 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. God Bless This Mess, This Test We Pass

2. When The Dog Goes Lame

3. Knock Me Down Girl

4. Call Up All The Relief Now

5. A Strong Donkey

6. We All Had A Plan

7. Decorate Your Walls

8. Straight Mess

9. Village Dub Plate

10. Can't Cope

Editorial Reviews

Having grown up on hip-hop's collages, indie-punk's bedroom DIY-isms and the beat fantasias of electronic composers, John Hughes (a.k.a. Slicker and the artist behind Chicago's Hefty Records) has grasped something most others haven't in his knitting together of something old and something new. For Hughes, the common chord on We All Have a Plan, Slicker's fourth album and a pan-global, soul-jazz masterpiece made out of bits and pieces, is elemental and spiritual. "Honest" and "organic" are words Hughes uses repeatedly to describe his blueprint. And in the wake of similar cut-and-paste excursions by kindred spirit colleagues, Plan smuggles modern electronics away from indie-techno dilettantes back to the timeless land of song.

The collaborative voices and jazz tones you hear throughout the record belong to soul, jazz, funk and world music's forgotten heroes. Legendary Motor City funk-jazz cats Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison illuminate the laid-back funk collage of "God Bless This Mess, This Test We Pass". Vocalist Khadijah Anwar, once a 14 year-old soul wunderkind for mid-'70s funkateers Sugar Hill, shines on the Zapp-like electro-funk of "Knock Me Down Girl", while Detroit MC's Phat Kat and Elzhi (of Slum Village fame) add a future urban element to the proceedings. Singer Lindsay Anderson (L’Altra, Telefon Tel Aviv) gives "A Strong Donkey" a sultry jazzed-out bliss, while guest vocalist/trumpeter James Cromwell grumbles alongside her. Also appearing on the title song, and throughout Plan, is Dan Boadi, a Ghanaian vocalist residing in Chicago, who Hughes estimates affected the album as much as anyone.

Spiritual X-factors all-too rarely affect the soul and creation of computer music. Yet these are undeniably the guiding forces behind Slicker's We All Have a Plan. So natural and soul-kissed, you'd think they were part of Hughes's plan all along.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Very Unique Album, May 1, 2011

By 

Charles Barkley - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: We All Have a Plan (Audio CD)

This album has some extremely good tracks on it. The songs are a blend of jazz, electronica, hip hop, and plenty of other things. There is know music that I know of that has a similar song to this.

However there are a couple of songs that I didn't really like. For example "Knock Me Down Girl" just sounded like a generic R&B song and was a little out of place(if being out of place on this album is possible, it's pretty diverse).

If you want something unique, get this album. It's really different from Slicker's other stuff as well as really different than any other band/artist out there.

4.0 out of 5 stars If you like Gorillaz, you'll like this., November 2, 2010

By 

simone - See all my reviews

This review is from: We All Have a Plan (Audio CD)

Where to begin to describe this music? I'm not a music critic but I find Slicker to be like the Gorillaz but with a more natural and organic sound. I took a chance on this CD after reading a review and each time a song pops up in my rotation, I'm happy to hear it. Slicker manages to blend Afro-pop, jazz, and blues element into music that is distinct and poppy. It's fun for your ears!