What Are You Listening To?

[Tiggi]

Like Sade's Soldier of Love, this has been on & off the Buy List countless times. Poor reviews, and a less than ecstatic assessment from Music Head a year ago put me off, but several earworm tracks stuck with me from the promotional assault the "band" have mounted since release.

Finally, the plunge has been taken. I think this is actually a minor masterpiece. An ecological concept piece with a galaxy of guest stars (including Snoopy The Dog, De la Soul, Lou Reed, Bobby Womack, Mark E Smith, & Paul Simonon and Mick Jones from The Clash), the material on this album varies wildly between Hip-Hop, simple Pop, and Alternative Rock.

Loving this, and the song On Melancholy Hill is a classic Pop gem. The artwork on the sleeve by Jamie Hewlett is superb, and tells the "story" of the album in a series of wonderful images that characterise the "band's" visual signature.

The number 13 appears on the sleeve precisely 13 times (much of the recording was done at Manchester's Studio 13) !! Significant, I wonder ?!


AllMusic 3+/5 stars.