Monday 16 August 2010

Classic Albums // Fatboy Slim - You've Come A Long Way, Baby

When you think of DJs during this time, you think v neck, tanned, wedding disco hokey cokey or on the other hand the ability to blend old school beats with reggae hip hop jams that would re-define DJs and big beats. Delivering records that could get whole clubs raving to your grandma tapping her feet - Fatboy Slim gets any ganger tripping.

Who’d have thought back in the 80’s the bassist from the Housemartins would become a world class mix master of genres? Demonstrating that he is in fact the funk soul brother, Norman Cook delivers his second outing as Fatboy Slim, that lives up to his debut ‘Better living through chemistry’ and that brings the bump back to the grind.

You’ve probably heard this lyric repeated several thousand times ‘right here, right now’ but it never gets old. The opening track eases you into the world of Fatboy slim then drops you into a dance frenzy - this was a personal highlight for me at V festival last year.

The first single realised was ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ that’s like seven minutes of pure delight, and to this day is as fresh as a daisy. It was everywhere from television programmes, commercials, clubs to games such as Fifa 99 (I know this as I used to play it just to hear it - yeah I was a cheap skate when I was 12).

The second realise is packed with pure energy, smart breaks and edgy samples as ‘Ganger Tripping’ demonstrates Cook’s ability to produce cross genre funk, electro and hip hop. It has similarities with Fatboy’s remix of ‘Body movin’ by the Beastie Boys, as it hooks you from the get go and even if you can’t body pop it makes you feel like you can.

With the big single realises of this album, the rest of the record can get ignored. ‘Love Island’ and ‘Kalifornia’ are hidden gems, as well ‘Soul Surfing’ that’s like summer in a track.

‘Praise you’ is a classic, from the piano melody to the dance moves, everything about this track cements Fatboy as one of the greats. It features prominent vocal sample of the opening of ‘Take Yo’ Praise” by Camille Yarbrough, among other influences. Not only this the video for ‘Praise you’ directed by Spike Jones was a phenomenon in it’s self, it was iconic as it made bad dancers look good! Thus winning three MTV Video Music Awards and having your dad think he can dance at weddings since 1998.

Still going strong Fatboy Slim is now one of the foremost all-around producers on the U.K. club scene. So if you haven’t got this album on your shelf, then you probably need to get out more.

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