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| Track list: 1. Let There Be Flutes 2. Midlander (There Can Only Be One...) 3. Why Is A Frog Too..? 4. Mind That Gap 5. Run On The Spot 6. Bentleys Gonna Sort You Out! 7. Ragtopskodacarchase 8. Whoosh 9. Who Put The Bom In The Bom Bom Diddleye Bom 10. Spacehopper 11. Return Of The Hardcore Jumble Carbootechnodisco Roadshow Running time: 67 minutes Released: 1997 |
The last post was two decades ago, this is almost so. Big Beat was the only dance music movement I recall ever having any affection for, and even then it was pretty much limited to Bentley Rhythm Ace's eponymous first offering. I remember hearing Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out! on the radio and instantly loving it. I think, though - what I loved vs. what I didn't was a fine balance. I recall a fondness for Midlander too but the rest? Not so sure. Lets see.
The first thing you hear is a weird voice saying "We've found Bentley's control tapes" and then odd laughter - part of the vocal sample that introduces Let There Be Flutes. It doesn't really need the intro. The tune itself... well the flute loop is floaty, the drums and sounds beneath it are incessant. Yet the whole thing is pretty flat sounding and has none of the vibrancy that I remember, nor the sheer impact that Big Beat brings to mind. The tune becomes more compelling around 3 minutes when the top end drops out to be replaced by a more worrisome sound - less pleasant, but more meaty, and degrades again when the ill-grounded flutes return.
There is a hint of some of the sound patterns to come on later tracks here though, and the latter stages of the track again contain moments where the melody disappears and variation is added to the structure instead. These moments are the high points, but alas too much of the track feels incredibly formulaic and uninspired on this listen. The next track will be interesting - if Midlander has lost its appeal then it is me changing. As I type, it switches. Nope - this opening is still really strong. It's hard to describe this sound, klaxons blaring, drums rumbling, no real melody just a differently dominant loop at different points, but they all blend so well, at least they do whilst what could be called the main theme is still evident.
Approaching 3 minutes in that slides away, replaced by an urgent repeating loop and faster tempo... this is weak now, but as the klaxon sounds to shift phase again the layers and depth return in a pleasing manner. The last thing this makes me want to do is dance, and it has no tune so why the hell does it appeal so much? The rumble continues for just shy of 7 minutes, most of it never touching the brilliance of the opening but doing enough to stay within good graces.
A cuckoo clock announces the change of track and I realise that I could not have placed this in a million years. A boring repetitive sound then takes over; I could see this as the base for something, and the hope is it will build, but so far it hasn't, and on its own it is dull. I am relieved to finally manage to do a midweek post after what seems like an eternity - too much of a busy social life for a change that I haven't had the chance to get to the keyboard. It's nice to be busy, but sometimes a guy needs some downtime, y'know? Somewhere in that pontification the track has evolved, and what I hear now is a bit more interesting, tin-can like percussion interspersed with guitar loops or something like it are interesting for a bit, but then it descends into random nonsense again - structure with nothing to fill it out.
Mind That Gap starts with a more urgent main loop, backed up with what must be sampled videogame sound effects (I swear I should know what, too but it eludes me). This is basically just percussion until some synthy interspersions appear. It's alright but the urgency which was attractive for the first 30-60 seconds is a bit old after 120. I have to say that so far I am disappointed. Number one on the hit list of things that I dislike is the fact that for a style known as Big Beat, the beats feel anything but big. Perhaps things have just moved on, and expectations for 2015 are different? It could also be one where my little portable speaker - a stalwart of many trips and years - is just not up to representing this sound well. Too bad. The track has continued in the background to my thoughts. I am supposed to be listening, not tuning things out to type. The problem is this is so far producing very little to listen to.
The bass that opens Run on the Spot is a bit more promising, and this track even opens out with something approaching a tune (albeit comprised of more loops) that sits well with the various sounds cobbled together to structure the run. I like it a lot more than anything else so far, bar the first 30 seconds of Midlander (still epic), as it feels much more complete and well rounded. The high point of this listen is surely coming next though.
The loopy sounds that start Bentley's Gonna Sort You out immediately take me back, but its the addition of the top end that makes me feel 17 again for a second or two. There is something weirdly soothing about the synthesis of this track it's almost like 2000s downbeat electronica but with a bit more bite to it; when the sampled vocal states "I love it", I can only nod my head in agreement. Magic stays magic, even over 2 decades of sporadic (at best) attention. The incessant repetition of the main horn sound could get to you, I guess, especially when the best crafted bits of the backing vanish temporarily, but the best thing about this track is that it knows when to end. It happens rather suddenly but its just before you get annoyed and leaves you feeling high. Only to be sucked down by the droning patterns that begin the next track.
There is a lovely dirty, dark air to Ragtopskodacarchase, laced with engine sounds it speaks to the tension of a chase nicely and could quite happily be racing game backing music, though it is relatively low tempo for that. I included this on the "soundtrack" to accompany my first blog, the summary of an IRC-based freeform cyberpunk/dystopian future RPG I did with a couple of friends in Sweden. Good times. Half way through, the track loses its impetus, the atmosphere bleeds out a bit and it turns into a rather bland drum track - drum'n'bass without the bass to make it interesting. It rescues itself when the theme returns, the oppression brought back to give the sound some real meaning. On balance this piece is worth keeping as 75% of its length is pretty damn good - it's just a shame about that bland 2 minute insert around midway. The end is brought about by the bright start to Whoosh, a pleasantly onomatopoeic word to use as a title.
Unfortunately the tune doesn't live up to that potential as one of the less creative uses of samples and programming on the album is presented instead. So much so, that at 2.30 it feels like it has already been going for ever, and there are another 3 and a half minutes to go! The second half of the track is an improvement (a vast improvement actually), and the later use of the opening sample is bang on, but I have already been lost buy the uninspired opening - such a shame. Firefox locked up for a bit there and I lost the chance to add any more thoughts for fear of overwriting something already captured and then suddenly we are approaching the back end. The shortest track on the record is perhaps the most engaging - there is an awful lot going on in Who Put the Bom in the Bom Bom Diddley Bom and whilst it will never challenge Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out for the mantle of my favourite BRA track it is one of the few definite keepers from this listen.
Yeah, I am trimming the majority of this; the strength of the beats, the construction of the tunes... most have been a letdown in part if not in full; keep the highs, ditch the lows. Probably means that 6 or 7 of 11 will go. Spacehopper starts well enough and manages to surprise me by staying interesting - a twangy sound repeated in patterns being an oddly effective lure for the drum loops, horns and other pieces shuffled into place around it. It's not easy listening, but none of this album was ever going to be that and there is enough craft put into the variations for this one that it doesn't have time to sop and get boring. Then we're on to the lead out; Return of the Hardcore Jumble Carbootechnodisco Roadshow as a title recalls to mind the fact BRA took to the stage with decks/equipment fitted inside the shell of an old car - or at least that is the image in my head. It may be wholly concocted by me as my Google-fu is failing to turn up concrete proof. As a closer, this is poor - it should have come sooner as it contains much more interest than much of what preceded it. There is more purpose in the percussion, more roundedness to the layering of the samples and sounds, its a plain better tune than some.
I have been encouraged by this end though - it leaves me with a more positive overall view of the album than I was expecting to come away with, even if I still feel sure that the beats were lacking.
The first thing you hear is a weird voice saying "We've found Bentley's control tapes" and then odd laughter - part of the vocal sample that introduces Let There Be Flutes. It doesn't really need the intro. The tune itself... well the flute loop is floaty, the drums and sounds beneath it are incessant. Yet the whole thing is pretty flat sounding and has none of the vibrancy that I remember, nor the sheer impact that Big Beat brings to mind. The tune becomes more compelling around 3 minutes when the top end drops out to be replaced by a more worrisome sound - less pleasant, but more meaty, and degrades again when the ill-grounded flutes return.
There is a hint of some of the sound patterns to come on later tracks here though, and the latter stages of the track again contain moments where the melody disappears and variation is added to the structure instead. These moments are the high points, but alas too much of the track feels incredibly formulaic and uninspired on this listen. The next track will be interesting - if Midlander has lost its appeal then it is me changing. As I type, it switches. Nope - this opening is still really strong. It's hard to describe this sound, klaxons blaring, drums rumbling, no real melody just a differently dominant loop at different points, but they all blend so well, at least they do whilst what could be called the main theme is still evident.
Approaching 3 minutes in that slides away, replaced by an urgent repeating loop and faster tempo... this is weak now, but as the klaxon sounds to shift phase again the layers and depth return in a pleasing manner. The last thing this makes me want to do is dance, and it has no tune so why the hell does it appeal so much? The rumble continues for just shy of 7 minutes, most of it never touching the brilliance of the opening but doing enough to stay within good graces.
A cuckoo clock announces the change of track and I realise that I could not have placed this in a million years. A boring repetitive sound then takes over; I could see this as the base for something, and the hope is it will build, but so far it hasn't, and on its own it is dull. I am relieved to finally manage to do a midweek post after what seems like an eternity - too much of a busy social life for a change that I haven't had the chance to get to the keyboard. It's nice to be busy, but sometimes a guy needs some downtime, y'know? Somewhere in that pontification the track has evolved, and what I hear now is a bit more interesting, tin-can like percussion interspersed with guitar loops or something like it are interesting for a bit, but then it descends into random nonsense again - structure with nothing to fill it out.
Mind That Gap starts with a more urgent main loop, backed up with what must be sampled videogame sound effects (I swear I should know what, too but it eludes me). This is basically just percussion until some synthy interspersions appear. It's alright but the urgency which was attractive for the first 30-60 seconds is a bit old after 120. I have to say that so far I am disappointed. Number one on the hit list of things that I dislike is the fact that for a style known as Big Beat, the beats feel anything but big. Perhaps things have just moved on, and expectations for 2015 are different? It could also be one where my little portable speaker - a stalwart of many trips and years - is just not up to representing this sound well. Too bad. The track has continued in the background to my thoughts. I am supposed to be listening, not tuning things out to type. The problem is this is so far producing very little to listen to.
The bass that opens Run on the Spot is a bit more promising, and this track even opens out with something approaching a tune (albeit comprised of more loops) that sits well with the various sounds cobbled together to structure the run. I like it a lot more than anything else so far, bar the first 30 seconds of Midlander (still epic), as it feels much more complete and well rounded. The high point of this listen is surely coming next though.
The loopy sounds that start Bentley's Gonna Sort You out immediately take me back, but its the addition of the top end that makes me feel 17 again for a second or two. There is something weirdly soothing about the synthesis of this track it's almost like 2000s downbeat electronica but with a bit more bite to it; when the sampled vocal states "I love it", I can only nod my head in agreement. Magic stays magic, even over 2 decades of sporadic (at best) attention. The incessant repetition of the main horn sound could get to you, I guess, especially when the best crafted bits of the backing vanish temporarily, but the best thing about this track is that it knows when to end. It happens rather suddenly but its just before you get annoyed and leaves you feeling high. Only to be sucked down by the droning patterns that begin the next track.
There is a lovely dirty, dark air to Ragtopskodacarchase, laced with engine sounds it speaks to the tension of a chase nicely and could quite happily be racing game backing music, though it is relatively low tempo for that. I included this on the "soundtrack" to accompany my first blog, the summary of an IRC-based freeform cyberpunk/dystopian future RPG I did with a couple of friends in Sweden. Good times. Half way through, the track loses its impetus, the atmosphere bleeds out a bit and it turns into a rather bland drum track - drum'n'bass without the bass to make it interesting. It rescues itself when the theme returns, the oppression brought back to give the sound some real meaning. On balance this piece is worth keeping as 75% of its length is pretty damn good - it's just a shame about that bland 2 minute insert around midway. The end is brought about by the bright start to Whoosh, a pleasantly onomatopoeic word to use as a title.
Unfortunately the tune doesn't live up to that potential as one of the less creative uses of samples and programming on the album is presented instead. So much so, that at 2.30 it feels like it has already been going for ever, and there are another 3 and a half minutes to go! The second half of the track is an improvement (a vast improvement actually), and the later use of the opening sample is bang on, but I have already been lost buy the uninspired opening - such a shame. Firefox locked up for a bit there and I lost the chance to add any more thoughts for fear of overwriting something already captured and then suddenly we are approaching the back end. The shortest track on the record is perhaps the most engaging - there is an awful lot going on in Who Put the Bom in the Bom Bom Diddley Bom and whilst it will never challenge Bentley's Gonna Sort You Out for the mantle of my favourite BRA track it is one of the few definite keepers from this listen.
Yeah, I am trimming the majority of this; the strength of the beats, the construction of the tunes... most have been a letdown in part if not in full; keep the highs, ditch the lows. Probably means that 6 or 7 of 11 will go. Spacehopper starts well enough and manages to surprise me by staying interesting - a twangy sound repeated in patterns being an oddly effective lure for the drum loops, horns and other pieces shuffled into place around it. It's not easy listening, but none of this album was ever going to be that and there is enough craft put into the variations for this one that it doesn't have time to sop and get boring. Then we're on to the lead out; Return of the Hardcore Jumble Carbootechnodisco Roadshow as a title recalls to mind the fact BRA took to the stage with decks/equipment fitted inside the shell of an old car - or at least that is the image in my head. It may be wholly concocted by me as my Google-fu is failing to turn up concrete proof. As a closer, this is poor - it should have come sooner as it contains much more interest than much of what preceded it. There is more purpose in the percussion, more roundedness to the layering of the samples and sounds, its a plain better tune than some.
I have been encouraged by this end though - it leaves me with a more positive overall view of the album than I was expecting to come away with, even if I still feel sure that the beats were lacking.
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