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| Track list: 1. The Fun Lovin’ Criminal 2. Passive/Aggressive 3. The Grave and the Constant 4. Scooby Snacks 5. Smoke ’em 6. Bombin’ the L 7. I Can’t Get With That 8. King Of New York 9. We Have All the Time in the World 10. Bear Hug 11. Come Find Yourself 12. Crime and Punishment 13. Methadonia 14. I Can't Get With That (Schmoove Version) 15. Coney Island Girl Running time: 44 minutes Released: 2002 |
I'm going to love this... No, probably not. Another one of those "massive at the time" albums, and one that I doubt has aged well. I find myself without much in the way of words to form an intro so lets dive right in.
The twanginess of the opening riff is suprisingly fresh at 21. The vocal doesn't match it. Is that a Pulp reference in the lyrics? Can't be, can it? I'm stumped if not, what else would Disco 2000 refer to? Anyhow that's an oddity that I had never noticed before. I just rather wish that the delivery was a little more distinctive, because actually the rhythms and hook work.
In a funny way I think this may not be that different from Come Away With Me, in that it will end up as a mood piece more than anything. Songs that aren't necessarily all that, but which come together to set a consistent tone. I am already (less than 2 tracks in) surprised by how accurately I remembered the tunes, and how easily they slip back into my consciousness. Maybe it will hold up better than I expected (or perhaps it is front-loaded).
It vaguely amuses me that FLC frontman Huey Morgan is now a BBC DJ... how did that happen? I still don't listen to the radio (TMS aside; best thing evar!) so I've never heard one of his shows but he seems a particularly unlikely pick for the role, even amongst American front men.
Aw crap. I forgot to switch off shuffle after having some background music yesterday while I was mocking up a Crew for Blades in the Dark - an awesome-sounding RPG about heists in a fantasy-industrial age setting. It's nice and evocative, harking to series such as the Locke Lamora books by Scott Lynch, and videogames like Dishonoured. I kinda want to run it, but I don't really have enough surplus mental energy to do it well when I am working. It's a pain. I find this out as the third track had me thinking "that sounds a lot like the title track, how lazy" only to find that it was. I don't know what that second tune was then... It wasn't Passive/Aggressive as I have just cued that up.
Oh, it was track 3. Skip!
Scooby Snacks is the stereotypical Fun Lovin' Criminals track in my mind. The audio clips from Tarantino movies (he gets a composition credit in my track metadata) give it some real character, but it doesn't ever feel like a serious song - because the title, which appears prominently in the chorus, is so ridiculous. It ends rather suddenly, too... it is easy to forget that these were designed to be radio-friendly singles, because with so much of what I buy that is simply not a primary concern.
It really is a surprise how many of these tunes are lodged in my subconscious to one degree or another... 7 of the first 9 and the title track, for a 60% hit rate when you factor in the second version of I Can't Get With That in the bonus tracks.
Today is a light one in the context of the week off. My final day of vacation and - a big shop this morning aside - one where I am not doing anything productive. I am seeing family though, so it's not "time to myself" relaxation or time lost to games of one sort or another. Tomorrow is clearing out my back room (not a euphemism!) and Sunday involves ironing and cleaning the oven. Joy. Still, if I stick to the plan and achieve those things it will have been a very successful week in all. Then back to the grind. Speaking of grind... whilst I like the smooth and lazy tone of I Can't Get With That, I find it grating on me. I am not in a wind-down mood right now and so this kind of bliss-out, hang about sound is not what the doctor ordered.
There is a nice rounded sound to the guitars on the cover of We Have All the Time in the World, but not for the first time the vocal lets it down. It's always going to be hard to live up to Louis Armstrong through. I don't actually have the Armstrong version, but I do have a take by film score expert David Arnold and Iggy Pop. When this overly laid back song gives way to Bear Hug its a bit of a switch in tone. Darker, hoarsely-voiced, edgier. The change is welcome, but I'm not sure that the song is any good. The group seems better when they're doing their laid back stoner chic; these tracks are tighter, sit together better. As the title track starts for the second time (I didn't run it to completion before, so no skip here) I am struck by the understated guitars. The percussion and rhythm sets the tone, but the background guitars are what make it work.
It strikes me that whilst this is never something I would choose to put on if I weren't directed to it, I wouldn't want to part with most of these tracks because they hold up surprisingly well. There are some exceptions - Bear Hug didn't work, and Crime and Punishment sounds to be going the same way. However the general level of appeal has surprised me.
Methodonia is one of those tracks that is very recognisible once it is playing - it sounds like you've heard it a thousand times before - but is completely unrecognisible by title. It also sounds like countless other songs that you cannot place (or at least I cannot place). There is a comfortable familiarity about it. I am only referring to the composition here, not the lyrics; they're less comfortable and familiar.
Then we're into the bonuses... an even more laid back version of I Can't Get With That (not sure how this is possible) and a 90 second closer. The Schmoove (their spelling, not mine) Version uses horns to craft that smokey late night atmosphere, and the vocal is spoken like a beat-poet. It has more cool about it, and despite not really being in the mood for laziness, I find I prefer it and find no reason to maintain the main album version as well. There is a nice little blast on the end - a bit more urgency - but outside the context of a lazy long-player before it I don't think I would ever want to hear Coney Island Girl again.
So, there we have it. Through a 4th listen in as many days. Good use of vacation time. Surprisingly happy with this one... just a small amount of fat to trim.
The twanginess of the opening riff is suprisingly fresh at 21. The vocal doesn't match it. Is that a Pulp reference in the lyrics? Can't be, can it? I'm stumped if not, what else would Disco 2000 refer to? Anyhow that's an oddity that I had never noticed before. I just rather wish that the delivery was a little more distinctive, because actually the rhythms and hook work.
In a funny way I think this may not be that different from Come Away With Me, in that it will end up as a mood piece more than anything. Songs that aren't necessarily all that, but which come together to set a consistent tone. I am already (less than 2 tracks in) surprised by how accurately I remembered the tunes, and how easily they slip back into my consciousness. Maybe it will hold up better than I expected (or perhaps it is front-loaded).
It vaguely amuses me that FLC frontman Huey Morgan is now a BBC DJ... how did that happen? I still don't listen to the radio (TMS aside; best thing evar!) so I've never heard one of his shows but he seems a particularly unlikely pick for the role, even amongst American front men.
Aw crap. I forgot to switch off shuffle after having some background music yesterday while I was mocking up a Crew for Blades in the Dark - an awesome-sounding RPG about heists in a fantasy-industrial age setting. It's nice and evocative, harking to series such as the Locke Lamora books by Scott Lynch, and videogames like Dishonoured. I kinda want to run it, but I don't really have enough surplus mental energy to do it well when I am working. It's a pain. I find this out as the third track had me thinking "that sounds a lot like the title track, how lazy" only to find that it was. I don't know what that second tune was then... It wasn't Passive/Aggressive as I have just cued that up.
Oh, it was track 3. Skip!
Scooby Snacks is the stereotypical Fun Lovin' Criminals track in my mind. The audio clips from Tarantino movies (he gets a composition credit in my track metadata) give it some real character, but it doesn't ever feel like a serious song - because the title, which appears prominently in the chorus, is so ridiculous. It ends rather suddenly, too... it is easy to forget that these were designed to be radio-friendly singles, because with so much of what I buy that is simply not a primary concern.
It really is a surprise how many of these tunes are lodged in my subconscious to one degree or another... 7 of the first 9 and the title track, for a 60% hit rate when you factor in the second version of I Can't Get With That in the bonus tracks.
Today is a light one in the context of the week off. My final day of vacation and - a big shop this morning aside - one where I am not doing anything productive. I am seeing family though, so it's not "time to myself" relaxation or time lost to games of one sort or another. Tomorrow is clearing out my back room (not a euphemism!) and Sunday involves ironing and cleaning the oven. Joy. Still, if I stick to the plan and achieve those things it will have been a very successful week in all. Then back to the grind. Speaking of grind... whilst I like the smooth and lazy tone of I Can't Get With That, I find it grating on me. I am not in a wind-down mood right now and so this kind of bliss-out, hang about sound is not what the doctor ordered.
There is a nice rounded sound to the guitars on the cover of We Have All the Time in the World, but not for the first time the vocal lets it down. It's always going to be hard to live up to Louis Armstrong through. I don't actually have the Armstrong version, but I do have a take by film score expert David Arnold and Iggy Pop. When this overly laid back song gives way to Bear Hug its a bit of a switch in tone. Darker, hoarsely-voiced, edgier. The change is welcome, but I'm not sure that the song is any good. The group seems better when they're doing their laid back stoner chic; these tracks are tighter, sit together better. As the title track starts for the second time (I didn't run it to completion before, so no skip here) I am struck by the understated guitars. The percussion and rhythm sets the tone, but the background guitars are what make it work.
It strikes me that whilst this is never something I would choose to put on if I weren't directed to it, I wouldn't want to part with most of these tracks because they hold up surprisingly well. There are some exceptions - Bear Hug didn't work, and Crime and Punishment sounds to be going the same way. However the general level of appeal has surprised me.
Methodonia is one of those tracks that is very recognisible once it is playing - it sounds like you've heard it a thousand times before - but is completely unrecognisible by title. It also sounds like countless other songs that you cannot place (or at least I cannot place). There is a comfortable familiarity about it. I am only referring to the composition here, not the lyrics; they're less comfortable and familiar.
Then we're into the bonuses... an even more laid back version of I Can't Get With That (not sure how this is possible) and a 90 second closer. The Schmoove (their spelling, not mine) Version uses horns to craft that smokey late night atmosphere, and the vocal is spoken like a beat-poet. It has more cool about it, and despite not really being in the mood for laziness, I find I prefer it and find no reason to maintain the main album version as well. There is a nice little blast on the end - a bit more urgency - but outside the context of a lazy long-player before it I don't think I would ever want to hear Coney Island Girl again.
So, there we have it. Through a 4th listen in as many days. Good use of vacation time. Surprisingly happy with this one... just a small amount of fat to trim.
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