Fatboy Slim – Halfway Between The Gutter and The Star

Artist: Fatboy Slim

Title: Halfway Between The Gutter and The Star

Label: Astralwerks

Rating: 6.5/10

Norman Cook, youve come a long way baby! 1998 was the year of Fatboy Slim as smash hits “Rockfeller Shank” and “Praise You” introduced the whole world to his electric funk and groove. From soundtracks, compilations, and commercials, these tracks dominated the airwaves for nearly two years strong. Now in the year 2000, this wizard dj/producer has fused together a remarkable achievement that travels across many continents of mood and styles that only Norman can label his own.

Slims newest experiment expands where Better Living Through Chemistry and Youve Come A Long Way Baby left off. He changes the dynamics of plain party-pounding beats, easy late night listening music, and funky rhythms into a refreshed listening range for all markets of music. With a handful of special guests appearing, from pop star Macy Gray to Parliament/Funkadelic member Boosty Collins to garage vocalist Roland Clark and even the late Jim Morrison, their participation in the grand scheme of things is beyond the stars. Macy Gray appears twice for two different reasons as she adds sex appeal to the funk-a-licious “Love Life” and provides grace on the R&B number “Demons”.

For years, djs/producers have taken heat from music purists who feel that recreating someone elses work or sampling pieces of music is copyright infringement and this material should not be tolerated. Like it or not, Fatboy is the Jimmy Page in terms of running a sampler. “Sunset (Birds of Prey)” is a simple yet beautiful song thats accompanied by textured ambient effects circulating and twisting throughout, built around a sample from Morrisons poem “Birds Of Prey”. Definitely thumbs up for the mixing and producing genius that went into “Sunset”, as well as “Song For Shelter” featuring Roland Clark. Using that same sampler, Slim cooks up a twisted bass line for the stomping groove for “Retox”.

This record in its own right is halfway in the gutter and half reaching for the stars. At times the oversampling on a few tracks creates some minor irritation, but the record comes through with a unique quality that carries well beyond the dance floor.

+l.sarzyniak