 Fatboy Slim
Halfway Between The Gutter And The
Stars
CD
Review by Norm Elrod
I'm not entirely
sure where Halfway Between The Gutter And The
Stars is. It could be uptown or downtown. It
could be flying down a highway at 90 mph or stuck
in bumper-to-bumper traffic. It could be floating
in the clouds or facedown on a curb (which I
guess isn't too far from the gutter). Or maybe
the title is simply another reference to the
ever-transcendent dance floor. Fatboy Slim
doesn't seem to know exactly either. But he's
willing to venture a few guesses.
Fatboy Slim
began as a side project of Norman Cook, former
bass player for the Housemartins, to help launch
Skint Records. Little did he know that a handful
of party mixes would make him possibly the
biggest British musician this side of the
Atlantic and one of the few recognizable names in
the then burgeoning genre known as
"Electronica." Success came largely on
the strength of You've Come A Long Way, Baby,
featuring such down and dirty grooves as
"The Rockafeller Skank" and
"Gangster Tripping," the sublime
crossover "Praise You" and the
triumphant DJ space odyssey-like "Right
Here, Right Now." Of course a long list of
stellar remixes (most notably the Beastie Boys' "Body Movin'"
and Underworld's "King Of
Snake") and a couple clever videos didn't
hurt.
This third
full-length of original material is a bit of a
departure for Mr. Slim. It seems he's discovered
a world beyond the dance floor, even if he only
means to drag it back inside and handcuff it to
the wheels of steel. The fat beats have been
trimmed down and stretched out here and there.
The shake-your-aesthetic grinds bits of Soul and
Gospel in with the usual hip and hop. And high
profile guests like Macy Gray and Bootsy Collins
occasionally sit-in for the well-placed loop or
sample. All of these changes make perfect sense
for the artist looking to maintain (or even
justify) his popularity without becoming
complacent or stale. With a few listens, it's
obvious Fatboy Slim has nothing to worry about.
"Talking
Bout My Baby" ushers in the listener like a
sunrise on a new day. A piano riff swells as it
repeats, bolstered with each additional loop,
building to the appropriate chorus of "under
the big bright yellow sun" and a beat that
never comes. Like good sex, the climax shouldn't
be in the first 4 minutes; and it isn't here.
Instead Slim flies through a number of stylistic
changes en route to the eventual payoff and
subsequent landing. Borrowing from Jim Morrison
(yes, that Jim Morrison), "Sunset (Bird Of
Prey)" is the kind of late night driving
song that might fit on a Fluke album if it were a
bit more ominous. Gray adds her gravelly and
sultry warble to the funky "Love Life"
and again to the Gospel-inflected
"Demons." Some of her best work to date
stumbles only slightly with the occasional
ridiculous lyric.
Fatboy Slim
excels most when he brings it, and brings it hard
- as on the guitar driven "Ya Mama" and
the sick reggae beatbox breakdown "Mad
Flava." While these twist his trademark Big
Beat sound into something new and interesting, a
few others play like forgotten outtakes from Better
Living Through Chemistry - not terrible,
just dated. "Song For Shelter" closes
things with a spoken word tribute to love and
house music and perhaps a renewed outlook.
Contemplation in words and music ascends, this
time finding the beat, only to fade into a wavy
reprise of the opener.
Halfway
Between The Gutter And The Stars is dance
music for a pop crowd, and pop music for a dance
crowd. It also shows a musician growing into his
fame and fortune, relying on what got him here to
step forward. Repeated listens may reveal where
halfway is, or maybe not. It's not that
important. Besides, the ambiguity keeps things
interesting.
Email Norm Elrod
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