VARIOUS - MIXED BY MORCHEEBA

Morcheeba's Paul Godfrey compiled and mixed this volume of the Back to Mine series of chill-out albums. Godfrey's imaginative choices, which reflect some of the sounds that have influenced and inspired his group, include New Orleans R&B (Dr. John), Tropicalia (Os Mutantes), Indian soundtrack music (Kittu), and even alternative country-rock (Lambchop). Despite this eclecticism, Godfrey manages to maintain a relatively consistent mood and feel on this album. The flow isn't consistently brilliant, however; some tracks fit together beautifully while others don't blend together as smoothly, so some listeners may find this album to be more disjointed than they had hoped. Fortunately, the individual songs are generally interesting, including Annette Peacock's distorted vocals on "Pony," the killer bassline on "What It Is" by Missin' Linx, the combination of soul and hip-hop in the Giant's "Hidden Crate," Taj Mahal's forceful reworking of the blues number "Chevrolet," and TV star David McCallum's "The Edge" (which inspired Dr. Dre's "Next Episode"). The compilation includes one of Morcheeba's better songs, "On the Rhodes Again," which is the B-side to "Tape Loop" and the first track they recorded on their EMS synthesizer; it also includes selections by Morcheeba collaborators Jim White and Nosaj (a member of New Kingdom). So the album does provide some insight into Morcheeba's music in addition to offering an appealing blend of music. ~ Todd Kristel, AMG

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