Fatboy Slim Album - Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (Clean Version)
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Customers rating:
(85 ratings)
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Release Date:2000-11-07
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Type:Audio CD
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Genre:Big Beat, Club/Dance, Dance Music, Dance, DJ, Electronica, Funky Breaks, House, Pop, Rock/Pop, Trip-Hop
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Label:Astralwerks
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UPC:724385046421
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Approx. Price:$18.98
(USD)
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Description :
As usual, the Japanese version features a bonus track: 'Sunset' (Darren Emerson Remix).Review - Amazon.com's Best of 2000 :
Featuring house-music savvy and gospel-tinged samples among the big beats, Fatboy Slim's first record of the new millennium strays into meatier territory than the more pop-oriented material for which he's known. Importing help from the likes of Macy Gray and Bootsy Collins, as well as an irresistible, posthumous turn from Jim Morrison, Slim burns his colossal stamp on the dance/DJ landscape once again. --Matthew CookeReview - Amazon.com :
British techno wizard and crossover superstar Norman Cook's (a.k.a. Fatboy Slim) Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is uneven as heck and nowhere near as frat boy-friendly as his previous releases. But if you're up for a ride, this eclectic, 68-minute roller-coaster trip contains tunes airier and more house-savvy and gospel-flavored than what you've heard from him before. Not needing to create another "Rockafeller Skank" has left Cook free to experiment. There are lovely, slowly building tunes: "Talking 'bout My Baby" sounds like a collaboration between Play-era Moby and the Chemical Brothers circa Surrender, while "Sunset (Bird of Prey)" is an ethereal track that samples a rare a capella vocal by Jim Morrison and does not suck. Breakbeats do eventually kick in on that tune, the album's first single, but they're almost an afterthought, not the music's guiding force. This is not to say that because Fatboy embraces the pop song he can't kick it down and dirty with the best of them. "Ya Mama" is crazy-ass handbag big beat with super-distorted breaks and loud squealing synths that will severely disturb any authority figure or small dog within earshot. There are at least a few super stupid songs--like "Star 69," which seems to exist solely to facilitate a daft sample of a man using a bad word--but these make the good ones just sound even better. The pure party tunes, like the deep house-inspired "Retox" and the super-bad disco-funky "Weapon of Choice" (a collaboration with Bootsy Collins), are the meat of the album, and it's top sirloin stuff. In a year with dozens of attempts at crossover success built on watered-down dance pop and well-known guests, Fatboy Slim shows how it's really done, sacrificing no artistic integrity in the process. The two tracks on which Macy Gray sing are worth the price of admission alone. Cook continues to skirt the line between innovation and accessibility with mad-scientist glee. --James Conde Customer review - 2001-06-02
- Fatboy Slim mixes it up.First off, you must realize that Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is not another "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" or "Better Living". Rather, Fatboy seems to be trying to take his music in a different direction by letting some more outside influence, especially funk, into it. At first, I didn't like this CD. I wanted more tracks like "Praise You" and "Right Here, Right Now" and this CD didn't give them to me. However, after listening to it, really listening to it, I think this is fatboy slim's most intellegent and interesting work. It provides a different kind of music experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for the same. Customer review - 2001-02-04
- Against all odds, Fatboy Slim pulls it offOkay, here we go: "You've Come A Long Way, Baby" was easily one of the most entertaining albums I've ever heard. Filled with tons of fun party tracks and at least four classic anthems ("The Rockafeller Skank", "Right Here Right Now", "Gangster Tripping", and "Praise You"), it was THE pinnacle of big beat. However, there was no way for Fatboy Slim to create "You've Come A Long Way Baby II" without it sounding like a parody or weak imitator. So instead, Mr. Norman Cook decided to delve into the realms of funk, gospel, and house - and it's incredible. There are some moments here that are very much big beat, such as "Ya Mama", but the album's real peaks are in the deeper dance tracks. "Weapon of Choice" is futuristic funk, "Drop The Hate" and "Song For Shelter" are wonderful house songs, and "Sunset (Bird Of Prey)" is a great trance tune from a non-trance artist. Even the Macy Gray tracks, which I was very skeptical about, are stellar. So no, this doesn't stick to the Fatboy Slim blueprint, and that's a good thing. If you're willing to try something new, this is your album. I was very impressed - Fatboy Slim does it again. Customer review - 2005-12-06
- Bird of Prey trackWhile reading reviews for this album, I read one reviewer who commented that "Bird of Prey" is a song that "crys loudly and pretentiously for attention (and airplay)."
The lyrics were actually written in 1969 by Jim Morrison, lead singer for The Doors, and the vocals in the FatBoy Slim version are Jim's vocals dubbed in... The track was never released by The Doors (until their recent box set). It was written by Jim himself (with no help from the band) and included acapella on his underground "Rock is Dead" opera album, which was released in very limited quality overseas and is practically impossible to find in its original version today.
The "Rock is Dead" album criticized the very foundation of modern commercial radio and "pop rock music," at least in the way Jim saw it in the late 1960s... It is ironic that the reviewer perceived the lyrics to "Bird of Prey" as an attempt to sellout, when actually the roots of the track were rooted in self-awareness, philosophy and Jim's perception of big record labels/execs killing rock and roll by stifling musicians' creativity.
To my knowledge, no attempt was ever made at releasing this track to any studio.
The reviewer also writes, "Pretending to be cerebral is a very bad thing." Indeed.
Customer review - 2000-11-13
- Different Style but still fantastic Fat BoyLet me start by saying that if you are expecting this latest Fatboy Slim to be similiar in fashion to the heavy house flavor of "You've come a long way baby", you won't find it but I promise you won't be disappointed either. "Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars" is so diverse in style from beginning to end that I think it's hard for any fan of Slim to be disappointed. There are a couple of songs on the CD that are reminiscent of the previous album, carrying the house/club beat with awesome sampling. At the same time, there are some more "trance-style" tunes on the CD that are Moby-influenced no doubt. Personally, I liked the diversity of this CD. If you don't have a narrow taste for this genre and aren't looking for a "remake" of "You've come a long way baby" then there is a good chance you will enjoy this album. The pace of this CD is slower overall but the composition of the music is second to none of Slim's other albums. Customer review - 2002-07-10
- ChillinPure beauty. I don't understand everyone when they say that fatboy has no subtlety or intelligience in his music. The warm, funky grooves fatboy slim puts out make all the so called 'intelligient' trance and jungle look plastic and unfeeling. This album is put together in a way that makes it feel more like a journey through stormin norman's music rather than just a collection of songs... Chill out, listen to this cd with a little herb, and make sure you listen from begining to end... You will leave feeling happy. Yea.
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