I had purchased "Fragments of Freedom" looking forward to the quality music I had come to expect from Morcheeba. The flow of "Big Calm" that placed them in my heart is, sadly, nowhere to be found on this album.

It is definitely more upbeat then their previous albums, yet I feel that it's a style not well suited to their talents. Although the first track, "World Looking In", has more frequently been the one coming through my speakers, it all seems just too pushed. The lyrics bring reminders of a certain sense of pop that I didn't think I was getting myself into upon this album's purchase.

I suppose change is good for anyone, and I don't deny that right to any artist. Yet, I feel this change was pushed possibly by record label execs trying to reach another spectrum of audiences. Unfortunately, though, I don't seem to be a member of that crowd.

Firstly I have to say I am a big Morcheeba fan.I loved the first two albums and was really looking forward to this one after the amazing 'Big Calm'.And I have to say what a terrible dissappointment this c.d. 'Fragments of Freedom' is. The c.d. starts off nicely with an excellent ,smooth,opener-'World Looking In',which is as good as any of their other songs.Then it starts to go downhill with the 2nd song and the first single 'Rome Wasn't Built In A Day'(but this c.d. was probably written in one!).The lyrics on this track are the daftest I've heard in a long while-e.g.'One Fine day, we'll fly away,don't you know Rome wasn't built in a day,Hey,Hey,Hey' -ingenious (It's a real case of 'how do we finish this silly chorus'?)The next 2 tracks are o.k.Trade mark slow paced grooves with a nice mixture of acoustic,electric guitars and on track 4 a nice brass section.Then we have track 5 a dreadful steel drum instrumental which starts off with a dialogue about Florida being hot and violent place. Track 6 takes a sample from Grandmaster Flash-'The Message'-it's not a bad song.Then we have some dreadful songs featuring some weak rap artists-these songs are neither funky or catchy.'Shallow End ' is my 2nd favourite song on the c.d. and it has an excellent disco riff,so currently in vogue.The remaining songs sound like b-side rejects,with nothing particularly good about them. I hope this c.d. is just a temporary abberation for Morcheeba and hopefully the next c.d. will be a big improvement.One final thing is I suppose groups should be admired for trying something new and this c.d. certainly sounds like a group experimenting with a newish sound-but in my opinion they just don't carry it off very well.

Yet I can add another name to the list of Pop Music sell outs. I baught this cd expecting Morcheeba to continue there ground breaking trip-hop cd's such as Big Calm and Who Can You Trust? But Fragments of Freedom seem to be just a cheap rip off of Mary J. Blige or Kelly Price. I think this CD is a dissapointment, the lyrics are terribly written and the music seems to sound like any 70's disco song. I urge all Morcheeba fans to not buy this and save there money!

Compared to their first two albums, I feel I have been had. I can't even listen to it. I bought it w/out sampling it first. It really is pretty sad to get a bad album. Next time, i'll review it beforehand.

that being said, I still think the first two albums are genius. esp trust. sade-like sensuality in her voice. mmmm get it if you don't have it.

Negu@arches.uga.edu

It is really hard to understand why this album is getting some negative reviews when everybody seems to love "Big Calm". I just bought both CDs - "Big Calm" and "Fragments of Freedom" and listened to them back to back. "Fragments of Freedom" is absolutely perfect and logical continuation of the "Big Calm". The difference is only in the mood! Yes, "Framgents of Freedom" is light, playful, and fun - but why shouldn't it be? Are you in the same mood all the time? It's really weird that people get frustrated when the group does something (slightly!) different instead of repeating itself... This album is excellent - I loved every single song!!