Fatboy Slim "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" (1998)

You've Come a Long Way, Baby

release date: Oct. 1998

format: cd / digital (2008 2cd 10th Anniversary Edition)

[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,08]

producer: Fatboy Slim

label: Skint Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Right Here, Right Now" (4,5 / 5) - 2. "The Rockafeller Skank" - 4. "Gangster Tripping" - 5. "Build It Up - Tear It Down" - 9. "Praise You" (4,5 / 5) - 11. "Acid 8000"

2nd studio album by Fatboy Slim following his fine debut Better Living Through Chemistry from '96 is like that released on Skint and produced by Fatboy Slim (aka Norman Cook). The title is taken from the American cigarette brand Virgina Slims, which was sold (to women as target group) in the 1960s and 70s using the slogan "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" - the title here then is used with reference to the cover and the official video for track #1 as an ironic statement about the human race.

Despite being crafted almost only using heavy sampling, the album is very much of a whole, building on hooks, catchy phrases and small bits from this and that, primarily soul and funk artists, but the common denominator is something original within the big beat style of electronica.

The album spawned four single releases and they all peaked in top 10 on the UK singles chart list. In order, the songs selected for single releases were tracks #2, 4, 9, and 1 with the first two preceding the album release and the last two issued in '99. The third single, "Praise You" (Jan. '99) followed by an official video creation that was work of geniality performed the best peaking at #1 in many countries world-wide including the UK, Scotland, Iceland, and it peaked at #2 in the US on the Alternative Songs list. The last single also performed quite well peaking at #1 on the UK Indie list (#2 overall) and furthermore, the video for "Praise You" won three major awards at the 1999 MTV Video Awards, and in 2000 it was voted #1 of the 100 best music videos ever released in an MTV anniversary poll. The album peaked at #1 in the UK, and it has sold more than 3 mio. copies worldwide and is enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".

The album is undoubtedly Fatboy Slim's best and most coherent album. In 2008, a 2-disc 10th Anniversary Commemorative Edition with 10 bonus tracks was issued on Skint.

Highly recommendable.

[ allmusic.com, Select 5 / 5, 👍NME, Muzik, Q Magazine, Spin 4 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

1998 Favourite releases: 1. Grant Lee Buffalo Jubilee - 2. Mark Hollis Mark Hollis - 3. Fatboy Slim You've Come a Long Way, Baby

Fatboy Slim "Better Living Through Chemistry" (1996)

Better Living Through Chemistry [debut]
release date: Sep. 16, 1996
format: cd (BRASSIC 2CD)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,96]
producer: Fatboy Slim
label: Skint Records - nationality: England, UK

Track highlights: 1. "Song for Lindy" - 2. "Santa Cruz" - 3. "Going Out of My Head" - 5. "Everybody Needs a 303" - 8. "First Down"

Studio album debut by Fatboy Slim aka Norman Cook (aka Quentin Leo Cook) former bassist of The Housemartins. Musically, this doesn't have much in common with the former jangle pop band; however, Fatboy Slim may be Cook's new pseudonym but his experiments within the electronic scene started way way earlier, and if he's associated with The Housemartins, it's rather undeserved, 'cause fact is, he released his first electronic solo album All-Star Breakbeats Volume 1 in 1990 under his own name as well as the follow-up Skip to My Loops in '92 - both collections of... loops to use when sampling, and even before that Norman Cook was the leader and main songwriter of the British electronic dub project-band, Beats International, which had a short life-span from '89-92 releasing one fairly successful album Let Them Eat Bingo with the international hit single "Dub Be Good to Me". Before playing in The Housemartins he was already an established DJ of the early 1980s playing primarily American "black music". After ending the Beats International project, Cook went on and formed the acid jazz and hip hop trio Freak Power, which existed from '93-96 experiencing some success before internal friction had him choose a solo career and Fatboy Slim was invented. He has released music by dozens of pseudonyms incl. Pizzaman, Cheeky Boy, Chemistry, Charlie Stains, and many others. In fact, he is known for being the British artist to have featured most times on the UK singles chart list with the most aliases.
Anyway, Better Living Through Chemistry is an electronic samples album of big beat music, which really put him on everyone's lips in the mid-90s, and it's the first of two consecutive albums by Fatboy Slim to be enlisted in "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". The album contains some really fine hooks and samples, but to me, it's still an album pointing to his past as a DJ mixing this and that, and being allover the place in terms of style. His force of nature keeps him so busy that creating a coherent release seems the impossible mission, although, he would do even better on the follow-up. That said, Better Living Through Chemistry is an energetic and vibrant dance album of high importance for the electronic pool of styles.
[ 👍allmusic.com 4 / 5, 👎Rolling Stone 3 / 5 stars ]

1996 Favourite releases: 1. Bob Mould Bob Mould - 2. Fatboy Slim Better Living Through Chemistry - 3. Ryuichi Sakamoto 1996