- Audio CD (April 23 2002)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format: Import
- Label: V2
- ASIN: B0000649MW
- Other Editions: Audio CD | LP Record
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Track Listings
| 1. Heavy Soup |
| 2. Staging The Plaguing Of The Raised Platform |
| 3. Music Plus 1 |
| 4. Lessons Learned From Rocky 1 To Rocky III |
| 5. Wogs Will Walk |
| 6. Motion The 11 |
| 7. People Power |
| 8. Sounds Super Recordings |
| 9. The London Radar |
| 10. Spectral Mornings |
| 11. Slip The Drummer One |
| 12. Heavy Soup |
| 13. Bonus Track |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
For the pessimists who thought 1998's "Brimful of Asha" might have made Cornershop one-hit wonders, Handcream for a Generation acts as a dazzling Technicolor rejoinder. This fourth album by Tjinder Singh's group is a sure-footed survey of international party styles. Through 13 tracks, they manage to locate the secret connections between funk, hip-hop turntablism, boogie rock, roots reggae, French house, Punjabi folk, heavy psychedelia, and, yes, good old-fashioned indie-pop. On paper it looks dauntingly ambitious, and in the hands of any other band it probably would be. But Singh has a talent for finding universal accessibility at the heart of any genre as well as a pathological fear of the clichéd and portentous. So Handcream begins with deep soul singer Otis Clay making the introductions on "Heavy Soup," cranks up a hoary old Stones riff for an extended rant about the music biz on "Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III," and even finds a use for Noel Gallagher on the 15-minute soaring raga of "Spectral Mornings." Best of all, the whole album's imbued with a spirit that's both celebratory and contrary, one that challenges and stimulates even while it's making you dance on the table. --John Mulvey
Album Description
UK reissue of this 2002 album from the Indie Rock band led by Tjinder Singh. This fourth album is a sure-footed survey of international party styles. Through 13 tracks, they manage to locate the secret connections between Funk, Hip Hop turntablism, Boogie Rock, Roots Reggae, French House, Punjabi Folk, heavy Psychedelia, and, yes, good old-fashioned Indie-Pop. On paper, it looks dauntingly ambitious, and in the hands of any other band it probably would be. But Singh has a talent for finding universal accessibility at the heart of any genre as well as a pathological fear of the clich‚d and portentous.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
High Quality, some flaws,
By
This review is from: Handcream for a Generation (Audio CD)
(3 and a half stars) This album has a little bit of everything, from R&B/Soul to Techno/Dance, with some good rock interspersed liberally throughout. It matches my criteria for a good album, in that it has a decent flow/groove throughout. Though not as good as their last album, this is still a superior effort. Taken individually the songs are well written, with some excellent efforts, Heavy Soup is a great opening track, Motion the 11 is a fun reggae/dance track, and Spectral Mornings is a 14 minute raga that never seems to end (this is a good thing, I didn't want it to). This is a band with a tremendous amount of talent, that is definately worth seriously listening to. That being said, I think sometimes they get a little too caught up in their own brilliance and overstate their point. While I was happy with the length of Spectral Mornings, some of the songs seemed to be quite too long, and little too repetitive.Overall a very ambitous effort, and well executed, but with some flaws that can get slightly annoying. The quality makes up for any shortcomings, and the album holds up after repeated listening. Maybe 3 and three quarters stars
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Beautiful Ending,
By Ybyc (Evanston, IL United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Handcream for a Generation (Audio CD)
When I Was Born For the Seventh Time changed the way I thought about music. It opened new worlds to me, changing my musical taste from bubble-gum Oasis style pop to a lover of William Parker, Tortoise, King Tubby, Madlib, Phillip Glass, old funk records and everything else under the sun. It did this by being an easy to understand and at the same time brilliantly innovative and experimental.This album continues Cornershop's fun-loving exploration of musical styles easily, if not as convincingly and movingly as When I Was Born... Surprisingly, since Disco and the Halfway to Discontent, Cornershop have moved from albums whose strengths were the traditiongal songs and whose interesting parts were the instrumental bits to a band whose weak point is song writing. Not that the songs on this are bad by any means. Staging the Plaguing... and Wogs Will Walk are two of the best tradtional songs Cornershop have ever written. However, the purely instrumental parts, such as Slip The Drummer One, Bonus Track, and Heavy Soup manage to outshine the traditional songs in terms of funk, soul, and ingenuity. The last three tracks on this album alone might be the most beautiful musical statement Cornershop has ever made. So, with that in mind, buy this.
4.0 out of 5 stars
They Probably Deserve the Fifth Star,
By Josh Feierman (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Handcream for a Generation (Audio CD)
This album probably deserves 5 stars, but I've got to leave room for Cornershop's previous album "When I was Born for the Seventh Time," which was even better. Cornershop is just one of those bands that makes music that sounds like it's in technicolor while everyone else is in monochrome. Their music simply fulfills so many of the functions that music is supposed to fulfill: rhythm, melody, heavyosity, fun, dancing, social criticism etc. This album is a grab bag of danceable R&B, Reggae, Rock, Funk and Disco styles. They succeed brilliantly at each of them. My 15-month-old daughter loves to jump around to it, and I do too. I also love the lyrics, which manage to be silly and moving, sincere and sarcastic all at the same time. Tjinder Singh's voice is a unique carefully annunciated drone. My wife thinks it's sexy, and I can't help but agree. Since I'm a rocker, my favorite songs are "Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform," which has an unforgettable guitar hook and a bunch of kids singing the chorus to great effect, and "Spectral Mornings," which is a 15 minute opus of guitars, sitars, drums and tablas. If you read the reviews of this album, nearly everyone has different favorite songs. This is because Cornershop play so many different kinds of music well. By the way the drumming on this album is absolutely phenominal.
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