Palookaville [Limited Edition, Import, Explicit Lyrics]

Whenever I have a strong opinion, I'm usually wrong. And it's my loss. Being opinionated only gets in the way of a good time. I guess I'm Amazon-confessing this because there was a period in my life where I was a hard-core jazz and blues fan, and I looked down upon techno, or trance or house or however you choose to label it. My bias was towards live music.

I liked improvisation, still do, and I had the preconceived notion that the highest form of musical art was spontaneous musical communication. Techno is on the other end of spectrum, the music is mapped out, planned, composed. But, when the music takes hold of you, it ultimately doesn't matter how it was created. The sounds matters, and how you respond to it matters.

I learned that driving up Boulder Canyon in the summer of '97 and hearing the Rockafeller Skank for the first time. I liked it five seconds into it, I cranked it up, and I couldn't deny the ecstasy. My mountain drive instantly converted into a rapturous video game. I know this isn't cool, but I can admit to you, since we're friends, the only other time I liked a song that quickly was Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Let's be fair, it may be hard to imagine now, that was the winter of 1989, I had grown up in the suburbs, and everybody was a Billy Joel fan back then. Anyway, my point is, I've been a Fat Boy Slim fan ever since I heard that famous Rockafeller hook, and it nudged me on my way to overcoming my knee-jerk musical snobbery.

The beats vibrate a certain part of my consciousness, I can slip into a hypnotic state, but then things change up, vibrating a different part of my consciousness. Then Fat Boy turns up the intensity, the two regions start bouncing energy back and forth, the humming and tug-of-war snaps opens those doors, the old clichéd doors, you know what I'm talking about. Consciousness is expanded. Catecholimines flow. Chi courses through meridians. Shakras ignite. The reaction is real, it can't be repressed, it can't be denied, and once you've had a taste, you can't be deprived.

Palookaville isn't classic Fat Boy Slim. As others have commented in these reviews, it is more hip-hop than techno, and it's great. Who can argue the simplistic brilliance of the libretto:

Girl I want it you got it

Your body's like a narcotic

The thought is auto-erotic

Pure Id. Not even a dewdrop of Ego or Superego on display. And it feels good. Live improvised music is still great, the very fact of your presence makes you a participant, Ohm-Ohm-mMm-ing and collaborating in the act of Creation creating. And it doesn't diminish that experience one bit to enjoy studio music composed with painstaking precision. Futhermore, electronic music is not encumbered by the limits of having to use the sounds one person can get out of one instrument at one moment in time. But I don't have to tell you this, you already know. I'm the idiot, right? But it's a good reminder because we all do this in all different ways throughout our lives. Once we've attached to our identities, there is a constant entropy of the consciousness, a momentum to narrow, to fine-tune and refine our own plane through the collective consciousness, oblivious to the richness of the dimensions above and below.

Anytime we view things in the context of a genre or label, whether we're talking about music, movies, books, people, clans, states, or nations, we're betraying a lack of sophistication in our tastes, or a lack of developmental maturity in our intellect. Was that a little heavy-handed? Was that a little off the point?

In a nutshell: Thumbs up, buy this album. Can be enjoyed straight but also goes well with tranquilizers or stimulants (but please, please, always consult a doctor before abusing substances). Thank you for listening, bye bye.

Palookaville is a great cd. However, it's obvious that Norman Cook is changing his style. Fans of the older (but wonderful) cds like You've Come a Long Way, Baby, might not enjoy this if you're expecting more of the same. There are a lot more mellow tracks and fewer "get up and dance" tracks.

When I'm in a jumpy, happy mood, I'll turn on "It's a Wonderful Night." It's got a catchy, bouncy tune, and some cool lyrics. When I'm in a more somber mood, I turn on "North West Three" or "Long Way from Home." There is some repetitiveness in some songs, but I personally enjoy it. "Slashdot" is fast, and very repetitive, but it's also the shortest song on the CD (around 2:30 minutes).

I'd recommend listening to the song samples wherever you can find them before you purchase this cd. It's not a perfect cd, hence the 4 out of 5 stars, but it is wonderful if you can accept a new style of Norman Cook. Some of the good old Norman Cook is still there, but it's obvious that he's trying a broader range of ideas. I also liked Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, but I believe Palookaville is better.

Cook gave plenty of indication in press releases that this record would be different from the norm. He's declared a renewed interest in hip-hop over dance music, dance being a genre that is going through a dry spell. I couldn't agree more with Cook. Trip-hop and hip-hop DJs with inventive turntablism have dominated my techno section in my CD case since the "The Rockafeller Skank" days. Cook has great instincts when it comes to his studio albums. None of his studio efforts sound near the same, and "Palookaville" is no exception. Fatboy mixes up a unique set of hip-hop fueled gems that stands on it's own in his discography.

Some of the best tracks include "Don't Let the Man Get You Down," "Wonderful Tonight," "Put It Back Together" featuring Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), "Mi Bebé Masoquista," and my personal favorite "North West Three". Fatboy delivers a cohesive well rounded album. There's only one dud on the album, and that is "Slash Dot Dash". I was amazed to see the video for this song on the front page of Fatboy Slim's official web page. It features the most nauseating, repetitive and annoying sample I've ever heard in a Fatboy Slim song. It's definitely a skipper. I'm also not to wild about the cover of Steve Miller's "The Joker" featuring Bootsy Collins. It doesn't do the original much justice.

All and all, Cook does a great job with "Palookaville". It has some longtime listening value to it. It may not be as groundbreaking as his first three studio efforts, but I have to give him props for once again, changing it up completely, which is truly refreshing.

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