Apollo 440
Electro Glide in Blue

THE REVIEW

"I'm more dope than heroin, sharper than a needle..."

Electro Glide In Blue... 8 minutes and a bit of pure musical poetry, which truly knocks you out in just a few seconds, but in the most positive sense of the term: a perfect fusion of ambient, chillout, and minimal electronics, in a continuous fade of sampled sounds, scratches, and even vague blues guitar licks, that at times peek out from the back and elegantly refine the "nocturnal", relaxing, magical atmosphere that unfolds as the minutes go by. A melody you'd want to loop eternally along with the vocals, which have that indescribably "epic", thrilling quality that sends you over the moon.

This album is a damn masterpiece, and Apollo 440 (a Liverpool band also known as Apollo Four Forty) will never again create anything remotely comparable: a classic stroke of luck, especially coming with the second attempt. After a long sequence of singles and various remixes (all good chart successes), and after debuting with the album "Millennium Fever", Apollo immediately make a leap in quality with "Electro Glide In Blue", without betraying their "danceable" style, which is actually their trademark.

It happens that the incredible title track is preceded by a dub remix of Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love" which for the occasion becomes "Ain't Talkin 'Bout Dub" or you find yourself moving to the adrenaline-pumping "Raw Power" or with a "Krupa" (a tribute to jazz drummer Gene Krupa) which at times seems straight out of any nightclub.

But the best is necessarily found in the more "thoughtful" moments of the album like in the still gripping "Altamont Super-Highway Revisited" (awesome!) which gives a lot of space to the guitar and the harmonica reminiscent of Zeppelin, or in the dark and estranging moments of "Pain In Any Language", sung by an emotional Billy Mackenzie (guest on the record and who committed suicide a few months before its release, sucked into the vortex of depression that gripped him) and especially in the epic "Stealth Mass In FM" with an angelic Betty Gray on vocals. I can't describe this song in words, I'm not capable. Listen to it, in solitude: it's a stunning blow. This song was even put on loop by BBC Radio One the day of Princess Diana's death, which says it all.

I'm not a huge fan of the genre, but with this album, it was love at first listen, and it doesn't happen to me often. Don't be fooled by the dance tangents; this album is so much more. R-e-c-o-m-m-e-n-d-e-d.

"...Hey, you never can tell

maybe you can touch the taste by the sense of smell

who's to say that heaven is in hell

escaping reality's touch

just in time - just in time before the bite gets too much

who's to say that heaven is in hell - can this be hell?"