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Rating: Don't look at the cover. Don't look at it. I SAID DON'T LOOK AT IT!
I know you did. It's too late now.
Tell the truth: how would you imagine the content of this album based on the cover? Children's music? Happy and trivial pop?? Pseudo-Happy-Hardcore?? Well, pretend you didn't see anything, because we're witnessing the world record for the worst cover of an electronic music album. It does not reflect the content of the record at all, which on the contrary, is sublime.
Fluke is a very important entity in the UK electronic field. They were among the leading artists on the scene throughout the 90s, along with Underworld, Prodigy, and Chemical Brothers.
By 2003, six years after the album 'Risotto' (another masterpiece), Fluke went from 3 to 2, but their creativity did not suffer, on the contrary: this is absolutely their best album.
First of all, it's important to say that the album is structured in two parts: the first, richer in danceable and pulsating breakbeat tracks, the second, more relaxing and background, yet where the tracks guide their influences in multiple directions. The most striking element of the work is indeed this: unlike in the past, where Fluke made more traditional dance, for this latest album they have opted for experimentation, enriching their tracks with rock, trip-hop, ambient, and even gospel (!!!) influences. All of this without ever forgetting the dancefloor.
It starts with 'Snapshot', a very dark track where the rather angry voice of the singer pairs with a cascade of breaks and acid samples. It then continues with 'My Spine', a track with a strong rock appeal, dominated by a nice bass line, leading to 'Another Kind Of Blues', a track many have already heard, as it was the soundtrack to the rave/sex scene in Zion in Matrix Reloaded. After 'Hang Though', another track with house cadences, we reach the magnificent 'Switch/Twitch', made famous by Need For Speed Underground 2: a 9-minute track composed of straight bass and synths galore, which blasted at full volume cannot help but make you dance ;D.
At this point, the second part of the album begins, as mentioned above. From the ambient of 'Ykk' and 'Expo', to the funky of 'Electric Blue', to the very 'Massive' trip-hop of 'Baby Pain', to the psychedelia of 'Nebulus' (a perfect track for a trip through the American desert :-)), until reaching the concluding and beautiful 'Blue Sky' where Fluke, at the peak of their extravagance, decide to dabble in gospel, indeed, in addition to the singer's voice, the track is dominated by a very joyful gospel choir. In the end, the result is a piece capable of instilling great serenity.
In conclusion, the entire album (with the exception of 'Blue Sky') is dominated by a very nocturnal atmosphere, ideal for a nighttime highway drive, among the landscape lights. Despite everything, it's not an easy listen: I myself had to listen to it several times before fully understanding it, though I also blame the cover a bit for this, as it is the first impact one has with an album, which can affect the purchase and the appeal with which we'll listen to it.
Recommended as always to all enthusiasts!!!
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Snapshot (04:09)
Little Suzie cruising for some love and affection
Arm in arm with everyone been charming the nation
Cindy picks the wallets for her friends medications
As willing patient Julie sit and wait for attention
Lucy's got a uniform for every occasion
Annie's got a gun she says she stole for protection
As someone in the background screams another objection
Sally turns her back and walks in dissatisfaction
Rudy got a problem he got too much agression
Disregarding everything it's time for attention
He got Bobby in a bottle, he got Billy in a stetson
He's got Betty does her best but it's a bad situation
Gina's getting god so she can get up to heaven
Looking like an angel in the name of salvation
Cathy's in a coma that she calls meditation
As Danny does the devil now he's left for damnation
Jim's trying hard to learn from every lesson
Looking to the future and some great expectation
Nikki's countin day's until she inherits the mansion
And all the boys are waiting for a piece of the action
Simon says and Simon does what nobody mentions
Peter's getting restless lacking all the true expressions
Tommy's undecided he can't make no decisions
as John's in the basement getting bored at the tension
05 Switch/Twitch (09:33)
It's time to begin,
start out over again,
what you is, what you been,
forget everything.
All the love that you made,
all the joy and the pain,
all the anger and hate,
rewind and erase.
Turn it on, listen in, turn it on, listen in.
Protect and survive,
you're better alive,
take a step to the side,
relax and revive.
Turn it on, listen in, turn it on, listen in.
It's easy to change,
go out and get a new name,
forget yesterday.
Tap your troubles away.
Tap your troubles away. Tap your troubles away.
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