Stereo MC's
Connected

THE REVIEW

I wanted to open a small parenthesis titled "Enough Sadness" which is essential after the latest reviews of Cranes and Cocteau Twins! Yes, it's true they are "dark inside" but not only.

On Saturday during the usual, periodic, CD reclassification, this Stereo MC's album came into my hands, and a big smile full of joy was painted on my face. "Connected" represents a wonderful fusion of Hip Hop, Funky, Rap, a masterpiece, when these genres were not yet the monopoly of some hoodlum with big chains and baggy pants.
It's pure joy of living, not one track out of place, not a pause.

The album opens right with "Connected", AhhhhhhA? A moo? and a striking start "Something ain't right/I'm gonna get myself/I'm gonna get myself/I'm gonna get myself connected/I ain't gonna go blind/For the light which is reflected /I see thru you" no muscle can resist the movement.
It is followed by the super funky "Ground Level".
All thirteen tracks are perfectly blended to never allow room for a letdown: "Everything", "Sketch", "Fade Away" accompany us full of rhythm to "Step It Up", "To the left/to the right/Step it up/Step it up/It’s alright"... excessive positivism? Why not! If "Creation" is the softest and most hypnotic track on the album, "The End" closes the circle full of energy and the temptation to press repeat is absolutely irresistible.

Emotionally, I can sum up what "Connected" means to me in the space of an evening... at a party, one of those parties where there's a friend with the sound system playing the music everyone likes, one of those perfect evenings a few months before becoming "grown-up", taking on work and emotional responsibilities...
I remember "Connected" played all night and I didn't want to stop dancing and I didn't want it to become day again!

To be honest, that emotion hits me now as I'm writing like a stab... oh dear I've gotten sad... Peter Pan syndrome? I think many of us have it!