Palookaville

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Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Working with Blur on their Think Tank album clearly made an impact on Norman Cook. Palookaville, his fourth outing as cartoon dance hero Fatboy Slim, has a distinctly beatnik theme running through it. It also relies more on real instruments and proper songs, rather than Cook's laptop and fun floor fillers, swapping instant thrills for something longer lasting. That said it's unmistakably a Fatboy Slim record, and a pretty phenomenal one at that.

The trademark beach party anthems are still there. The Latino shake of "Wonderful Night", "El Bebe Masoquista"'s electro-funk and single "Slash Dot Dash" with its snarling surf guitar all prove that there's life in Bigbeat yet. But it's the mellower tracks that stand-up to constant rewinds. "North West Three", a dreamy twilight tune dedicated to wife Zoe Ball, is a gorgeously romantic swayer and plinky hobo ditty "Put It Back Together" delivers a ramshackle shot of optimism in the Think Tank style, complete with a drowsy Damon Albarn. Meanwhile, "Long Way From Home"--the moody sub-bass rumble from the O2 ad--and road movie rocker "Push and Shove" find the middle ground and demonstrate that Cook's imagination is as active as ever.

All the usual cut'n'paste musical bric-a-brac's there. All the wackiness and cool grooves remain. It's just that this time they sound just as good in the living room as they do on the dance-floor. --Dan Gennoe

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2005-09-20 rating:
Great CD, buy it now
I have never had any of Fatboy Slim's CD's before, and this is definately a good one to start from. After hearing the first track on Girl's "Yeah Right", i thought yeah why not and got the cd. It was definately worth it, it is an amazing cd with excellent production and sounds. The songs are very well mixed and made, basically it is just an amazing cd. For first-timers or hardcore fans, this is definately a cd to get.

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review by: date: 2005-09-02 rating:
A mixed bag, but still very good
A very good album, but not one that I regularly choose to listen to all the way through. There are some Fatboy Slim classics - Don't Let The Man Get You Down, North West Three and the marvellous cover of The Joker being three of the standout tracks. Then there are those which are just great music, such as Song For Chesh, Long Way From Home and Wonderful Night. The majority of the album falls into this category in fact. But there are some tracks that are good but you just won't want to listen to too often. Jin Go Lo Ba and Mi Bebe Masoquista fall into this category for me. Slash Dot Dash also suffered from having to be redone at the last minute, as the original voice sample Norman Cook used was a lot more appealing and generally less grating and annoying than the one he had to opt for. Overall there are no bad tracks, but some have a lot more lasting appeal than others. Definitely Fatboy Slim's weakest album but still very good nonetheless.

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review by: k21h date: 2005-07-26 rating:
palookaville: a great album by a great dj
I am a big fatboy slim fan and this is their(his) best yet. I have you've come along way baby and halfway between the gutter and the stars which are both good albums, but this beats the lot. It has 12 songs , 9 of which are good tracks and 5 of the 9 are brilliant. No.7. push and shove is my personal favourite and palookaville boasts other great songs such as wonderful night,slash dot dash,don't let the man get you down and joker. It even has the tune from the o2 ad (long way from home ) which isn't half bad itself! I would strongly reccomend any fatboy slim fan or music fan in general to get palookaville.And if you do allready have it spread the word!!

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review by: angus_prior date: 2005-01-27 rating:
A Masterpiece
The king is back. 4 years after his previous album, 'Half way between the gutter and the stars,' Fat Boy Slim has returned with this musical odyssey of funk, bursting with melodic masterpieces. There is no doubt about it - this truly is a great album.
Albums where every song is great are few and far between. Well, you have an example here. From start to finish, Norman Cook gives you a selection of selectively bred dance and funk classics that stick in your mind. You don't bother reaching for the skip track button; the only button you'll need is the volume.
The key to Palookaville is variation; you have a super fast 'Slash dot dash' followed by the more lyrically advanced 'Wonderful Night' and then the slower, more bassy 'Long Way From Home,' (which you may have heard on the 02 adverts). One minute you have a heavy bass line complete with super scratching and techno beats, followed by a slow, feel good sound with a gentle acoustic guitar riff.
If you listen to this album with head phones on, you can fully appreciate the effort Norman has gone to in each of his songs. Mi Bebé Masoquista is a good example of how he uses both speakers to mix scratching, vocals, and a beat, and then blends them together to produce a great sound. His songs aren't linear; they don't simply have the basic verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure, he produces different songs with different structures to suit his style - for example 'Long Way From Home' has sporadic beats and effects, and then half-way through the song a completely different sounding chorus pops up.
The great thing about this album is you don't necessarily have to be a fan of this genre - my parents like Fat boy Slim yet they usually don't like anything that is even remotely to do with dance. This could be because the album is more 'user-friendly' than 'Half way between the gutter and the stars,' in the sense that there is greater selection of songs which are shorter lengths than their predecessors. Most of which were 6 minutes long and may have been a bit more extravagant to someone who was new to the genre.
Palookaville really sums up what Fat Boy Slim is good at - making an excellent selection of feel-good songs. Norman doesn't have to turn the bassline up really loud during the chorus, or have vocals which have to shout loud to make the song sound good. More often than not he has quieter, softer vocals which match and sometimes better that of the Chemical Brothers, another group which are experts in their field.
Norman himself said he knows his songs aren't particularly meaningful - but, who cares? He has produced a wide variation of complex, catchy songs ranging from the heavier - (Mi Bebé Masoquista) to the chilled (Song for Chesh). It doesn't matter if you are a fan of Fat Boy Slim or not - buy this album.


review by: gwendagriffiths date: 2005-01-10 rating:
More Please!!!
I've had past fatboy slim albums, and they were alright i suppose, but this one is superb, with vocal loops and great rhythmic beats.

If you are looking to buy a CD, buy this one.

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