Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Groove Armada - Lovebox

MINE

Hmmm.... why don't I listen to this more?  Probably because generally when I think Groove Armada, I think Vertigo.  But there's some truly great songs on here, mostly the ones featuring the brittle vocals sampled from Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention).  I love GA's vocal samplings (the Patti Page sample on Vertigo is my song of the album) but Lovebox was perhaps a bit diverse in styling for me at the time it came out.  And that's because you can just put Vertigo on and forget about it, it's really cohesive.

But this has been languishing in the collection for too long, and must come out for some spins around while I've got my groove on.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP


YOURZ

There's something infinitely cool about British dance duos.  I don't know what it is and if I did, I probably would be in the sort of enviable position, musically, a lot of these people currently occupy.  And Groove Armada are one of the coolest, without a doubt.

Mine has mentioned Sandy Denny's vocals on Remember, a beautiful chilled number.  But Lovebox features real guest appearances as well as sampled voices. Groove Is On features both rapper Kriminul and Neneh Cherry, while the beautiful soulful voice of Richie Havens takes the lead on Hands Of Time.  On the opener Purple Haze, a guitar-driven piece, rapper Nappy Roots trades off against an unlikely but excellent Status Quo sample.

But the disappointment for me comes with the last quarter of the album, which slips into doofy dance territory and doesn't impress me in the slightest.  In fact, if it weren't for that the other three quarters of this album was so strong, I wouldn't have listened through these tracks.  I can't help wondering why the duo chose to end Lovebox this way, but it's disappointing.

VERDICT: TURN IT UP (until track nine, then change discs)


For further information go to: http://www.groovearmada.com/

In our collection we also have Vertigo and Soundboy Rock

No comments:

Post a Comment