[.ca] You've Come a Long Way, Baby

From Amazon.com:
Norman Cook's bubble-gum techno songs--put out under a variety of guises over the years, including Pizzaman and Freak Power--are essential staples on any international dance floor. Fatboy Slim, however, is the former Housemartin's most successful incarnation, launching a Top 40 crossover hit and popular advertising jingle with last year's "Going out of My Head." You've Come a Long Way, Baby picks up where the smash single left off, cheekily pairing acidic synthesizers and drum machines with big, dumb vocal samples. It takes considerable effort sitting through an entire album of these energized tunes, but taken in small doses, songs like "The Rockafeller Skank" and "Soul Surfing" are like rays of sunshine. --Aidin Vaziri

The big beat classic!:
This is one of my favorite techno CDs, along with mr.deviant's "Techno Obsession". Here it is, the big beat classic by which all others are judged. Fatboy's signature style of building up a song, tearing it down and quickly exploding it in the listeners face is present on serval of these tracks. "Praise You" and "T.R.S." will get the casual listeners attention, but tracks like "Acid 8000", "Soul Surfing" and "Gangster Tripping" will make them fans for life. This CD came out in 98, so if it's not in your dance collection by now...you need to pick it up today!!!

PRAISE HIM LIKE YOU SHOULD!!!:
Six years after it's initial release, I've finally gotten around to getting Fatboy Slim's "You've Come Along Way, Baby!"--although I'm ashamed to say from one of those used CD bins. HEY! One man's trash is another man's treasure! The reason for my tardiness is I'm usually turned off by artists, groups, CDs or songs that get too much attention or airplay! In fact, I usually stray away from them! Fatboy Slim was/is definitely one of those artists. All that said, I was thouroughly impressed with this guy's skills as a DJ/mixer, although at times some of FBS' music becomes repetitive, nerve-racking and down right noisy. That notwithstanding, songs like "Right Here, Right Now", "You're Not From Brighton" and "Acid 8000" are winners (IMO)! Is "You've Come A Long Way, Baby!" a classic?...depends on who you ask...but without a doubt it should be in every club heads's CD collection.

Its Ok:
Basically this is a fairly standard, catchy album for those who like tunes you can put on and get in to straight away. I would say it's an album for younger teenagers, I bought it when I was 12 and thought it was great, as I have grown I have forgotten this album because there is a lot better out there. Though albums by Felix Da Housecat, Ladytron or Death in Vegas may take longer to get into you can be confident that you will be listening to them long after this album has become an annoyance. I would say that if you like fast catchy music buy this it's Ok but if you want a little more buy something else. If you want catchy tunes but with a little more about them I would suggest 'Play' by Moby or 'Dig your own hole' by The Chemical Brothers.

Hasn't come a long way:
This is just more bland mainstream electronica from FS. If you like Prodigy, Chem Bros. and Crystal Meth. you'll probably like this too. But if you like actual artists like Aphex Twin and Amon Tobin, you'll be very bored with this indeed.

A Solid Party Album:
When I first heard this, I thought it was a masterpiece and a classic dance record. It truly impresses at first, given that it has a lot of catchy and appealing tunes. However, the more I listened to it the more repetitive and boring it became. Yes, Fatboy Slim (or Norman Cook if you prefer) realy knows what he`s doing, and he certainly is one of the best in the big beat genre, but most of these songs are way too formulaic to deserve classic status, even if they truly impress at first. Sure, this is an enjoyable record with some stunning moments ("Right Here, Right Now", "Love Island", "You`re Not From Brighton") and it`s a great choice for a party, still for a home listening it`s a bit too much, becoming annoying and irritating at parts. For a mainstream electronica album it`s quite a strong effort, containing plenty of impressive and addictive samples, but it`s not as great as some claim it to be. Fun and entertaining.

• Right Here, Right Now
• Rockafeller Skank
• Illin in Heaven
• Gangster Tripping
• Build It Up -- Tear It Down
• Kalifornia
• Soul Surfing
• You're Not from Brighton
• Praise You
• Love Island
• Acid 8000