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Much has been made of the fact that Cook is using real instruments on his latest effort 'Palookaville' (his first since 2000's 'Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars'), but to be honest it would appear to be "business as usual", albeit quality "business as usual" from the man (who like Moby) took dance music to the masses (except unlike Moby he hasn't crawled up his own a**). Sure there are a number of guest vocalists and collaborators, a handful of which bring some truly inspiring moments to this album, but it is Cook's ability to create genuinely uplifting euphoric "pop" music that truly shines here. Don't get me wrong, I like the way that Cook is creating more song structured work, but what I like more is the fact that this creative expansion sits well within his own musical blueprint, thus progression appears natural rather than forced. 'Palookaville' contains plenty of the trademark Fatboy cut'n'paste sample based works (tracks such as the first single "Slash Dot Slash", album opener "Don't Let The Man Get You Down", "North West Three", "Jin Go Lo Ba", and the excellent "Mi Bebe Masoquista") to please the many fans. To these ears things get infinitely more satisfying though with tracks such as the vocally dextrous "Wonderful Night" (featuring Blackalicious rapper Lateef), the punky-pop "Long Way From Home" (featuring Brighton band Jonny Quality), the gorgeous "Put It Back Together" (featuring Blur's Damon Albarn), the deliciously punchy "Push And Shove" (featuring Justin Robertson), and the soulful bop of "The Journey" (again featuring Lateef). Perhaps the albums weakest moment would be the cover of Steve Miller's "The Joker" (the final track), not because it is a bad version of the song - it isn't - more you can see it getting picked as a single and getting absolutely thrashed - and it really isn't that representative of what certainly isn't a novelty album. So despite initial reservations, I have to say this latest album from Norman Cook gets the absolute thumbs up. Recommended (especially "Wonderful Night", "Long Way From Home", "Put It Back Together" and "Push And Shove" - these guys are worth price of admission alone!)
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