7 / 10
Et voil` -M-People for cool cats. With their third album, bijou trippy-hippy souljazzfunksters Morcheeba have let it all hang out - and so all those half-formulated ideas they hadn't the guts to record earlier are here. It's Morcheeba on the edge, with attitude and at war. It's quite nice.
, purrs Skye on 'Love Sweet Love'. "We love the sunshine to dance by the pool". This album shows they've finally sussed what they want - a cool pair of shades and a seat in the sun. As they pat their steel drums on 'A Well Deserved Break' and give Biz Markie the lead vocals for 'In The Hands Of The Gods', a sense of serene calm has replaced the twitching scowls of old.
They toy with Stevie Wonder's keyboard sound from 'Superstition', mimic Grandmaster Flash on occasion and do their best to make the bits that sound like Beck seem accidental, and while it's a record that blankly refuses to maintain eye contact as it cheerfully accosts you, 'Fragments...' is an enduring monument to quiet goodness.
Having a nice time, they wish you were here. Sometimes that's enough.
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