As the [a]Allstars[/a] fray under the ‘pressure’ of ‘fame’ (ie, staying up for 18 months on the go-fast milkshakes, etc), big beat goes pan-global arms-askew unstoppable, the Boutique opening its juddering doors to new venues in London, Berlin, Dublin and New York.
Here’s why: twenty-one Allstar-chosen, mixed and toxified hymns from the church of dancefloor harmony, the second ‘…Boutique’ LP featuring far less ‘Captain’ Cook comedy capering with a frozen fish on its head, much more bonzer hip-hop pardeeee bedlam with an industrial spring in its neck (Blackstreet featuring Dr Dre, Trouble Funk, Boogie Down Productions… plus! Silver Bullet‘s still-hysterical ’20 Seconds To Comply’).
Wiggle, too, to the disco-funk might of Les Rythmes Digitales‘ ‘(Hey You) What’s That Sound?’, northern soul (Felice Taylor‘s ‘I Can Feel Your Love’) and the odd knees-askew house-trembler (‘Funk Phenomena’ from Armand Van Helden, a man who, in real life is, apparently, Ali G).
Goes on a bit, naturally, as with the drugs when you’ve really, you know, had enough, but nonetheless upholds the ‘beat”s still-sterling [I]raison d’jtre[/I]. The sound of the world in a very good mood indeed, it’s a real going-out record, for when you’ve no intention of coming back in again, ever.