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- October 2007
- Rating: 8/10
Groove Armada shake some ass, then chill out.
To release another compilation in three years is pushing it. And a bit greedy.2004 saw the best of, their last on Pepper Records, and now we get GreatestHits, with songs from their fifth album Soundboy Rock: Song For Mutya,Get Down and Love Sweet Sound.
One thing you have to admire Groove Armadas Andy Cato (real name Andrew Cocup)and Tom Findlay for, is their unpredictability (and ever-changing lead singers)with wide ranging songs (electronica, house, trip-hop, chilled) such as theirmagnificent jazzy sampling of Patti Pages classic Old Cape Cod, AtThe River, heard on M&Ss Food UK campaign to the big beat stylings ofI See You Baby, again featured on the car ad for Renault Megane.
Then theres the clubbers delight, the funk-fulled Superstylin, aGrammy nomination. GM werent an instant hit, as If Everybody Looked TheSame proved, peaking at 25 in 1999, though it did show great promise by theduo. At The River faired a little better later the same year, followinga brilliant showing at Glastonbury.
A remix of 1999s by Fatboy Slim of I See You Baby featuring Gramma Funkmade them a household name. So far, singles-wise, 2007 has been their best yearwith two top ten hits Get Down, Song 4 Mutya, featuring ex-SugababeMutya Buena on vocals, number 9 and 8 respectively. 2001s My Friend isone of their finest moments, sounding much like Morcheeba at their sublimest.
Love Sweet Sound is this years most soulful disco track by a mile. Thedeceptive ambient opening of Lightsonic masks the full-on eventualbeats-per-minutes that unfold. Little By Little is the kind of gentlerambler Jamiroquai can drop into their predominantly funk songbook.
File under : Must have.
Weblink:groovearmada.com
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Song For Mutya
2. Get Down
3. I See You Baby (Fatboy Slim Radio Edit)
4. Superstylin
5. Purple Haze
6. My Friend
7. Girls Say
8. Chicago
9. Love Sweet Sound
10. Easy
11. Lightsonic
12. If Everybody Looked The Same
13. Little By Little
14. At The River
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.