N*E*R*D

• Year: 2001
• Rating: 8/10
• Cat. No: CDVUS216

Track listing:

1. Lapdance
2. Things Are Getting Better
3. Brain
4. Provider
5. Tape You
6. Run To The Sun
7. Baby Doll
8. Am I High
9. Rock Star
10. Bobby James
11. Stay Together

As an in-demand production and remix team, the Neptunes have accumulated quite a CV of cutting-edge, often groundbreaking work. To date, the best example of their spooky, soulful and futurisitc R’n’B vision has been Kaleidoscope, the debut album from rain bow-haired diva Kelis in 2000.

N*E*R*D (No-one Ever Really Dies) is the Neptunes chosen moniker for their own recordings. In Search Of… was first released in late 2001, but has been completely re-recorded with live instrumentation replacing the stark electronic arrangements of the original version.

In truth the latter sound has always been their most attractive calling card, creating quite awesome space-age funk with off-the-wall bleeps and clunking rhythms (think Kelis’ Caught Out There, amongst others). This album, however, while shorn of such trappings, still manages to evoke a very similar style with the real drums, guitars and keyboards.

It’s an eclectic blend of funk, electro, rap and soul, veering from frenzied expletive-ridden workouts to the sweetest ruminations and blissed-out celebrations this side of City High.

As they showed on Young, Fresh’n New, the ill-fated first single from the second, forgotten, Kelis album, they occasionally overcook the recipe to the detriment of what natural melodic instincts they clearly possess, but In Search Of… is perfectly satisfying despite its erratic tendencies.