Search - Fatboy Slim :: Better Living Through Chemistry

Classic Slim

Heeth | Rochester, NY | 03/29/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Within the musical niche he's creating, he did a very good job. This was Norman's first big album, and I think he solidified his style with it. The sound of Better Living through Chemistry is synth-rock house with a very American, westward-looking feel to it. This album is for those who want thumping, rock-oriented, synthetic, energized, and inherently loud music. For people who criticize great tunes like "Everybody Needs a 303" and "Give the Po' Man a Break" as repetitive, I say that they're not listening to the way the song is developing over time. My favorite track is "Santa Cruz." It conjures great imagery and contains one of the longest and best builds I've ever heard from a song."

Musically weak - later work is far stronger

S. B. Gould | Mid West, USA | 01/14/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Having really enjoyed 'You've come a long way baby' - one of my favorite albums - I had high hopes for this work, after all, they are just a year or two apart. Oh, was I disappointed.



Perhaps if one were thrashing around at a rave party while out of their gourd on X, then this album would sound a little better, but stone cold sober I really had a hard time with this ensemble. The constant looped samples just repeat and repeat seemingly, in some instances, for ever. I see this album almost as a test case for Cook's later - and musically far better - work. One can really see the roots here of how this style and sound was massaged and refined into something much more musically coherent with 'You've come a long way baby'.



Song For Lindy stands out as one of the more tolerable tracks along with Going Out of My Head, Everybody Needs a 303 and Michael Jackson. The guitar riff in Santa Cruz never seems to stop and gives me a headache while the lyrics in Give a Po' Man a Break could do exactly that. The rest of the tracks are evidently an exercise in how to use a sequencer and are apparently written to cram as many repeated samples into each song as possible.



I really wanted to like this album, but it offers little of redeeming quality; quite simply it's dull. Ultimately, there is just not enough here to warrant its purchase."