Review Summary: there are moments of thrilling originality and floor thumping vitality, but not once in their career have Basement Jaxx managed to produce an album of consistently good tunes.
Many a commentator will tell you that “Remedy”, the debut long player from London duo Felix Burton and Simon Ratcliffe is one of the most important dance collections of modern times. Their mix of house, electronic, tech-house, salsa, funk and disco shows astonishing breadth, adrenalized by the pair’s deep experience in hosting dance parties, along with carefully thought use of both guests and samples. Success had not been instant for the pair, having released numerous self financed singles and E.P’s on their own label since 1994, it was not until contractual agreements were made with Richard Russell’s XL Recordings which ultimately exposed the pair to a wider audience. Their breakthrough single, the funky “Red Alert” reached number five in the UK and went on to become a floor filler throughout Europe and beyond. The follow up, “Rendez-vu”, would cement the pair’s claim as the new champions of dance, with its filtered in Andalucian styled acoustic guitar, and in keeping with popular fashion of the time, Auto-tune/vocoder vocals that had been previously used by Cher (“Believe”), and Eifel 65 (“Blue (Da Ba Dee)”). It is without doubt, the highlight of the album.
The rest of this over long collection ranges in quality. The effervescent summer time upbeat tunes like the bass heavy beats of “Yo Yo”, to the Latin tinged “Bingo Bango”, never fail to enliven the mood. However, when the BPM’s slow down and the pair become more circumspect the collection loses its momentum. The Selecter’s “On My Radio” sample for “Same Old Show” is murdered by over repetition, and the three songs that close the album, the faux ambient “Stop 4 Love”, the clunky mechanical “Don’t Give Up” and the nu-soul non entity “Being With U” are surplus to requirements.
As with all Basement Jaxx recordings, there are moments of thrilling originality and floor thumping vitality, but not once in their career have they managed to produce an album of consistently good tunes.
