Lemon Jelly - '64-'95' (XL)
3/5
By: JJ Florio
Since the very dawn of album artwork, the last century has provided us with many moments of unforgettable, indispensable, defining eye-candy. From minimal genius ('White Album') to iconic imagery ('Ziggy Stardust'), the best have always somehow managed to effortlessly become a visual extension of the entire listening medium. But with the increasing, teen-led surge of downloading it looks like the album as an artform in its own right could, as time passes, become dishearteningly redundant.
We were therefore ecstatic when we received Lemon Jelly's latest. A band of unashamed packaging-budgets, from the word go it just oozes classic album sleeve; the stark simplicity of Love's 'Forever Changes' combined with a sense of extensive scope similar to Yes's 'Tales From Topographic Oceans'. And get this; it's also a concept record (Yes!), each track based on a single sample from 1964 to 1995.
What about its contents? Well, it being Lemon Jelly, the first thing that strikes is just how well-produced the whole thing is; it's a proper sonic tour de force. When the full cavalry of drums and synths are unleashed on the opening track, 'Come Down On Me', it quickly becomes evident that, here, we have a beast with supremely big, polished balls. Lemon Jelly have welded their usual array of high energy beats and sweepingly symphonic arrangements around their chosen samples with a sense of water-tight precision. The attention to detail is so anal and meticulous that surely these boys must have some of the milkiest white studio-tans in the business.
Within the strict one sample per song guidelines that Lemon Jelly have set themselves, the body that is this album's technical brilliance seems to be lacking a more pure musical soul with the record at times feeling more like a scientific exercise that a true artistic statement. If just curious; artwork of this care and quality is almost worth the purchase alone. And that's something you won't get with your download.
Artists in this article: Lemon Jelly
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