by
Fatboy Slim
- Record Label: Astralwerks/Skint
- Release Date: Nov 7, 2000
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Checkout.comSlim's Halfway only reaches heaven twice (Macy Gray's two star turns), and otherwise trolls, not in a gutter, but in what feels like interminable traffic. Most of Halfway's songs extend past the five minute mark, and like a movie that hasn't felt the firming up of a good editor's hands, they feel way too long. If guest vocalist Macy Gray hadn't shown up for Fatboy's party, Halfway might be the year's biggest letdown.
-
He's ditched dusty folk LPs for guest appearances by stars such as Bootsy Collins and Macy Gray. Gentrification suits him. For all her classic-soul flare, Gray is fond of abrasive nuance. Her singing is the perfect analog counterpart to his techno-philia; those saliva-laden glitches turn her catch phrases into perfect little samples.
-
Alternative PressWith a deeper, more mature sound, Halfway sounds like the work of a producer in mid-career crisis making music inspired by the dancefloor, but not shackled to it. [12/2000, p.89]
-
SpinA post-masterpiece puzzler where the kicks just keep getting harder to find, spread-eagle between pop limitations and artistic aspirations. [12/2000, p.214]
-
Little on Halfway is as immediately gratifying, or even as immediate, as its predecessor's hits, but that's not to say that any of these 11 new songs might not meet the same fate.... The Fatboy Slim assembly-line music machine is in full effect, and anyone looking for substance needn't bother. But to call this collection of sweet nothings half-assed would imply that there was much going on to begin with: The disc is business as usual, a big load of disposable fun and funk that's fluffier than cotton candy and just as weighty.
-
Much of this album fails to engage.... There are lengthy attempts at covering too many bases, when fewer distractions would have allowed Cook to create music with direction, not just location and motion.
-
UrbNotwithstanding a few guaranteed pop hits, the new album will probably leave most dance diehards cold... the album's dance cuts stick to the typical sampling-and-looping aesthetic that's been a bit tired for a while. [#79, p.123]
-
A halfway successful attempt by Cook to stake his claim as Serious Artist.... Cook started work on Halfway feeling paralyzed by the problem of how to bypass big beat's exhausted fastbreaks-acidriffs-oldskoolsamples formula. He found his path by partially abandoning breakbeats in favor of house's hypnotic four-to-the-floor, and by bringing in what he's called an "almost gospelly" flavor.... It's surprising, though, how much dated, big-beat-style pummel you have to endure before the almost gospel vibe's glorious return.
-
Obviously trying to explore horizons beyond big beat (a genre now loathed by many in his native England), Cook diversifies his palette but, as the title unfortunately foreshadows, he only gets Halfway there.
-
Cook has attempted to vary the Fatboy formula here but it's all gone a bit "mature".
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 19 out of 23
-
Mixed: 2 out of 23
-
Negative: 2 out of 23
-
Dec 20, 2019
-
DJSlovesSep 2, 2004THis is not Shadow,infact this is a LIGHT and brilliant Classic Album
-
JeffMar 20, 2002