Propellerheads - Decksanddrumsandrockandroll
Boy do these guys work clean. No hidden places containing stuff you might not hear until the twentieth listen, it's all up-front and out in the open. Uncluttered bare essentials percussion working in perfect unison with fluid bass lines and no nonsense samples. B3's and Clavinets (CS-80's) are used extensively throughout the album and really compliment the machine/human driven rhythm tracks.
Before I know it I'm at History Repeating which features Miss Shirley Bassey, responsible for the utterly amazing vocal performance on the title track of the Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever. Then it all finally fell into place. These are the guys who recently worked with David Arnold on his Bond theme tribute album Shaken & Stirred. He is also responsible for writing the actual score and worked with the Propellerheads on a few soundtrack cues.
Their contribution to Shaken & Stirred is a reworking of the On Her Majesties Secret Service theme which in this reincarnation actually started life as a full orchestra playing along to a rough drum and click track put together by Arnold. With the addition of an absolutely groovellicious overdriven Novation BassStation bass line, Hammond and CS-80 grooves courtesy of Alex Gifford and Will White's live drums the track is well and truly pulled up and into the nineties.
The quiet theme that works it's way into the nine minute track midway through is in my opinion the sexiest theme ever written. It's so seductive and for the life of me I can't figure out why. It literally gives me chills.
All in all a great introduction to the Propellerheads for a newcomer to their music such as me, and I can't wait to hear more from them.
Rating - 944,270 (out of a possible 1,000,000)
