All over the place, but not in a good way
Scott Woods | Columbus, Ohio United States | 12/05/2001
(2 out of 5 stars)
"True to form, Moodorama continues with their schizophrenic take on modern music, blending various styles and vocal arrangements throughout without taking all of the predictable turns. This is a tough thing to do artistically, since it's hard to sell your message or record to ears set on one type of music, especially an audience that's been sold on your work as being one thing ("they're a chill-out band!" you'll hear, but unjustifiably so) when your albums contain so many other elements and courses of action. Some people pull this off (Nicolette's "DJ kicks" compilation, any Smith & Mighty record and, to a lesser degree, DJ Cam's "Mad Blunted Jazz") but Moodorama is still struggling to get a balance that the average listener can get a kick out of.The CD starts off strong and consistently enough with the first couple of tracks, and if they had stuck with making an album that investigates the territory that the first two tracks open up ("Sinzing Sunset Boulevard" and "Loss of Sense") we'd have likel had a 4 or 5 star record on our hands. As it is, they catch the party bug soon after, and the album begins to spin out of control in production execution, tone and flat-out song quality. A lot of it comes off as an attempt to show off their resume ("Look! We can do hip-hop! We can do Latin music!"...yes, but none of it astonishingly well enough to justify its inclusion on the record) and that rarely works to anyone's advantage. Plus, at a mere 10 tracks, you really should stick with what you do great, since you end up giving everyone one track they can bear, but no record they would buy."
Tracks 7 & 9 are worth price of CD alone!
marblexyz@hotmail.com | Bellevue, WA United States | 10/15/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)
"On this CD, Moodorama is trying out different styles, with different vocalists. I heard track 9 on the radio, and thought it was Portishead. As intense, moving and beautiful. The other tracks are good, but vary in style so much you're left wondering if this isnt a compilation CD. Bravo for one group to have such different styles but......oh, here's track 9 again. Gives me chills every time I hear it."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1