Although veering dangerously into Saint Etienne territory on the opener, Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes, with guest vocalist, Emiliana Torrini baring a marked resemblance to Sarah Cracknell, what follows is a smorgasbord of fully-flavored, varied and euphonic lounge sounds.
On numbers such as The Outernationalist and The State of the Union, the pair utilize the tried and tested combination of bass-heavy ambient-dub. While on others, namely, Un Simple Histoire (A Simple Story), Garza and Hilton once again look to the Middle East for inspiration. The Richest Man in Babylon is not, however, without its unique moments.
The most moving, or rather numbing, of these is Exilio (Exile). A number on which the Corporation branches out from its dub-heavy roots and instead looks to Afro-Cuban percussion for inspiration.
Richard Ashcroft
Human Condition
Hut
After his 2000 solo debut, Alone With Everyone, great things were expected of Richard Ashcroft. Sadly, however, even with a lot of help from trip-hop/jungle wizard, Talvin Singh, and a duet with ex-Beach Boy, Brian Wilson, the ex-Verve mouthpiece has come up with an album that falls short of expectations. Whereas his emotionally seductive debut saw Ashcroft distancing himself from his Verve days by making use of a diversity of sounds which included stringed arrangements, simple brushing percussion, pop and even tripy grooves, Human Condition sees little experimentation.
Instead, Ashcroft appears to be stuck someplace between never-never land and the mainstream in which something that worked well with his drone-pop act The Verve leads the vocalist into dangerously tedious solo territory.
Of the album's 10 tunes there are only two exceptions to this tedium. The folk/pop guitar jangle of Ascroft's Bright Lights proves the album's only up-lifting moment. And even then it's a tune that comes a wee bit close to Shawn Mullins' 1998 hit, September in Seattle for comfort. Nature is the Law, a tune on which Ashcroft teams up with Wilson, on the other hand is a fantastically moving duet and by far the album's musical and poetic highlight.
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