Album Review

The B.P.A – I Think We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat

• 6th Mar 2009

This is the latest album from Norman Cook, more commonly known as Fatboy Slim or, depending on your age, the gangly bassist from The Housemartins. Touted as the work of a legendary “lost band” the albums sees the chameleon like producer working with a range of vocalists including punk icons David Byrne and Iggy Pop, to current artists such as Dizzy Rascal and Jamie T.

Since Fatboy has always had a killer knack for discovering unknown tracks to sample, the embellished back-story of the band makes for a tempting prospect. What works on paper however, does not always work in reality. When Mr. Cook, or the BPA rather, get things right the results are fantastic. When the aforementioned vocal talents of David Byrne and Dizzy Rascal combine on Toe Jam, we are treated to catchy and instantly likeable pop music. But on some tracks it feels like we’re hearing rehashes of Cook’s previous work. Take He’s Frank (Slight Return) for example, it has more than a passing resemblance to “The Rockafeller Skank”. While Iggy Pop does deliver a cool vocal performance, try holding back the laughter when he utters the immortal line “I ain’t insured for that, not me”. Well why are you popping up on my TV every five minutes telling me the benefits of it?

The rest of the album plods along evenly; this simply doesn’t engage the listener enough. While fans of his previous work will no doubt be attracted to this album, it won’t hold their attention for long.