(Godlike & Electric/Stomp)

UK chillout masters’ selected works plus bonus CD of new material

Ah, Magic Love and the soft summer breeze – Bewitched As I Am, I’m Comin’ Back to Beautiful Otherness. Erm … enough mucking around with song names. Responsible for classic genre LPs such as 2000’s Programmed To Love and 2003’s The Everlasting Blink, the Nottingham duo of Simon Mills and Neil ‘Nail’ Tolliday (who count such mind-bogglingly diverse figures as Michael Caine, Elton John and Nicole Kidman among their fans) mark a decade of cutting soothing grooves by this sparkling 2CD retrospective. Unlike their continental European compadres Air and Tosca, Bent spent a lot of time rummaging through “dodgy old vinyl” in search of glorious samples, yet these semi-forgotten Nana Mouskouri, Toni Tennile and Anne Murray vocal tracks continue to shine on top of lush ambient soundscapes. CD1 contains all the familiar highlights – Swollen, the aforementioned anthem Magic Love, Private Road, Invisible Pedestrian, Leavin’ Me et al – while CD2 showcases largely excellent new material (the first three tracks – K.I.S.S.E.S., No Perrier and Terry – and funky closer Bone Idol are classic Bent). The mischievous Chocolate Wings/Wrong Rock and the Battlestar Galactica-referencing Vocoder reverie that is Cylons In Love are two notable omissions, but even then this comp is not going to stop the seasoned listener from giving Programmed To Love another spin while also serving as a fantastic primer for Bent newbies. Beachside veranda, sav blanc … did I miss anything?  

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DENIS SEMCHENKO

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