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Thursday, 30 July 2009 |
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(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?
****
DENIS SEMCHENKO
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 August 2009 )
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