at a glance...

Hometown: Brighton, England
Year Formed: 1995

Personnel:
Norman Cook

Related Artists :
The Housemartins, The Beautiful South, Mighty Dub Katz, Beats International, Freak Power, Fried Funk Food, Wild Child, Cornershop, Beastie Boys, Underworld, The Chemical Brothers, Macy Gray, Roland Clark/Urban Soul, Bootsy Collins,
and countless others...

Notes:
Norman Cook, originally with The Housemartins, began dabbling with a series of dance-music alter egos in the early '90s. In 1995 he was commissioned by Damien Harris to record the inaugural tune for Brighton dance label Skint, and Fatboy Slim was born with the "Santa Cruz" single. Cook took up a DJ residency at the soon-to-be-legendary Big Beat Boutique in Brighton, and his "Everybody Needs A 303" broke the Top 10 in Britain. A series of high profile remix jobs and the release of Better Living Through Chemistry saw Fatboy Slim join the Chemical Brothers and Bentley Rhythm Ace as leading lights of the British "big beat" boom. 1998's "The Rockafeller Skank" blew up as the undisputed single of the summer in Britain, and even broke through the defenses of America's technophobic radio programmers. The accompanying platinum album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby yielded Cook his biggest chart and radio success on both sides of the Atlantic in the form of "Praise You." The low budget Spike Jonze-directed video for the song became an unlikely phenomenon, collecting three MTV Video Music Awards, despite Cook's three-second cameo in the clip. Later in '98, Cook masterminded On The Floor At The Boutique, the first recorded DJ set from The Boutique. In Britain, Cook became the first proper celebrity to emerge from club culture, marrying and having a son with TV celebrity Zoe Ball and becoming something of a mascot for the smiley-faced generation. Upon the release of Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, Cook suggested that it could possibly be the last album in the Fatboy canon, given the potentially mellowing effects of his family life.

Early signs were not good. Single "Sunset (Bird of Prey)" pointed in the latter direction, its paper-thin breakbeat and cloying Jim Morrison sample sounding more Mighty Dub Katz than Fatboy Slim. Then "Ya Mama", a 16-year-old Limp Bizkit fan's idea of a Fatboy Slim song, started popping up in the background of commercials for the Charlie's Angels remake. Oh dear.

But wahey! There's life in the old boy yet, and Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, despite a couple of missteps, is brimming with life. There are a couple of Fatboy classics here in "Mad Flava" and "Drop the Hate", both songs that you could call "slammin" without blushing too much, and proof that if your pony knows a really good trick, you might as well let it dance. Or something.

There are also two nifty collaborations with Macy Gray. The first, "Lovelife", sounds just like every Macy Gray song, which is to say it's funky and fun and it'll stick in your head forever. The second, "Demons", is Norman's homage to/steal from (depending on your view of sampling) his hero Bill Withers, and comes together like a live-action "Praise You", the soulful piano matched by a moving lyric from Macy.

We also get a couple of great house stompers - particularly the demonic "Retox", Fatboy's best bit of four-on-the-floor since the first album's "First Down".

Best of all is the closer, "Song For Shelter". Essentially a remix of Roland Clark's spoken-word ode to house music "I Get Deep," it's a fantastic finish and a summation of everything lovable about Fatboy. "I take off my sweater and my pants and I start to dance and all the sweat just goes down my face and I pretend that there's nobody there but me in this place ... " raves Clark, as Norman gleefully pumps up the ecstatic synths behind him. It's silly and funny and heartfelt at the same time. It's music about dancing and laughing and feeling high, straight from the heart of a man who doesn't believe that there is anything else. Long may he reign.