Decksandrumsandrockandroll
Decksandrumsandrockandroll | ||
---|---|---|
Studio album by Propellerheads | ||
Released | 26 January 1998 | |
Genre | Big beat, breakbeat, trip hop | |
Length |
Wall of Sound – 68:56 Japanese – 99:20 DreamWorks – 67:45 | |
Label |
Wall of Sound DreamWorks Records | |
Producer |
Will White Alex Gifford | |
Singles from Decksandrumsandrockandroll | ||
|
Professional ratings | |
---|---|
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Entertainment Weekly | A−[2] |
Spin | 7/10[3] |
Pitchfork Media | 7.9/10[4] |
Rolling Stone | [5] |
Headphone Commute | favorable[6] |
Decksandrumsandrockandroll is the only studio album by the British band Propellerheads, released on 26 January 1998 by Wall of Sound (UK) and DreamWorks (U.S.).
Content on the album
The original release of Decksandrumsandrockandroll features 13 tracks, produced by Will White and Alex Gifford. Most are instrumental, sometimes with vocal samples. The exception is "History Repeating", which features vocals from veteran singer Shirley Bassey.
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a collaboration with composer David Arnold and his orchestra. It is a remix of John Barry's theme from the James Bond film of the same name which also features a cue from his score for You Only Live Twice (beginning at 4'42").
"Take California" was the first song to be used in an iPod advertising campaign, appearing in the first commercial for the original model and, in general, the first iPod commercial. "It's all basically three notes!" said Gifford. "Three good ones, though. Oh, and there's another one-note line over the top. Then I found Richard Nixon on this early cut-up comedy record. He's saying, "Take California," and LBJ is showing people round the White House. This track crops up in odd places – it even got nominated for a Grammy as Best Rock Instrumental. So that was a privilege! We got beaten by one of those seasoned guitar types – not Santana but of that ilk."[7]
"History Repeating" was used in a Pantene Pro-V shampoo commercial and on the 1998 Jaguar S-type commercial. An instrumental version was also the theme music to UK programme So Graham Norton broadcast on Channel 4 between July 1998 to March 2002.
"Bang On" was featured in the Nintendo 64 game Wipeout 64 and the first episode, "The Sofa," of sitcom 15 Storeys High. It also appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 film Lost in Space.
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was also featured in full on Tony Hawk's prominent skateboarding movie titled "The End."
"Spybreak!" was featured in The Matrix during the famous lobby shootout scene.
Track listing
- "Take California" – 7:23
- "Echo And Bounce" – 5:29
- "Velvet Pants" – 5:49
- "Better?" – 2:05
- "Oh Yeah?" – 5:28
- "History Repeating" – 4:05
- "Winning Style" – 6:00
- "Bang On!" – 5:57
- "A Number Of Microphones" – 0:48
- "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" – 9:23
- "Bigger?" – 2:22
- "Cominagetcha" – 7:07
- "Spybreak!" – 7:00
Wall of Sound (Japanese edition)
The Japanese edition of the Wall of Sound album includes a bonus CD with the following tracks:
- "You Want It Back" – 6:01
- "360° (Oh Yeah)" – 4:29
- "Go Faster" – 6:12
- "Ron's Theory" – 6:38
- "Dive" – 7:04
Dreamworks
The DreamWorks label released the album in North America and South America. This edition differs from the Wall of Sound album by removing "Echo And Bounce" from the album, and adding "You Want It Back", a collaboration with the Jungle Brothers, added at the end of the CD. The version of "Oh Yeah" was retitled to "360° (Oh Yeah?)", and features vocals from De La Soul, which are absent from the WoS release.
All tracks by Alex Gifford except were noted
- "Take California" – 7:21
- "Velvet Pants" – 5:46
- "Better?" (Will White) – 2:03
- "360° (Oh Yeah?)" (De La Soul, Gifford) – 4:27
- "History Repeating" – 4:02
- "Winning Style" – 5:58
- "Bang On!" – 5:44
- "A Number Of Microphones" (White) – 0:45
- "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (John Barry) – 9:20
- "Bigger?" – 2:20
- "Cominagetcha" – 7:02
- "Spybreak!" – 6:58
- "You Want It Back" (Jungle Brothers, White) – 5:59
Personnel
Propellerheads are
- Alex Gifford – production, synths, programming
- Will White – drums
Other musicians
- Shirley Bassey – vocals
- De La Soul – raps (US only)
- David Arnold – orchestral arrangement
- Chris Lawson – guitar
- Mike Thomas – guitar
- Grant Mitchell - bass
Technical crew
- Mike Marsh – mastering
- Prince – engineer
- Lee Strickland – photography
- Dave Trump – assistant engineer
References
- ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. Decksandrumsandrockandroll at AllMusic
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/1998/03/30/decksandrumsandrockandroll
- ↑ Spin (6/98, p.129) - 7 (out of 10) - "...an unhesistatingly rhythmic update of incident-crammed '60s instrumental pop, working from a fond retroisim that ranges from James Bond films to the daft history of suit-and-tie radio voices....Utterly snappy and effortlessly inclusive, it zooms past crankier, knottier sources and antecedents...erasing the memory of less slick stuff..." https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ij4Wc-5krxYC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA129&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false
- ↑ http://web.archive.org/web/20000930190745/http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/record-reviews/p/propellerheads/decksandrumsandrockandroll.shtml
- ↑ Rolling Stone review
- ↑ Headphone Conmute review
- ↑ Q, May 2001