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[Interesting
fact:
Billion Dollar
Gravy is also featured in London Elektricity’s live act.
They're one of the first Drum and Bass acts to go live, with all
the vocal talent from this album, plus the Jungle Drummer, sustaining
the 170bpm pace for the set] |
London
Elektricity – Billion Dollar Gravy
[1] Billion
Dollar Gravy
[2] Different
Drum
[3] Fast
Soul Music
[4] 2 Be
Me
[5] Great
Drum + Bass Swindle, The
[6] Cum Dancing
[7] Main
Ingredient
[8] Harlesden
[9] My Dreams
[10] Born
To Synthesize
[11] Syncopated
City |
| 'Billion Dollar
Gravy' is the follow up album to London Elektricity’s widely
acclaimed first album 'Pull The Plug', released in July 1999. Billion
Dollar Gravy follows on from 'Pull the Plug'’s Drum and Bass,
Jazz, Funk and Hip Hop influences and combines them to produce an
altogether more dancefloor orientated style of music. |
 |
The
album opens with the title track 'Billion Dollar Gravy', a very organic
sounding piece of electronic music, with a solid upbeat rhythm sustained
from the start. It sets the level for the entire album; organic and
funky. Following on is 'Different Drum', a vocal number featuring the
vocal talents of Robert Owens. Again another upbeat track, but with
orchestral overtones. Moving into the middle of the album we get three
tracks: 'Fast Soul Music', which is exactly what it says, dance music
for the soul; 'To Be Me', a simple piece of Drum and Bass, with a nice
horn lick running in the background; and 'The Great Drum and Bass Swindle',
a track heavily laced with funk and horns and drawing on the earlier
samples and sounds from 'Pull The Plug'.
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'Cum Dancing'
has been around for a while in the clubs, played out by the likes
of Andy C, Pascal and DJ Zinc - yet it loses none of its enthusiasm
for having been played so much. For me 'Main Ingredient' is one
of the weaker tracks on the album despite it's name. It’s
a pretty generic sounding track, just lacking a certain something,
despite the quality of its production and vocals supplied by the
excellent Lianne Carrol.
Towards the
end of the album we’re greeted with some slower, more atmospheric
music, but not before we get 'Harlesden', a track named after
the area it was produced in. A groovy little number, with some
nice atmospherics running throughout. 'My Dreams' is next: a track
that was first released on 12” in 2001, featuring vocals
from Robert Owens, and a quality Chicago House sound. It’s
an eclectic track; squeezed into seven and a half minutes, widely
recognised across many genres, this is possibly the strongest
track on the album. |
We
finish with 'Born to Synthesise', another vocal track with Lianne Carrol
(a personal favourite), and 'Syncopated City', both showing obvious
R'n'B influences, yet still manage to be true to the album and not stray
too far from the blueprint.
All
in all this is an accomplished collection of tracks with Tony Coleman
showing the Drum and Bass heads how to make a proper album. One that
will sit nicely in the background of a bar, or likewise be cranked up
full volume at a party, and a must for anyone looking to sample the
best that Drum and Bass music has to offer.
David
Wright
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