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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

The Karminsky Experience
"Departures"
The Power of Suggestion
Patterns of Behaviour
samples
Sven Libek
"Misty Canyon "
Music for Dancefloors (Chappell)
Strut

The sophisticated melancholy of Sven Libek's "Misty Canyon" -- a library track recorded 30 years ago -- finds a new home on The Karminsky Experience's album opener "Departures." It's about as perfect the second time around as it was the first.

Moby
"If Things Were Perfect"
Play
V2
samples
Willie Hutch
"Hospital Prelude to Love Theme"
Foxy Brown
Motown

The voice of Willie Hutch, truncated in mid-phrase, graces this downtempo track from Moby's hugely popular Play. "Give me some --" Hutch cries soulfully behind bass loop, ambient synth washes. Moby adds his own spoken word narrative describing a moody, lonesome walk in a dreamlike pre-dawn landscape. It's a haunting track, made moreso by Hutch's vocal interjection.

Mono
"Life in Mono"
Formica Blues
Echo/Mercury
samples
John Barry
"A Man Alone"
The Ipcress File
Decca

Mono's trip hop makes fleeting reference to John Barry's atmospheric score for The Ipcress File. Unfortunately, they don't use it as effectively as one would hope. For a better "Ipcress" sample, check out Coffee Table Music.

DJ Food
"The Riff"
Kaleidoscope
Ninja Tune
samples
Quincy Jones
"Rack 'em Up"
The Pawnbroker
Mercury

Quincy Jones' pulsating action jazz gets the blender treatment from DJ Food, who is actually two DJ producers, PC & Strictly Kev (though Coldcut founded DJ Food for the Jazz Brakes series some years back).

The track features Jones' repetitious piano/horn/bass/drum riff, mixed with spoken word snippets of a chick babbling about hanging out with poets and artists ("It's such a trip!"), as well as snippets from an interview about jazz improvisation. Some brass stabs through the mix occasionally and traffic sounds lend the track even more movement. It's truly a tour de force of the mixer's art.

DJ Vadim with Sarah Jones
"Your Revolution"
XenCuts (Ninja Tune Box)
Ninja Tune
samples
Nancy Holloway
"Sand and Rain"
Pop Boutique 1
Spinning Wheel

Inspired by (and dedicated to) proto-rapper Gil Scott Heron, this feminist manifesto sports a lowdown groove snatched from Nancy Holloway's "Sand and Rain", a lost soundtrack made for Sonoton about 30 years ago, but now found on Pop Boutique 1 (Spinning Wheel). The original is soulful and moving. DJ Vadim sampled the opening only, sped it up a bit, then Sarah Jones delivered the rap. Nothing more was needed, since Jones' rap has a poetic frankness that's as mesmerizing as it is genuine.

"Your revolution will not happen between these thighs...,
the real revolution ain't about booty size,
the Versacis you buys, or the Lexus you drives...
Your revolution will not be you killing me softly with Fugees,
your revolution ain't gonna knock me up without no ring,
and produce little future emcees,
cuz that revolution will not happen between these thighs..."

And so forth. She's got conviction, but the rap is further reinforced by Vadim's single-minded loop. Nicely done.

Robbie Williams
"Millennium"
The Ego Has Landed
Capital
samples
John Barry
"You Only Live Twice"
You Only Live Twice
United Artists

With a title like "Millennium", one suspects more savvy marketing than winning song craft, but this Robbie Williams' song actually has staying power. Melodically, it owes its success to a sample from John Barry's Bond theme "You Only Live Twice", sung originally by Nancy Sinatra for the 1967 film (see a review of the soundtrack at License to Score). The original has a great melodic hook, which in a matter of a couple of bars, exudes an irrepresible romanticism. Williams' lyric exudes optimism in the face of contemporary jadedness (and yes that is a word!) Not a bad match.

Portishead
"Sour Times"
Dummy
Go Discs, Ltd.
samples
Lalo Schifrin
"Danube Incident"
More Mission: Impossible
Dot

For their 1994 trip hop hit "Sour Times", the UK group Portishead hijacked the atmosphere of film noir intrigue from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident", a Mission: Impossible original. They dropped a breakbeat behind it, lent it additional atmosphere via Rhodes, Hammond and guitar, and last but not least Beth Gibbons' bleak vocal. "Nobody loves me, it's true... not like you do." When you hear it done as well as it's done here, you wonder why it isn't done more often. (For more Mission: Impossible reviews, see Review Archive: M.)

Propellerheads
"History Repeating"
Decks, Drums
& Rock and Roll
Dreamworks
samples
William Loose
"The Topless Bar"
Russ Meyer's...
QDK Media

For their big beat hit "History Repeating", the British duo Propellerheads enlisted the great voice of Shirley Bassey, whose work on James Bond themes ("Goldfinger", "Diamonds are Forever") is legend. The track has even been featured in a Jaquar TV ad. To give the track its swagger, however, Propellerheads turned to a hard driving big band sample, originally found on the William Loose soundtrack for the Russ Meyer sleazefest Finders Keepers Lovers Weepers. The German label QDK reissued the score along with several other Meyer-related OSTs (For more on Russ Meyer, see Series Spotlight.)