Track Listing

1. Suntoucher
2. Superstylin'
3. Drifted
4. Little By Little
5. Fogma
6. My Friend
7. Lazy Moon
8. Raisin' The Stakes
9. Healing
10. Edge Hill
11. Tuning In (Dub Mix)
12. Join Hands

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9158 in Music
• Released on: 2001-09-11
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
Following a tide of critical acclaim and numerous appearances on every other chill-out compilation since records began, Groove Armada's Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) has an awful lot to live up to. Vertigo, released in February 2000, was a phenomenal success, critically and commercially, spawning hits like "If Everybody Looked the Same" and the sun-drenched "At the River." Having found their niche in downbeat, Groove Armada explore the style even further on Country. The opening track, "Suntoucher," is a slow-burning dub plate, featuring Jeru The Damaja, which breaks out a supercool horn riff midway through. It's a fantastic start to the album, but it does begin to feel a little long as the song unspools. Even the slightly more uptempo numbers, like first single "Superstylin'" and "Fogma," don't rush into anything, building slowly before the bass hook and drums kick in with a lukewarm impact. Goodbye Country is another musical triumph for Groove Armada, with every track as good as the one before. Still, it's a shame they veer so strongly in a downbeat direction, as they mostly leave behind the quirky house style that helped distinguish their earlier work. --David Trueman

From URB Magazine
If there's one thing to love about Groove Armada's latest offering, it's that we can finally - and happily - move past the overused "Shakin' That Ass" references. It may not be a strong case for picking up the album, but it may be the best excuse. After all, it's hard for any band with the hype Groove Armada garnered with Vertigo to answer back with an equally satiating follow-up. Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub) (not an exception, by the way) more than else proves that despite the possibility for creative ingenuity, recording in a vacuum doesn't always work (the Brit duo holed themselves up for nine months in the studio for this album). You risk compiling a cafeteria plate of items, which this is.

For example, "Suntoucher" is an ineffectual hip-hop tune that falls flat. "Fogma" has a body-bouncing groove that we've heard too many times before and is at least a minute too long. "Join Hands" is a buttery kiss tainted with bad breath in the form of boring vocals underlined by easy drums. But when there are moments, they strike and wittingly pull bodies off seats. The rubbery "Superstylin'" is the "I See You Baby" of the album, with its thunderous, gritty bass nets and surprise video-game ending. Soul man Richie Havens saves "Little By Little" with his husky vocals. Side dishes include the self-reflective, solemn "Lazy Moon" and "Edge Hill" (both of which could have come from collabos with Air) and "Drifted," an open-space, Beach Boys-on-downtempo sunny seaside number. It's desserts like these that make a mediocre album worth the trip back, if you're still hungry, that is.

Phuong-Cac Nguyen

Customer Reviews

AUDIO CD
THIS CD WAS PURCHASED AS A GIFT FOR MY GRANDAUGHTER. SHE SAID IT WAS GREAT!

Another Successful Album For The Groove
I bought this album at its release in 2001. Six years later and I'm still playing the entire album or some of its choice tracks on a regular basis. This is a very good album by Groove Armada. I'm sure it would sound just as fresh today for someone who is not overly familiar with its tracks.

Noteable mentions are "Superstylin'" and "Edge Hill" with the remaining tracks being completely dud-free.

One of the best performers to catch live, prove that they can do the studio thing too with Goodbye Country (Hello Nightclub).

4/5 stars.

Hellooooo, Groove Armada
Long after proving themselves to be maestros of analogue-driven club-roots pyrotechnics with the quaking "I See You Baby" and the lackadasical "At The River," Groove Armada put out "Goodbye Country," proving that their versatility has no limits. This album proves that the definitions of "house" or "groove" or "chill" or "dance" are only as constricted as the artist who aspires to them.

Findlay and Cato partner with a classy conglomeration of collaborators (Celetia Martin, Jeru the Damaja, Richie Havens, et. al.) to form an album of music that is at times excruciatingly sweet ("My Friend"), at times deep and deliberate ("Fogma"), and sometimes just plain air-slappingly ecstatic (you must've heard "Superstylin'" by now).

Whether they're weaving herbal folk rhythms into something sunny and gorgeous ("Little by Little") or pumping out minimalist hip-hop sewn tightly to exquisitely looped musical murals ("Raisin' the Stakes" and "Suntoucher"), they're redefining the meaning of Good Music. Their sound here is lankier and lazier than in album's past, but it is certainly just as wonderful as ever.