Track Listing

1. Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes
2. Facing East
3. The Outernationalist
4. Interlude
5. Omid (Hope)
6. All That We Perceive
7. Simple Histoire (A Simple Story)
8. Meu Destino (My Destiny)
9. Exilio (Exile)
10. From Creation
11. The Richest Man In Babylon
12. Liberation Front
13. The State Of The Union
14. Until The Morning
15. Resolution

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3657 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-01
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Rob Garza and Eric Hilton consider it their most introspective work to date. Existing somewhere between rock, dub, psychedelic, Latin, and electronic music, this 2002 album finds the duo elevating their signature sound with more contemplative and thought-provoking songwriter. The jewel case is housed in a slipcase along with a 40-page black & white photo booklet. Eighteenth Street Lounge. 2002.

Amazon.com
Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza have always treated the line between acoustic and electronic music as a drunken sailor might, unpredictably falling on one side or the other with equal frequency. By this measure, The Richest Man in Babylon is their soberest effort to date, striding confidently into jazz, soul, world beat, and other styles with a direct, reverential approach. The band's last record, Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi, featured a set of classic jazz tunes unadorned with remixes or reinterpretation. But the songs on Babylon are originals, incorporating not just jazz but Afro-beat, Brazilian dance, Persian and Indian music, reggae, and psychedelia, all while making expert use of new and old collaborators like Sleepy Wonder, Lou Lou, and Shinehead. Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini makes an instant impression on the first track, "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes," her voice freeing the song's melody and structure with just a few hypnotic bars. It's hard to call this an electronic record at all; even their dub-influenced tracks miss a certain studio sheen, as if Hilton and Garza simply waded into a sweltering Jamaican beach party and hit record. But while it misses the ambient, ethereal edge that made The Mirror Conspiracy a downtempo classic, Babylon satisfies with organic energy and tasteful eclecticism. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

The lounge duo broaden their sound from background noodling to more overt stylings
Released in 2002, THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON is the third album and second mature effort by Washington D.C.-based lounge duo Thievery Corporation. Eric Hilton and Rob Garza specialize in a globalist chillout style that, from a musical standpoint, is pretty insubstantial fluff but which works quite well in the background for setting the mood. In common with their last album THE MIRROR CONSPIRACY, we find French vocals over a sitar ("Un Simple Histoire") and samba stylings ("Meu Destino"). There are samples from the Smithsonian's Rastafarian Elders CD ("The Outernationalist", "From Creation") and faux-1960s epic film scores ("Interlude").

A new aspect of Thievery Corporation's sound on THE RICHEST MAN are vocals that actually communicate something instead of being just spliff-inspired murmurings. Emeliana Torrini guest-stars on two tracks, and with angry reggae vocalist Sleepy Wonder the Corporation now had a source of fresh Rasta material. Indeed, upon hearing the album opener "Heaven's Going to Burn Your Eyes", you may wonder if the group has gone pop, but these songs are balanced by more abstract chillout material.

A troubling aspect of THE RICHEST MAN, however, is its theme of the global masses held down by The Man. Initial pressings of the album included a large booklet of photographs of poor people from around the globe, and some of the lyrics seek to be critical of the authorities ("State of the Union", "The Richest Man in Babylon"). Hilton and Garza ran 18th Street Lounge, one of the most exclusive venues in Washington D.C. where only perfect fashion sense and the hippest personal bearing would get you in, and one is tempted to doubt the sincerity of their concern for the global poor.

If you are unfamiliar with the work of Thievery Corporation, THE MIRROR CONSPIRACY and THE COSMIC GAME have the duo doing what they do best, background ambience (I lately favour the latter for its psychadelic tinges). I find THE RICHEST MAN the weakest of their mature albums.

Hands down, Thievery's Best album....
Really, folks. This is the album to buy. It's modern, relaxing and upbeat. Great music for the spring and summer, in particular! Put together very well and great compositions! I love it more, each and every time I hear it. I would recommend this, to everyone!!

Electronic Lounge Music.
Thievery Corporation is the DJ duo of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton, and their music is a fusion of dub, acid jazz, Indian classical dance music, rap, reggae, and Brazilian (bossa nova), with a downtempo-chillout lounge quality. The Richest Man in Babylon is their third album, and features vocalists from around the world (Iceland, Jamaica, France) including Emiliana Torrini, LouLou, Pam Bricker, Latin singers and several Jamaican rappers. Tracks include:

1. Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes (4:10)
2. Facing East (3:43)
3. The Outernationalist (3:30)
4. Interlude (1:21)
5. Omid (Hope) (3:48)
6. All That We Perceive (3:46)
7. Un Simple Histoire (A Simple Story) (3:45)
8. Meu Destino (My Destiny) (3:29)
9. Exilio (Exile) (3:03)
10. From Creation (4:20)
11. The Richest Man In Babylon (3:50)
12. Liberation Front (5:04)
13. The State Of The Union (4:28)
14. Until The Morning (3:57)
15. Resolution (4:46)

G. Merritt