Track Listing

1. Moog Island
2. Trigger Hippie
3. Post Houmous
4. Tape Loop
5. Never an Easy Way
6. Howling
7. Small Town
8. Enjoy the Wait
9. Col
10. Who Can You Trust?
11. Almost Done
12. End Theme

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20651 in Music
• Released on: 1996-09-24
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Hypnotic, Trippy, Quiet, and Beatiful
I first heard Morcheeba's "Tape Loop" on one of my chill-out mixes a long time ago. But when I stopped listening to the mix after a few weeks, I sadly forgot all about them. However, after a four-year hiatus, I gave Morcheeba a second listen (quite by accident) a few weeks ago while on vacation with some friends. One of our group had brought with him this CD, on which I was immediately hooked.

Morcheeba's debut album is hypnotic, trippy, quiet, and beautiful. The CD provides excellent backgroud chillout music. Comparable to Massive Attack and Portishead, Morcheeba features a whispery, female lead singer (Skye Edwards) and a host of electronic, ambient grooves. Starting with "Moog Island" the CD quickly sets the quiet and hypnotic tone with Skye's haunting voice and deep, calm baselines. The disc continues in a similar fashion with "Trigger Hippie," before breaking into the basy, quiet instrumental interlude of "Post Humous." Next is "Tape Loop," which was just as cool as I had remembered it to be.

The trippy ambience continues flawlessly until it is interupted by the down-home sounds of "Enjoy the Wait," the minute-long eighth track on the set. It may take a few times, but it's subtle electronic wave in the background just might catch your ear and change your uneasy reaction for the better. The next track, the quiet and powerful "Col" featuring Skye's voice at it's whispery best, starts the experience all over agian and it continues perfectly through the end of the CD.

This has become one of my favorite chillout CDs. It's mellow all the way through and is the perfect CD to listen to at the end of a long day, or for sitting outside with a frosty beverage trying to forget your cares. Highly recommened to anyone who needs to relax.

Breezy, but a brilliant album for tripping to!
Like most people, I was aware of Morcheeba for a long time, but dismissed them as a wannabe Portishead at the time. It was only with the brilliant 'Big Calm' that my perceptions changed. I went back to this album, their first, and while it was not as instant as 'big calm', there is much to savour. Opening with the magical 'Moog Island', (which I was already familiar with thanks to its inclusion on 'Big Calm' as a bonus track) the pace and stlye for the album is set. Slow grooving with lush keyboards, light cymbals and funky guitars, it serves as a good indicator for the rest of the album. Skye's voice is gorgeous, and she sings in a deep and soothing tone. It perfectly complements the musical background she sings over. 'Trigger Hippie', the hit single, is a bit more upbeat, and it's use of slide guitar as well as scratching provides an interesting backgound for Skye's catchy vocal. There are many short bursts of instumentals on the album, such as the funky 'Post Houmous', or the 'End Theme' which reprises parts of Moog Island at a faster pace. But my favourite track is the beautiful 'Howling'. The introduction of a string quartet seems to help Morcheeba realise the whole extent of their talent (it was this that made Big Calm so brilliant) and the song is an epic, helped by Skye's growlsome vocal. The only problem with the album is that I feel it is a bit overlong, and editing would have helped. Most of the tracks are brilliant, but they are sometimes a bit forgettable as the album is so long. If you liked Big Calm, then this is a worthy purchase, and it is interesting to hear the roots of Big Calm's unusual sound.

Electric Blues
I first heard Morcheeba while watching their "Trigger Hippie" video (anyone know where I can get it?) on MTV2, and for about five minutes after the vid was over, I didn't pay attention to a single thing, on TV or otherwise. All I could do was sit there in a dull stupor and recite the song over in my head. Any music that can do that to you has a bit of talent behind it. The Godfrey brothers and Skye Edwards certainly have no lack thereof. While "Who Can You Trust?" isn't as fun as "Big Calm" it brings out Blues roots with great wah-filled guitar solos and heavier ryhthms. One album isn't better than the other, I just think that Morcheeba set out to do albums that were equally good, but had different themes. Whatever you like, buy this CD.