 Us3 Certainly one of the more irrelevant CDs to come down the pipeline in awhile, this warmed-over collection of Us3 "hits" and remixes is about as inspiring as its half-assed cover art, which looks more like a screen saver than an album cover. You can't really blame Blue Note for milking its few cash cows, because they've probably made ten times the money on "Cantaloop" than they have on the entire career of Donald Byrd. It's albums like this one that bankroll the steady stream of sweet reissues that keep Blue Note hounds like myself in a perpetual state of salivation and/or ejaculation. But that's not to say I have to transfer my bonerrific bliss over a Lee Morgan CD to an appreciation of the one-trick-pony Us3. Flip Fantasia collects the one legitimate hit, "Cantaloop," along with some other similar songs from the two Us3 albums and adds four remixes to pad things out. At least they didn't try to make this an exhaustive retrospective, instead presenting an unassuming collection of listenable early 90s hip-hop/jazz. Yes, it was inspired to put original Blue Note grooves and 90s hip-hop stylings together, but Us3 wasn't the best group to do this, and in fact Us3 was not really a group, just a couple of white guys with access to a very enviable vault of primo samples. The rapping is generic but pleasant, in the vein of Q-Tip or De La Soul, and the style is along the lines of the first Digable Planets album, but without any purpose apart from pure sound. As "acid jazz," it's fine. As jazz, it's so-so. As hip-hop, it's less than stellar. As a CD for your collection, it is 100% unnecessary. Disregard the fact that you can hear "Cantaloop" or any of its thousands of knockoffs simply by turning on the television and waiting for a car or perfume commercial. Focus on the fact that any CD with a song actually called "I Got it Goin' On" is not legitimate in any way. The remixes don't add much to the proceedings, and overall the whole thing is pretty forgettable. It's perfect background music, if you happen to live in a perfume commercial. I'll go so far as to say that if you've bought this or have even considered it, you're hopelessly out of the "loop."
Review by Paula Pole |