Palookaville: Fatboy Slim

After four years of touring, relaxing and writing music, Fatboy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook) finally has a follow-up to the unreal Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars. Which is good, really -“ dance music as a mainstream chart force has come and gone, and this album can stand on its own.

On Palookaville Cook shows his songwriting diversity, with songs ranging from a 3/4 time rap The Journey to the quite annoying guinea pig race soundtrack of Slash Dot Com (which is the album’s first single).

He also nods to pop, getting out his old bass guitar (from his days with The Housemartins) and hiring some unashamedly pop singers, like Blur’s Damon Albarn on Put It Back Together. And he doesn’t avoid cheese, either, as evidenced by his version of the Steve Miller Band’s The Joker.

Palookaville has some definite hits and one or two misses, and it’s definitely worth the wait.