It was only a matter of time before somebody finally got it together and created the ultimate video-game soundtrack album, even though this was a totally separate release and was best heard playing over all the video game emulations of eighties games you could now run on your computer, but the point remains the same.
If the vague rule of thumb goes that something American is cleaned up/reprocessed by fanatics in the UK and then returned to the colonies, then as Smokey Robinson and Elvis were to the Beatles, let's say -- or should that be the New York Dolls to the Sex Pistols or Chic to Duran Duran? -- then Public Enemy was to the Chemical Brothers, among others. And they'll be the first to admit it, happily. Even though the Bomb Squad still can't be touched and never will be -- and Tom Morello's increasingly boring and wankshredding attempts to do so with a guitar just make me cry, frankly, but then what about Rage Against the Machine doesn't? -- Messers Rowlands and Simons here aimed for their own form of instrumental tension, fusion, release and capitulation. They just made the smart move of not trying to rap over it themselves.
So everything for the most part is pure white light/white heat removed from the yawnsome context of rock history, because it ain't rock. It rocked, of course, but it ain't rock. That's why the basslines rumbled deep on "In Dust We Trust" but the killer hook was the looped bit of scratching that heralded the initial collision of the song, for one. Lee Perry and Kool D Herc might neither collective recognize where their initial efforts would finally end up, but alternately maybe they're somewhere laughing their heads off.
And so, as I said, a great videogame soundtrack album, all this stomping noise. Some of the greatest song intros around, as well. I'm thinking of the deep feedback-as-call-to-arms alarm kicking off "Three Little Birdies Down Beats," the low burbles followed by beat release on "Life is Sweet," of course the Kraftwerk-sampling start of "Leave Home," etc. and on. And when they do bring in others to sing or what have you, it's not really that bad at all -- sampling Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard for "Song to the Siren" does the trick, but having Tim Burgess in for "Life is Sweet," in his own not-really-there way, has a certain better something. Maybe Beth Orton makes things a little too sleepy at the end, but hey, since when is perfection always granted?