You've Come A Long Way, Baby

10/20/1998 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Ken Micallef

Norman Cook, a.k.a. Fatboy Slim, is a con man, a flim-flamming, sample-juggling huckster who would hock his mother for a rare vinyl LP or an old drum machine. Norman's modus operandi is to beg, borrow, and conceal every sample he can get, then plaster the product over a greasy big beat, producing so much ear-gripping funk-a-bility that even after your booty has stopped busting, your brain can't forget the damn song.

The surf-a-billy funk-hop of "The Rockafeller Skank" was only the tip of the Norman's game. Juxtaposing every genre he can imagine, Norman is the wonder bread boy of big beat, exacting the primitive world of DJing down to a sonic science. "Soul Fishing" matches reggae voices with a cheerful bubblegum melody, "In Heaven" drops chicken scratch guitar with a bulbous Fat Albert groove and inane profanity; "Ganstger Tripping" melds Stax-styled horns with wicked t'table scratching and woozy breakbeats. He goes slightly more solid on "Acid 8000" and "Love Island," respectively recalling Detroit techno and old skool house. But sampling is a young man's game, and Norman is--well, he's not 22 anymore. But with the loot he'll pull from this CD he can afford to get his old mom out of the pawn shop.