Review by DjBatman
4 stars out of 4
I've always admired the guy even if I only discovered his work around
1989, with his Johann Strauss inspired album "Waltz Darling".
In the 70's McLaren was the warped mind behind Sex Pistols; in 1983 he
ecided to start another huge "rock'n'roll swindle" releasing
his first album, which is now a classic and has been a source of inspiration
for more than a decade of dj's, producers and every kind of musical
weirdo. McLaren claims he has invented everything from punk rock to
scratching, from sampling to vogueing. Well, actually did not create any
of those, yet he has always been seriously pioneering new directions
in the music industry. For instance he did not create vogueing (he just
recycled a style of dancing, or better, "posing" that probably
appeared in gay discos in the late 80's, later brought to wider audiences
by Madonna); so, even if he was not the originator neither of sampling
nor of scratching, he was the first pop producer mixing hip-hop techniques
with world music and creating interesting and sometimes unique combinations.
Zulu chants and urban dance music, caribbean styles, a 75-years old
fiddle player from Tennessee and sound effects from the original Pac-Man
videogame, radio snippets and rap bits provided by the World Famous
Supreme Team and of course McLaren's sometimes ridiculous voice make a
crazy, excellent mix. World music for the end of the century. Oh, I
almost forgot: the album was produced by Trevor Horn and featured people
like Anne Dudley (on the seminal "Buffalo Gals", later re-presented
in a new version by McLaren on the album "Round the outside! Round
the outside!" -which was a sort of sequel to "Duck Rock"-
and recently resurfaced as a remix version) and Gary Langan of Art of
Noise fame. So, McLaren maybe did not truly originate anything, but he
worked with pioneers from the beginning and was himself a pioneer in
several ways. I have traced bits of this album in records like
"Megablast" by Bomb the Bass (was it 1988 or 1989?) and even
in 1998 big beat tracks like Bassbin Twins "Two turntables and a
crate of skint". So watch out. Listen to the original, then dig
through your record collection and try to spot those tasty bits... All
that scratching is making me itch!
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