ReviewI bought this at a boot fair because it made me smile to see it... and for it's potential comedy value.
I was expecting a completely excruciating experience that would have me in fits of laughter at the hopelessly dated eighties middle-class-chancer- white-man-does-hip-hop awfulness...
...but in all fairness, it's not that bad at all!
In fact, it is in many ways very innovative, ahead of it's time, and even pretty good stuff.
While of course, there are the painful bits, what with the notably eighties Buffalo Gals (They go round the outside you know), and Double Dutch, which has a sheen of cringe-worthiness, a lot of this actually prefigures Paul Simon's Graceland by three whole years, and at times, sounds as good!
It opens each side with some ambient electronica (with some Vangelis-y squiggles etc.), and has some Reggae inspired elements, and some reasonably good early Hip-Hop, all set in the context of a continuing Radio station broadcast, which comes in between tracks.
...So a bit of a concept album too, with a ton of other assorted stuff thrown in.... whatever dear old Malc fancied was the way of the future...the way of the future.... the way of the future... the way of th... (Sorry, went a bit Howard Hughes there for a moment, no doubt inspired by Malcom McLaren himself).
Malcolm (We're on first name terms now) does have the good sense to keep his own vocal contributions to a bare minimum, and they aren't that prominent when he does, so it's not toe-curler it could have been... often leaving those vocal duties to people who can actually sing, and Hip-Hop-er-ise after the fashion of the old school.
The vinyl is great sounding too, even if it's a bit thin and floppy.
Very pleasantly surprised.
Malcolm McLaren may not have been half as important, visionary, or as good as he himself thought he was, but that still leaves a lot of room for good stuff like this.