Moloko

Moloko - Catalogue - 2006 - EMI/Echo (USA)

A great collection of Moloko's biggest hits and best album tracks. This is romantic funky, and stylish, with a great electronic groove. Roisin Murphy's distinctive vocals and Mark Brydon's production skills have now proven to be a winning combination. These tracks are not just dance anthems. They can also be judged on their own merits as original, and inventive electronic pop, and can also be taken seriously by lovers of any music genre. A great album, and it's well worth checking out Moloko's other albums. For more music in the same vein, listen to Morcheeba, and Zero 7. N.B: Catalogue /was released in the UK as a two disc set, containing Moloko's singles and a track exclusive to this compilation, "Bankrupt Emotionally". The second disc is a live recording of a concert recorded in 2003 at Brixton Academy. Catalogue is also available as a bonus disc in three different exclusive versions as digital downloads, one each for iTunes, Napster and MSN. These exclusive downloads are made up of live versions, remixes of Moloko tracks and B-sides. This is the U.S 13 track version, and does not contain the second disc.

TRACKS

1 The Time Is Now
2 Sing It Back
3 Fun For Me
4 Familiar Feeling
5 Pure Pleasure Seeker
6 Cannot Contain This
7 Bankrupt Emotionally
8 Day For Night
9 Indigo
10 The Flipside
11 Where Is The What If The What Is In Why?
12 Forever More
13 Statues
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, & 11 composed by Mark Brydon, Roisin Murphy. Tracks 4, 6, 7, 12, & 13 composed by Mark Brydon, Eddie Stevens, Roisin Murphy

CREDITS

Arik Marshall (Guitar)
Eddie Stevens (Piano), (Keyboards), (Programming), (String Arrangements), (Brass Arrangement)
Paul Slowley (Drums)
Tony Finigan, Christine Jady, Andrew Fuller, Sophie Harris , Joy Hawley, Anne Lines (Cello)
Susan Dench (Viola), (Vocals)
Audrey Riley (Cello), (Conductor), (String Arrangements)
Winston Rollins (Trombone)
Leo Payne, Ann Morgee, Brigett Davey, Helen Paterson, Kathy Share, Laura Melhuish, James Harris, Emma Welton, Richard George, Charles Mutter, Liz Partridge, Clare Thompson, Harriet Davies, Gregory Warren-Wilson, Chris Tombling, Juliet Snell (Violin)
Simon Finch, Henry Collins (Trumpet)
Rachel Syms (Bassoon)
Richard Steggall (Horn)
N. Bray, Graeme Flowers, Chris Storr, Dominic Glover (Trumpet), (Flugelhorn)
Barnaby Dickinson, Nichol Thompson (Trombone)
Peter North (Trombone (Bass)
Danny Manners, Elizabeth Bradley, Bill McGee, Corin Long (Double Bass)
James A. Hunt (Saxophone)
Nick Charles (Sax (Bass)
Ben Castle (Sax (Tenor)
James Knight (Sax (Alto)), (Sax (Tenor)
Clare Finmore, Peter Collyer, Peter Lale, Catherine Musker, Chris Pitsillides, Richard Nelson (Vocals)
Lisa Millett, Steve Edwards (Vocals (Background)
Matthew Sime (Engineer)
Mark Brydon (Programming), (Producer), (Engineer), (Mixing)
Michael Lenge, Boris Dlugosch (Producer), (Remixing)
Steve Orchard (String Engineer)
Matthew Lawrence (Engineer), (Mixing)
Rohan Onraet, Chris Barrett, Gavin Goldberg (Assistant Engineers)
Ian Porter (Programming)

REVIEWS

Released three years after their final album, Statues, a Moloko best-of was long overdue. Fortunately, the straightforwardly named Catalogue delivers an impeccably edited collection of the duo's eclectic, ahead-of-the-curve music, gathering their biggest hits and key album tracks. Gorgeous romanticism, drop-dead style, and a funky sense of humor -- not to mention Roisin Murphy's charismatic vocals and Mark Brydon's forward-thinking production skills -- were the key ingredients in Moloko's freewheeling mix of dance, pop, and rock, all of which are on display throughout Catalogue and especially on its first five tracks, which are, not coincidentally, the duo's most popular singles. "Fun for Me" and "Pure Pleasure Seeker" are quintessential examples of Moloko's sexy, mischievous take on dance anthems; "The Time Is Now" and "Familiar Feeling" are searching-but-glamorous ballads; and of course, the pair's breakthrough single "Sing It Back" is as alluring as it is inventive. Unlike some best-ofs, which have to stretch to fill out an album's worth of tracks, Catalogue is a welcome reminder of how strong Moloko's overall body of work is. From Do You Like My Tight Sweater?'s "Day for Night" and "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" to the title track of Statues, each song on the collection holds up. Catalogue's only flaw -- if it can be called that -- is that it doesn't include many of the flights of fancy that made Moloko's albums so distinctive. The closest the collection gets to the duo's deeply kooky side is the cryptic but irresistible shuffle of "Indigo" and the playful pop of "The Flipside." This is a minor drawback though -- Catalogue is a great Moloko primer, and any newcomers charmed by the songs here have even more to discover on the full-length albums. © Heather Phares, All Music Guide

Blossoming from a self-titled EP in 1995, Moloko has steadily built an international following and a healthy catalog. With six LPs, an EP, and a DVD documentary under their belt it was time to pull out the Best Of. Here are their finest early tracks and several tracks previously unreleased in the US. This record follows the underground success of lead singer Roisin Murphy's solo recording, "Ruby Blue". © amazon.com



BIO

The Sheffield-based dance-pop duo Moloko is the end result of Irish-born singer Roisin Murphy's attempt to pick up mixer/producer Mark Brydon at a 1994 party with the come-on, "Do you like my tight sweater? See how it fits my body." Brydon saw musical potential in her attitude, and the two formed a creative and romantic partnership.Murphy, who had never sung outside of the shower before, was a newcomer to the music business. However, Brydon had many years of experience with U.K. house music acts House Arrest and Cloud 9, helped found Sheffield's Fon studios, and remixed artists like Eric B & Rakim and Psychic TV. Soon after forming Moloko, they released their debut single, "Where Is the What If the What Is in the Why?," and signed to Echo Records. The band's full-length debut, inevitably named Do You Like My Tight Sweater?, came out in 1995 and was an equal mix of Murphy's slinky attitude and Brydon's musical prowess. The album combined dance, funk, and trip-hop elements in an approach similar to Portishead or Massive Attack but with a sense of humor and sass unique to Moloko. Though the album's U.S. release occurred nearly a year later, the single "Fun for Me" was featured prominently on the Batman & Robin soundtrack and received some radio airplay.Moloko toured with kindred musical spirits such as Pulp, built a home studio, and recorded the follow-up to Do You Like My Tight Sweater?, titled I Am Not a Doctor. Released in 1998 (and late 1999 in the U.S.), the album continued in Moloko's witty, funky tradition and featured their breakthrough single, "Sing It Back." The group's third album, Things to Make and Do, which included the hits "The Time Is Now," "Pure Pleasure Seeker," and "Indigo," was issued in the U.K. in the spring of 2000 and was released in the States later that year via Roadrunner. Brydon and Murphy's romantic relationship ended just before they began work on 2002's Statues; after finishing the tour supporting the album, Moloko disbanded. © Heather Phares, All Music Guide