What people search:
 | Title : The Richest Man in Babylon
Author : Thievery Corporation
Release Date : 20021001
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $16.98
Amazon.com Price : $13.49
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Editorial Reviews :
Thievery Corporation's Eric Hilton and Rob Garza have always treated the line between acoustic and electronic music as a drunken sailor might, unpredictably falling on one side or the other with equal frequency. By this measure, The Richest Man in Babylon is their soberest effort to date, striding confidently into jazz, soul, world beat, and other styles with a direct, reverential approach. The band's last record, Sounds from the Verve Hi-Fi, featured a set of classic jazz tunes unadorned with remixes or reinterpretation. But the songs on Babylon are originals, incorporating not just jazz but Afro-beat, Brazilian dance, Persian and Indian music, reggae, and psychedelia, all while making expert use of new and old collaborators like Sleepy Wonder, Lou Lou, and Shinehead. Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini makes an instant impression on the first track, 'Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes,' her voice freeing the song's melody and structure with just a few hypnotic bars. It's hard to call this an electronic record at all; even their dub-influenced tracks miss a certain studio sheen, as if Hilton and Garza simply waded into a sweltering Jamaican beach party and hit record. But while it misses the ambient, ethereal edge that made The Mirror Conspiracy a downtempo classic, Babylon satisfies with organic energy and tasteful eclecticism.
Buyer Reviews :
Well, we knew it would be hard to top Thievery Corporation's 'Mirror Conspiracy' which is surely a classic of whatever we are calling this genre now, 'chill out/after hours/lounge/downtempo' etc. And this latest release doesn't quite match it, but its still a great record in its genre, and definitely a disc to buy.
For those that don't know 'chill' essentially, if you want something in the background--your dinner party, your date--this is the kind of thing you put on. You can choose to focus on it or not, but it won't intrude or get too noisy or demanding. At its core, Thievery Corporation like most other chill, started out with modern jazz or jazz fusion, increasingly fused, as here, with many other eclectic styles. (Indeed the nostalgic hipster obsession with 'lounge music' and martinis a few years ago fueled this craze, but, hey, call it 'jazz' and its not so hip, 'chill out' is `cooler'.) And that is where 'Babylon' stumbles slightly.
A note up front, this is the most reggae/dub oriented of all their discs thus far, and reggae basslines account for at least 10 of the 15 tracks, and male reggae-style vocals for probably 8 of the 15 tracks. its also the most vocal of all the Thievery Corp. material. At the same time, it has the least jazz, electronic, or soul of all their releases.
Where 'Mirror Conspiracy' managed to blend different musical styles and yet maintain some cohesive and magical atmosphere that was bigger than the whole, here the disc falls short somewhat. Although the songs are all original pieces, you are conscious of listening to one genre after another. You find yourself saying: 'oh, here comes a reggae one, here comes an eastern sounding one, etc.' Thievery Corp. does have unique sound signatures, and beats that are run throughout, yet not sufficiently to pull it together into something bigger and better than the parts.
This is odd, considering this is all original material and not a remix album--indeed letting someone remix this entire set, say by K&D or Waldeck, might breath that last bit of extra life into the disc it needs.
Indeed the transition from one style to another can be jarring, and thus even the arrangement of tracks may be off. For example, the dreamy pop vocal {Morcheeaba-ish) psychadelia of the opening track is followed by a middle eastern sounding number. It is so distincly within its genre you would be hard pressed to recognize it as Thievery corp until minute 3, when some familiar percussion kicks in. This is followed by a 'straight' reggae track, then track four is another two minute straight atmospheric, beatless, eastern riff again. Thus the two middle eastern riffs are jammed into the first four tracks, and it jarrs.
Result: irritation, and I find myself listening to track 1 and then skipping to track 5 and listening to the disc from there, where somehow it holds together better. My favorite tracks are the last, 15, which has a truly magical ambience, and track 14 a reggae number with the refrain 'why do have to treat me the way you do' that is impossibliy hooky. Track 6 is the best and catchiest melody of all, yet I believe, since my disk is not scratched, that there is too much of a a vinyl scratch/click sound in the mix, I presume intended to be there (or unavoidable within some of the source material), that detracts from the whole.
If chill is where you are at, and you don't want a compilation of completely different artists--which is 90% of the 'chill' music out there--you should and must by Thievery Corporation, including this one. But start with their original material on 'Mirror Conspiracy' their 'DJ Kicks' mix-set (still the most fresh sounding, somehow); and their 'Abductions and Reconstructions' mix-set (which, although mixes of others work, is so remarkably different to the original mixes as to almost be new).
Thievery Corp. lead the pack in downtempo/chill and overrall this disc should be in your collection.
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