An interesting pop/funk album

I recently purchased this album. I remember hearing "Rome Wasn't Build In A Day" and "World Looking In" when they were new, and really liked both of the songs, but never enough to get the album until now.



I wasn't familiar with Morcheeba until hearing these songs. As an outsider to their music, and as a person who enjoys 'popular' sounging music, I really enjoyed them and now the album overall. It has a very clear Motown/RnB/Funk flavor, mostly with Pop sensibility.



Overall, I have two minor disapointments. None of the songs on the album are as energetic as I expected after hearing Rome, but the album is still a nice listen, and borders in between good background music and something you really want to pay attention to. The other thing is, for some reasion I expected it to be a very cohesive concept album; something like Everything But the Girl's "Tempermental" where every song fits like pieces in a puzzle. The songs on Fragments don't fit together like that, but they do all sound like they belong on the same album, so that's good.



I can understand how some of Morcheeba's longtime fans may consider this album unrepresentative. But taken on it's own merit, it's a fun, modern interpretation of 60s/70s radio RnB, and worth a listen.

Hey, serious folks can get into this too!

After seeing all those negative reviews, I felt I needed to defend Skye Edwards and Morcheeba. Yes, this is very different from Big Calm and from a lot of other CDs in the trip-hop arena (of which I am a huge fan). I also like serious music, as attested by some of the darker groups I listen to (Cinematic Orchestra or Massive Attack, for example). However, when I listened to these songs, they really put me in a good mood, and in the end I liked it better than Big Calm. In summary, unless you are a trip-hop purist, you should give this a shot; who knows, maybe you'll find out that you like the new style without straying too far back in time. :-)

Wake-up People

Morcheeba has always stated that they never wanted to be placed in the "Trip-Hop" arena. They are not the type of group with whom you can place a stigma or a label on. So with each album they tend to go in a different direction, that's what makes them a great band. Fragments of Freedom is an excellent album another classic under their belts, and for once Trip-Hoppers you should approach a group with an open ear and mind, and fell good about yourselves. There is nothing wrong with feel good music.