Groove Armanda - Lovebox

  • Published
    Dec 17, 2002
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    Resident Advisor
  • Released
    November 2002
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  • It's new, it's different, and it's hardly Groove Armada. Gone are the days of a repetitive vocal loop - "i see you baby, shaking that ass". These have been replaced with distorted guitar and garage beats. The albums kickoff,"purple haze" is the first single from the album and is definitely different from previous GA tracks in the past. The grungy guitar and wicked vocal sample set the pace for the remainder of the album. "groove is on" is also another highlight, with its junky loose beat under some nice vocals from hip hop veteran, neneh cherry. "remember" is a soulful ballad which i think really comes up to early in the cd because of it's slow "chill" quality, although a beautiful song, it just doesn't set the mood for the albums highest highlight "madder". This fantastic piece of rock/hiphop/funk is just the thing to get you going before a wicked night out. "final shakedown" is a nice piece of funky house music which goes strait back to groove armada's roots, and is a sure fire track destined for club play, although not really groundbreaking in style or originality. "hands of time" is an ode to 70's soul, reminiscent of the greats such as curtis mayfield, and marvin gaye. The next three tracks are really the album stocking fillers, but by no means "bad" tracks. just a selection of commercial house tracks. the closer " but i feel good good" sounds like on of countless Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook remixes but without that annoying repetitive jitter that he uses in EVERY remix. Unfortunately goes on for just a bit too long and becomes very droning. The album, although different, is a very mature sounding album and really showcases these boys awesome production techniques and is an asset to any dance lovers collection.
RA