68_Million_Shades...

<i>68 Million Shades...</i>

68 Million Shades...

1996 studio album by Spring Heel Jack

68 Million Shades... is the second album by the English musical duo Spring Heel Jack, released in 1996.[1][2] It was released in the United States in February 1997.[3] The duo supported the album with a North American tour that included shows opening for Orbital.[4] "Midwest" was released as a single.[5]

Quick Facts 68 Million Shades..., Studio album by Spring Heel Jack ...

Production

The album was produced by the duo, John Coxon and Ashley Wales.[6] They recorded from Monday to Friday, mostly from 11 in the morning until 6 in the evening.[7] The duo felt that they complemented each other in the studio, with Wales the more easygoing of the two.[7] They strove to create an album interesting enough to be enjoyed at home, divorced from nightlife and stimulants; they found that they kept adding musical elements to any attempt at a "regular" dance track.[8][9] Coxon and Wales considered Ennio Morricone and Brian Eno to be among their primary influences.[10] The duo produced a disc of remixes of the album, Versions.[11]

Critical reception

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The Guardian noted that "Spring Heel Jack are routinely described in the music press as studio geniuses, but this sleekly produced masterwork suggests that a state-of-the-art studio has booted out the mere humans and set its own controls for the heart of the sun."[16] Robert Christgau called the album "prog jungle," writing that Wales and Coxon "recontextualize drum 'n' bass's redolent lingo—its triple-time superdrum pitta-pat, its impossible deep tremblors that modulate whole power plants in repose—by subsuming densely frenetic techno cum dancehall in a witting synthesis of electronic composition and another of Wales's passions, On the Corner-era Miles Davis."[14] The New York Times said that the duo "merges strings and horns that sound as if they come from movie soundtracks with a beat that can fluidly change from a rapid-fire drum-machine roll to a conga rhythm."[17]

Entertainment Weekly concluded that "the record has moments of airy, disquieting tranquility... But it could double as Muzak for a department store’s Gen-X section."[18] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution determined that Spring Heel Jack "is equally an inheritor of punk's do-it-yourself aesthetic and 1950s 'exotica' auteur Les Baxter's distinctly mondo notions about mood music."[13] Rolling Stone stated: "Surrounding their break beats with a reverberating drone, Spring Heel sample sweeping strings, elastic saxophone, sitar, car horns, steel guitar, piano and trumpet, as well as cryptic, treated sounds, into a reverberating clamor that is equally tuneful and enigmatic."[19] Spin included 68 Million Shades... on its list of "The 10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear in '96".[20]

AllMusic wrote that the album "continues the duo's dense, dub-inspired take on jungle."[12]

Track listing

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References

  1. [1]
    Shapiro, Peter (1999). Drum 'n' Bass: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. p. 206.
  2. [2]
    Stubbs, David (Jun 22, 1996). "Well heeled". Melody Maker. Vol. 73, no. 25. p. 50.
  3. [3]
    Flick, Larry (Nov 2, 1996). "We're excited to report that Spring Heel Jack's...". Billboard. Vol. 108, no. 44. p. 30.
  4. [4]
    Gallo, Phil (Dec 5, 1996). "Orbital; Spring Heel Jack". Music. Variety.
  5. [5]
    Savage, Jon (Dec 1996). "Top ten—Spring Heel Jack". Artforum International. Vol. 35, no. 4. p. 54.
  6. [6]
    Verna, Paul (Feb 8, 1997). "68 Million Shades...". Billboard. Vol. 109, no. 6. p. 62.
  7. [7]
    Gross, Jason (January 2001). "Spring Heel Jack". Perfect Sound Forever.
  8. [8]
    Helms, Colin (June 1997). "Spring Heel Jack: A Little Fantasy World of Sound". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 46. p. 9.
  9. [9]
    Kot, Greg (28 Mar 1997). "British Logic: Spring Heel Jack Organizes All Sorts of Electronic Data". Friday. Chicago Tribune. pp. 7, 15.
  10. [10]
    Williams, Joe (13 Feb 1997). "68 Million Shades Spring Heel Jack". Get Out. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. 8.
  11. [11]
    Porter, Christopher (November 15, 1996). "Spring Heel Jack". Arts. Washington City Paper.
  12. [12]
    "68 Million Shades... Review by John Bush". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  13. [13]
    Dollar, Steve (23 Jan 1997). "Techno". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. G4.
  14. [14]
    "Spring Heel Jack". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
  15. [15]
    Romero, D. James (16 Feb 1997). "Record Rack". Calendar. Los Angeles Times. p. 68.
  16. [16]
    Gittins, Ian (28 June 1996). "Music: This week's dance cd releases". The Guardian. p. T24.
  17. [17]
    Strauss, Neil (30 July 1996). "New Sound Takes Root and Grows". The New York Times. p. C11.
  18. [18]
    Browne, David (January 24, 1997). "Spring Heel Jack". Music. Entertainment Weekly.
  19. [19]
    Micallef, Ken (Feb 6, 1997). "68 Million Shades...". Rolling Stone. No. 753. p. 48.
  20. [20]
    Hermes, Will (Jan 1997). "The 10 Best Albums You Didn't Hear in '96". Spin. Vol. 12, no. 10. p. 61.
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