2 Step, UK Garage, breakbeat Garage - whatever - we're still to be properly convinced by the truly inspirational album that this year's underground and chart phenomenon has promised. MJ Cole side stepped the challenged, preferring to follow Talkin' Loud's Acid Jazz heritage, Artful Dodger took the commercial route into tepid R&B waters but now we have the widely acclaimed Wookie stepping forward to try his luck.
His pedigree is good. Wookie's remix of Gabrielle's 'Sunshine' is certainly one of the productions that started the ball which led all the way to 'Re-rewind' and the Top 10, rolling. The history of Wookie's original productions since that time can be traced throughout this debut album. From the 'breakbeat Garage' of 'Scrappy' and 'Battle' to the fantastically cheesy and unashamedly good time vibe of 'What's Going On?', the Soul II Soul protege's re-work of that group's 'However Do You Want Me (Acappella)', it's all here and more.
Then there's 'Battle', the single that first announced Wookie's full potential to join the list of Garage album contenders. This track occasioned yet another round of journalists claiming that the young Jason Chue (Chue = Chewbacca = Wookie, okay?) had created another new sub-genre within the UK sound, Garage soul, or nu Garage soul, or something like that. For those of us less concerned with reductive tags, 'Battle' was simply a bloody good, soulful, Garage vocal featuring the voice of Lain, who contributes vocals to four of the 11 tracks featured here.
One of these, 'Joy My Pride' is, unfortunately, a soul vocal that errs toward the Simply Red school of homespun romanticism - so soon to go sooo Mick Hucknall on us! Much more fun is the entertainingly tacky Balearic vibe of 'Back Up Back Up Back Up' which really sounds like it ought to feature a guest emcee spot from Redman. Instead it's another slightly tongue-in-cheek dance floor moment, stripped down to a clean and slightly flat production sound.
One problem with Wookie's very particular style of production is the limited range of his distinctive drum sounds, which seem to have changed very little since the Gabrielle remix. They're played off nicely by the Latin percussion elements added into 'What's Going On?' and are well suited to the syncopated vocals of 'Battle' but essentially stay the same throughout most of the Garage-flavoured tracks. Basically, Wookie ain't yer Photek of Garage and, when you think about it, a Garage producer without a decent portfolio of beats is a little like a car mechanic without any spanners…or something.
So, we're still searching for the elusive Garage album. No surprise really, this being like most underground dance movements, a series of strictly 12" vinyl one-off moments with a few producers shining through from amongst the pack. Come to think of it, albums could be the kiss of death for these talents - watch out El-B, Stanton Warriors, Ed Case, Groove Chronicle etc...
