UNKLE - Psyence Fiction

8.0 - USA / England - 1998

Somewhat unfairly maligned collaboration between DJ Shadow, his label-boss James Lavelle, and a cast of ringers. As was the zeitgeist, the UNKLE project (now pretty much a James Lavelle vehicle) existed as a kind of supergroup in which various British "rock" stars and some US rappers got to front on some excellent Shadow productions. As such, this exists mostly as a DJ Shadow album -- indeed, it's difficult to imagine what exactly Lavelle's contributions consisted of beyond some heavy breathing and his presumed suggestions: "Hey, let's get Thom Yorke on a track" or "How about sampling Star Wars Christmas special?"

As a Shadow album, it works pretty well and provides a nice link between Endtroducing.... and  The Private Press. The familiar arrangements of funky old basement psych set to cavernous breaks are all in place and well executed. While somewhat gimmicky, the famous guest vocalists acquit themselves well: Richard Ashcroft's turn on "Lonely Soul" is a particular highlight and Thom Yorke competently slurs his way through "Rabbit In Your Headlights" (which features the obligatory David Axelrod sample). Ian Brown's "Be There" is curiously absent from the album (it was later released as a single), but it still works as the instrumental "Unreal". The two rap tracks "Guns Blazing" and "The Knock" don't seem out of place at all on this more indie-psych oriented album (though the former is much better than the latter, which inexplicably features a hard-to-discern Jason Newsted on bass). Elsewhere, Badly Drawn Boy -- at the time probably the least known ringer -- ends up being the breakout character with his frenetic rocker "Nursery Rhyme". Decent.