producers: styly cee, frisco boogie

Being a frequent, once a year traveller to Nottingham, UK, this reviewer knew that in Nottingham there is his family, Notts County FC (and a Hooters somewhat nearby), the Castle, the Forrest, lots of Robin Hood thingies, a Select A Disc that sells Big Daddy, as well as some good records, a Virgin that sells the videos downstairs, a great Chinese restaurant in Bingham and always a parking space at the Victoria Centre. Well, in Nottingham there's also the Lost Island. And the Lost Island have reached Switzerland, as the Son Records releases always were 12"es that got picked up, just by the strength of seeing the Buddha on the sleeve. And for all those that got their greasy hands on the "Return To Forever" and the "Mic Life" record, will be pleased to hear, that this album here, moves further than those, and does not even future a track of them two on here. What leaves us with 17 new, bare, early 90s offerings, that capture some of the vibe of that classic area, but at times sound too little to keep the vibe going into the 2 triple 0.

However, the "Intro" kicks in lovely, with a lot of scratching, a Big L voice sample, and one of the dopest beats on here playing in the background. On the hometown hit "Notts", the Islanders give us the bare bass, along with more funky scratching and a very interestingly engineered drum. But we don't get the infamous Robin Hood tale, or a sight seeing tour through Nottinghamshire, but this is actually focusing more on the bragging and boasting. On "Lunch In The Limelight", Styly Cee, the producer of this album, hooked up this recognisable sample, that gives this a soft party feeling. He also has some marbles, drawn on a chain in the back, while Frisco Boogie talks about the 'it's always hard in this rap game' topic. The party gets even rowdier on "Hip-Hop Tonight", as a horn section is moulding with a bass or organ, that is kept stopping and going. Frisco in the mean time represents the stereotypical four or five elements, reminding us of the art aspect of hip hop.

As few guests this album has, they first show up on "That's The Way It Goes", that features Cappo and Midnyte. Neglecting the braggadocios, this attracts the all seeing eye, and claims of universal superiority. Starting slowly, and only then bursting through scratches and more horns, bass, drum combination, "Nothin' Compares" is the name of the track, and there's several tracks on here that easlily can be compared to this. And on "Take It Back", Styly Cee goes a obvious Pete Rock route, while on "The Sleeper", the strings attract moths with it being a bright light in the night. Frisco switches the rhyming content to some science fiction dreaming, what gives this track a separate role to the first half of this album.

"We Gets Down" is fighting hard for our approval, but the beat lacks appeal, and Frisco slows down his flow, what gives him a nicer low vocal tone, but lacks energy. The next tune, "Blabba" is also solid, but not humorous enough to please like Ugly Duckling, and not funky enough to make us groove like the People Under The Stairs. But "Extracts From The Battlefield (Remix)" gets our head in nodding motion again, with a complete production, and 'who claims originality is a disease' rhyming. There's also no moaning needed about "The Game", that gets the thumb up for thoughtful rhymes, and a well fitting beat. Speaking of 'beat', the drum programming of "Holland Skit" is also amazing us, while the live show excerpts and the wannabe "By The Time I Get To Arizona" guitar are rather annoying. Midnyte then returns on "Jambusters", that is carried by a sparkling piano, and the same seasoning as tasted on the other cuts on here.

Then one of the better cuts comes on, as "Operation Frisco" does not stray away far from what was previously done, but there's just again a certain completeness and texture to this cut, that takes it further than many of the rest on here. And the evident funkness of "Sections", that has us listen to Frisco and Styly go through the letters of their name with straight up fun rhyming, to a fun beat, works too. With "Always", the vibe drops to a reminiscing vibe, that gives us another strong example of the talents and skills by these two cats.

But just like with the wack cover, that shouldn't hold us back to check this out, we also need to look behind the foreground of the music. This gets props for a special deepness in the production, that's not obvious to the ear, as the special drum or the detailed switching in the bass kicks, hide beneath the foreground. And this record here is better than an average album. But the album also sounds rather resembling at times, solid, good, but not mind blowing. Well, maybe the right word is, that it's not ground breaking, just a strong, confident, solid, continuing effort, that unfortunately hides its dopeness and gives us a weaker impression than in actually is.