Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars | ||||
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Studio album by Fatboy Slim | ||||
Released | 6 November 2000 | |||
Genre | Big beat, electronica | |||
Length | 68:14 | |||
Label | Skint | |||
Producer | Fatboy Slim | |||
Fatboy Slim chronology | ||||
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Singles from Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 64/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Entertainment Weekly | B− |
Los Angeles Times | |
Melody Maker | |
NME | 9/10 |
Pitchfork Media | 4.2/10 |
Q | |
Rolling Stone | |
Spin | 6/10 |
The Village Voice | A− |
Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is the third studio album by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released on 6 November 2000 through Skint Records. It features Macy Gray, Ashley Slater, Bootsy Collins, Roland Clark, Jim Morrison, and Roger Sanchez as guest contributors. The album's title, mentioned in the single "Weapon of Choice" is an allusion to the Oscar Wilde quote "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".
The album was re-released on 1 June 2015 as Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (15th Anniversary), including remastered and bonus tracks. This edition includes an additional disc with remixed versions of all the original tracks. (albeit in a much different track order from the original album)
The album received generally positive reviews from critics.Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote "this is where Norman Cook achieves the nonstop stupidity breakbeats alone could never bring him", calling it "All shallow, all pure as a result—pure escape, pure delight, and, as the cavalcade of gospel postures at the end makes clear, pure spiritual yearning. Transcendence, we all want it."The A.V. Club called it "a big load of disposable fun and funk that's fluffier than cotton candy and just as weighty."
On the other hand, Pitchfork Media wrote "After enjoying a few years of relative popularity, it seems big-beat's appeal and relevance are waning. [...] After listening to Slim's latest, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, it seems we've reached come-down time. And surprise! It's no fun at all", though "the problem lies more with the everchanging landscape of electronic music and the dying big-beat genre than it does with his technical skill."Entertainment Weekly called it "Melodically repetitive, the songs only intermittently approach the energizing highs of earlier Fatboy cuts."Spin called it a "post-masterpiece puzzler where the kicks just keep getting harder to find, spread-eagle between pop limitations and artistic aspirations."