The cover of {$Norman Cook}'s breakout {$Fatboy Slim} album, {^You've Come a Long Way, Baby}, was a good clue to the contents, picturing as it did thousands of LPs straining the racks in {$Cook}'s record room -- undoubtedly just a small portion of his massive collection of sampling material. Inside, {$Cook} unfolded a party record for the ages, long on fun (though understandably short on staying power), chock full of samples pillaged from all manner of obscure soul shouters and old-school rap crews, triggered and tweaked ad nauseam. With his third LP, {^Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars}, {$Cook} pulls away slightly from the notoriously fickle pop charts and crossover kids courted on his last record. Instead, he makes a conscious attempt to inject some real hedonism back into the world of dance -- he is a DJ, after all -- and sure enough, the cover matches those aims: it's a long shot on a beach (Ibiza or some other far-flung shore), with the sun shining out of someone's behind. The intro even pokes gentle fun at the loved-up R&B tradition with an extended sample from some bygone soul artist waxing overly poetic about his girlfriend. From there, {$Cook} tears into an acid-techno rampage named {&"Star 69,"} a track that takes few prisoners and sounds closer to {$Plastikman} than {$Propellerheads}, though it does include the {$Fatboy Slim} trademark -- a rather blue vocal sample repeated continually for nigh on a minute (funnily enough, the track was entirely removed from the clean version of the album). Despite the torrid pace set early on, there's still quite a bit of the used-bin scavenger left in {$Cook}; the most patented big-beat anthems here, {&"Ya Mama"} and {&"Mad Flava,"} include all the expected displays of crowd-moving hip-hop calls, unhinged beatbox funk, continual drum breakdowns, and plenty of rawk riffs. The first single {&"Sunset (Bird of Prey)"} is another potential crossover move, featuring what is easily the album's most recognizable sample source -- {$Jim Morrison} from {$the Doors}. Borrowing from {$Morrison}'s posthumous LP of poetry {^An American Prayer}, the "collaboration" works better than could be expected, with {$Morrison}'s pseudo-mystical, surreal vocal -- "Bird of prey, flying high/In the summer sky, gently passing by" -- floating over some comparatively atmospheric breakbeat funk by the {$Fatboy}. Sniffy electronica purism aside though, {$Cook} remains, if not the best overall producer in the dance world, certainly in its top rank, with an excellent ear for infectious hooks, tight beats, and irresistible grooves. On advice from friends {$the Chemical Brothers}, {$Cook} recruited collaborators for the first time -- nu-soul diva {$Macy Gray}, funk legend {$Bootsy Collins}, fellow superstar DJ/producer {$Roger Sanchez} -- and the two tracks with {$Gray}, {&"Love Life"} and {&"Demons,"} are arguably the highlights of the entire album. In a similar fashion to {$David Holmes}, {$Cook}'s ample production talents are served best with a vocalist lending focus, and {&"Love Life"} is a seven-minute ride veering from dirty, warped funk to noise-heavy hip-hop breakdowns while {$Gray} scats, growls, and purrs with clearly audible glee. After {$Bootsy}'s joint (the surprisingly bland {&"Weapon of Choice"}) and a hackneyed social-message track ({&"Drop the Hate"}), {$Gray} returns to save the album with another unbelievable performance on the half-resigned, half-hopeful gospel soul of {&"Demons."} The closer, {&"Song for Shelter,"} is a masterful stroke of sun-splashed house recorded with help from {$Roger Sanchez} and an ecstatic serenade to the dance music experience by {$Roland Clark} (interpolated from his single {&"I Get Deep"}). In all, {^Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars} is possibly {$Norman Cook}'s best possible statement after being -- nearly simultaneously -- picked up by a multitude of notoriously fickle pop consumers and thrown away by his previously rock-solid dance fan base. The hooks are unmissable and there's plenty of big-beat techno from a master of the form, but there's also a good amount of mature material that would undeniably appeal to many listeners in the dance world if they ever condescended to give it an objective listen. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide