

From the very first beat of Fatboy Slim's second album, we're confronted with a wall of sound every bit as impressive as the cover's floor-to-ceiling shelves of wax. Strings, sitar, and pummeling drums are just the beginning: Norman Cook's sampledelic bag of tricks includes rock 'n' roll twang, backmasked guitars, hip-hop breaks, funk horns, acid bass, and more swear words than you could shake a stick at. That impish spirit helped him woo American audiences back when electronic music was still taboo, and it keeps his cheeky breakbeat escapades sounding vital years later.