I got around to spinning 3 albums by Thievery Corporation. The albums are 'The Cosmic Game', 'The Richest Man in Babylon' and 'The Outer National Sound'.
The music is a blend of fuse funk, jazz, reggae, samba, symphonic/electro, with a euro taste. The first two albums Cosmo and Richest Man although given favorable reviews on Amazon, I found to be unengaging and lacking creativity. Might appeal to some but if not for the third album I would not even mention these guys.
The third album 'The Outer National Sound' is a different story. The music is engaging, creative and a totally new type of sound. The bass is power heavy with good percussions. Not every track is a keeper but overall I found the album listenable from the beginning to the end. My favorite track is 16 with its only fault being not long enough.
So if if your interested in a cool sounding album with a unique sound then I suggest giving this album 'The Outer National Sound' a try.
Thievery Corportation
4 of 5- The Outer National Sound
2 of 5- the Cosmic Game, The Richest Man in Babylong

WW5-- i'm a fan of TC, and own many if not most of their stuff. i suggest sticking with the two you don't like. have you ever had the experience of 'not liking' a record on your first several run through's, and then all of sudden you put it on one time and WHAM! you realize the thing has a got a hook in you so deep you never even knew it was there until you heard that first cut? that is something i look for all the time, and is one of my favorite experiences in music: teaching myself to like stuff that first, second or third spins tell me i don't. my favorite example is 'my life in the bush of ghosts', eno and byrne. i first got this when i got all my music on prerecorded cassettes, and played and played it without 'getting it'. then, one night, a friend and i went out and hung out for a while and getting in the car, he said 'got anything new?' and i chunked MLITBOG into the deck and was immediately, and permanently, swept away....

I haven't written these two albums completely off yet. I have seperated them for additional listening at a later date after I have gone through the 100+ cd's I have to listen to.
But I know what you mean about an album that grows on you after several spins. Frontier by David Arkenstone is just such an album. It was only after playing it several times that it dawned on me how good it really was. :)

i haven't bought any of their software yet, but i heard them live outdoors in dc a coupla months ago - fantastic! :yes:

doug s.

I'm a big Thievery Corporation fan. Listen to their stuff all the time. I think the review you gave was a good one, fair and impartial. I think if you were more of a TC fan, you might have enjoyed the tracks a little more, but I think that you didn't hear their best work.

The album I like the best from them is "Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi". It's a little more raw, less polished. It's got great beats and samples, but mixes in a great reagge/world flavor. It's a real crowd pleaser, too, with nothing "objectional" in it. My best friend plays it for Sunday Groove Tunes around his house, when the kids are home. It's a real musical odyssey, I reccomend it as "album listening".

My second favorite is "The Mirror Conspiracy". It's got a couple of really catchy songs (try the sitar and smoky vocal "Lebanese Blonde", or the punchy "Focus On Sight"). I don't think it stands up as a whole as well as Sounds from the Hi-Fi, but I'm biased!

if you lieked the two albums above, I reccomend checking out Kruder & Dorfmeister. Then, l me know when you check back to Earth...