A Guy Called Gerald - Essence

A GUY CALLED GERALD ESSENCE
!K7

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Ambitious futurist fusion epic from reborn acid pioneer

Gerald Simpson never quite lived up to the promise of his early rave classics and seminal work with 808 State, although his 1995 album Black Secret Technology proved he could reinvent himself as a cutting-edge junglist with both smooth and dark sides. Here he expands that format into a sci-fi futurist panorama of soulful drum'n'bass and scrambled, Trickyesque trip hop featuring various guest vocalists, including Deee Lite's Lady Miss Kier on the skittery scat-jazz rattle of "Hurry To Go Easy". This 15-track fusion epic loses momentum several times and breaks scant new ground, but there are enough inspired collisions to prove that Gerald's still a sharp operator.

Stephen Dalton