Better Living Through Chemistry

Dull and dated. If I were being generous I'd say I'm sure a fully sober middle-aged woman listening to this at 7am is not the target audience, but I found it boring in 1995 too. Just makes me want to listen to the Beastie Boys.

You can almost feel where each song is going before it goes there. Haters may call this "predictable" but I call it a "goddamn good time". [Looks directly at camera to address Haters] Lighten up, Haters, this guy's name is Fatboy. He named himself Fatboy. Were you expecting restraint? Did you think Fatboy was gonna sit down at the control table and slowly, tastefully nibble and sample. This is a feast of repetition. A-

The title is a dead giveaway. This might be OK if you are full of E's but otherwise it's just someone messing about in the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Utter tripe.

Just beats and loops...

Repetitive.

Almost archetypal of Big Beat, Norman Cook proves himself an absolute master of yet another genre. This is the dude from The Housemartins who went on to score Number 1s as Beats International (dub be good to me) and Freak Power (Turn on, tune in, cop out) before defining a (rather large) subset of the 90s UK music scene. Yes - this is repetitive. It's big beat, it's supposed to be. The beats are supported by often near incomprehensible vocal samples. Inevitably in the mainstream club scene, people would attempt to sing along to these vocals, and there was honestly something genuinely lovely about watching towny lads in the 90s, clad in their uniform Ben Sherman shirts, chanting "Gay porn gay porn gay porn" as "Give the po' man a break" spun on the Techniks. It's not Cook's best ever work, but it sure is some of his most influential.

Fun upbeat dance music that isn't awful to listen to while doing other things.

One of my first ever Amazon.com purchases (back when they had first expanded to selling music in addition to books). I don't even know why I wanted it, but I did. Still slaps top to bottom.

Nonsense music that I typically would not listen to but will gladly dance to.

Really enjoyed this. Made me feel like an extra in a rave scene. Good working music. Fun. Easy. Not my genre at all but it clicked with me today for some reason.

Terrible. I can't believe not one but two fatboy slim albums are on this list. Terrible music and terrible album choice. May god have mercy on the person that decided to put fatboy slim on here.

Fun! Catchy, energetic dance music. Good for working and staying energized.

I’m not chewing my face off in a club in the 90s, where this music fits in. It’s not really my bag in general and is very out of place in my ‘working from home on a wed morning’ playlist.

I should go back to Fatboy Slim more often. Really takes me back and reminds me of the Jet Set Radio soundtrack

Maybe the best DJ album ever? Not saying a lot cuz DJs are usually much better at producing singles than albums, but still, this is much more musically entertaining than your typical DJ album. I could totally see if from a certain place and time finding this to be the soundtrack of a delightfully misspent youth.

I definitely appreciate getting two Fatboy Slim albums in this collection, although I'm not sure this is one of his best albums (but it *was* his debut album, which likely explains its inclusion). And I bought this CD a long time ago, so it's equally nice to revisit an album I've enjoyed over the years (even if I haven't listened to it all that much recently). My favorites are the single "Going out of my mind" (with a fun accompanying video), "Give the po'man a break", and one of my all-time favorite Fatboy Slim tracks "Michael Jackson" (which I still find myself humming at times); and a nod to the interesting video to "Everybody needs a 303". A solid debut, but he definitely got more interesting and varied over the course of his future albums.

Sure, it's not the most sophisticated, or the most imaginative example of EDM music, but it won't be out of place in my Tidal library.

I'm a bit fan of this nonsense, it gets me moving. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of tea though.

So so good

Absolutely loving the fuzz on The Weekend Starts Here. The beat on First Down also gets me groooooooooving. The whole album is just a fun groovefest.

The production is great. This is a very fun listen.

Genius, and one of his best eras of geniushood

Fun and simple. Maybe not ideal for morning commute, but works in the evening. Im gonna give 5 because throwing a party at Brighton beach is an unmatched vibe, respect.

Chill and groovy electro, good for working

I am not a huge electronic music fan but this album kills it. I think I like it better than other electronic music because there is a lot of guitar and other instruments involved. Just kind of seems like my ADHD brain created this music. Chaotic yet peaceful and catchy as well.

It's always 3am somewhere and the party is just getting started. This memory brings back fond memories of hearing tracks from this album, not knowing who they were by. I remember being completely blown away when I first heard "Going Out Of My Head" Less drugs and more like copious amounts of alcohol fuelled those times for me. To me this album is still exciting 28 years

Great Album!

Right off the bat I like these beats.

Probably the best edm album I've had so far. Not one that is rightly influential yet bland in itself, but one that actually had me bopping the whole way through. A proper feel-good, Bri'ish club night in while home sick after Christmas

Excellent album for studying or working. Chill, expressive vibe throughout the first three tracks.

love this..takes me right back to my clubbing days

Kult!

As much as I enjoy Fatboy Slim and was more than happy to listen to this album (which I have listened to a time or two before), I think that this may be another artist that is overrepresented on the list when there are so many other artist that are absent from it. For my money, just give me You've Come Along Way, Baby as the one that I must hear before I die.

Very fun, very groovy. Any need for this AND You've Come a Long Way on this list? I don't think so but I had a good time.

When I saw this I wondered what new things another Fatboy Slim would bring to the table after having already had the hit-packed “You’ve Come A Long Way Baby” from a few years after this. I’m not sure if there was anything new or not, but the infectious melodies quickly dispersed by desire to judge and I just really enjoyed the music. Terrific!

It's not as banger filled as other fatboy slim but I think this is undeniably a fantastic album. I really enjoyed having it on at work.

Just awesome. Not his most famous work but full of life and energy.

I hadn't heard much of Fatboy Slim's earlier stuff but this album is a cracker. Loving the retro album art too (although it wouldn't have been retro in the 90s obvs)

Michael Jackson Tina Turner Michael Jackson look what you've done I love this album. Literally every track is fantastic. 5/5

9/10, love the style and bopped to every single beat on the album.

I've always kind of liked "Better Living..." better than "You've Come a Long Way..." by Fatboy Slim. It is more straightforward in what it is doing, electronic music-wise, but that makes it feel more consistent, even though the tracks were recorded at different times. It doesn't feel quite as exciting this many years out, for me, but I still think it is really great and has a lot of really great tracks and is also still very much a view into that time when electronic music really started to take over, and we got so much in the following 5-6 years...

Drive a la techno Infectious you best dance beats Samples, sounds, on point

Ta hype

It must have had something to do with the circumstance but I found this to be an effective way to shake off some cobwebs. By this point, Fatboy Slim's deft touch of the materials at hand resulted in some of the more enjoyable and all around effortless songs in his catalog, especially with the one-two-three punch of Punk to Funk, The Sound of Milwaukee and Michael Jackson towards the end. Is it better living through chemistry? In my experience, I best believe.

cool

Excellent little Tuesday morning rinse up. First Down gives me big Jungle Love 2017 feelings

Not his biggest, yet still excellent

Simply excellent. Maintains energy without falling into incomprehensibility. Wish I had discovered this album earlier. Five stars.

Loved it

What an album to pump up a dreadful Monday morning with. I would never go out of my way to listen to this but I couldn't stop dancing to it.

Más que un álbum, un conjunto de rolas muy disfrutables, sino algo repetitivas. Cómo álbum, le falta identidad, me hubiera gustado que fuera un tanto más conciso. Aún así Fatboy Slim lo hace como pocos. Escucha "Everybody Needs a 303" y si seriamente que no es una de las mejores rolas de todos los tiempos. 8/10

Warming up to his mega-album!

Better than the other Fatboy Slim album/

It's been a long while since I listened to Fatboy Slim, and I never went this far back into their catalogue. I definitely enjoyed this. Fun beats and a sense of playfulness with the sampling. I don't quite love this as much as their later stuff but still good and worth a listen.

Another example of the Author's (with a capital "A") bias toward debut albums over an artist's later, more significant work. This is an excellent introduction for Mr. Cook's Big electronic-slash-organic style. His follow-up, "You've Come a Long Way Baby", is a far more important and essential album, as it brought Big Beat to the mainstream. This record simply doesn't have the cultural heft that the next one did.

Great Fatboy Slim

I hate to say it but this is a solid 3.5 for me.

I'm a sucker for big beat electronica from the 90s. This was quite solid. Dug it. Not perfect but I'll listen again.

I think his second album hits even harder but this is still an incredible debut. The beats here just make you want to bang your head.

Brings back the memories. While Norm's most famous tracks are elsewhere, this is an excellent introduction to FBS's art. Cohesive yet varied, Better Living is well worth a listen.

idk a lotta these tracks absolutely fuck

this incredible vibe almost makes me want to put my phone down

It's pretty chill! nothing too crazy or world shaking but for the time it probs would have made me pop my pussy at old navy for the summer sales event. --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- I am yearning so hard listening to this for a guy that doesn't exist in reality because he is a cartoon in my head what's happening.

There once was a fat man who was slim. Who lost a sampling case bankrupting him, he got really drunk. wrote down a whole lot of names that stunk, said "Arseholes, my weapon of choice is a forelimb."

Good to work to.

4/5

Fatboy slim Is fucking in heaven Fatboy slim Is fucking in heaven Fatboy slim Is fucking in heaven

Mylo diffed

Great

lmao no way Fatboyo Slimmo has two albums on here. Fun stuff though.

Gay Porn Man Up Rake.

нормалек, подойдет на фон для вечеринки

So much better than the other Fatboy Slim album I had to listen to. Much less of the same two lyrics repeated a thousand times in every song. An enjoyable listen.

Enjoyable dance music - Fatboy Slim realised you could still structure "songs" with texture and melody even if it's electronic and dance.

I’m not a big EDM fan but enjoy everything he’s done. Also I loved the housemartins.

This is kind of similar to the most recent Chemical Brothers' album I reviewed, in that I'm a fan of the artist, but the earlier stuff isn't as fully formed, and is more repetitive. But in this case it's still really good. Yes, it is more repetitive, but as with his later work, it's just a real upbeat-happy time and it's a great listen.

Just grooves man

Great beats and rhythms, not as amazing as his follow-up You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby, with its clever vocal samples and mixed-up beats, but still quite good.

It's hard to rate dance music. This came out in a window in the 90s where edm was breaking through in the US. I still remember the singles from this album. I'd listen to this again.

A little bit more noisier than some of his other stuff. I have always enjoyed Fatboy Slim. I've had the pleasure of seeing him live a few times. It was always a blast.

Not something I typically listen to but this was really great!

Enjoyed this

Good electronic album. Enjoyed it

Kinda cool electronic music, I dug it

The sound of the 90s in the UK, but before it was fully formed. An interesting document of a guy working out his style and his sound, just before it exploded into the world

This is a controversial rating but I actually had a good time listening to this album so here we go.

Exciting sounds from the days of future passed

Great work music

Like a 90s boiler room set

Plenty of bangers. I imagine this would be cranked up to a 5 if I was having a few drinks and getting ready for a night out. As it happened, I listened to it during a Saturday morning at work and it was still a cracking time. Highlights Song for Lindy and The Weekend Starts Here.

Favourite tracks: going out of my head; weekend starts here; Santa cruz

I usually listen to these records at the start of my day often before the rest of my house is awake. That means I am usually listening at not high volumes, sometimes on my phone speakers, some times on headphones and sometimes on AirPods. Usually it works alright. This one I saw pop up and thought the only way to hear it properly would be on my main stereo system. So glad I waited until I could find the time to do so. There is a lot of fun energy here. The sounds are not overly repetitive and it is very well recorded.

Lovely edm

Dece

Hmm not what I expected - this does have the bangers but it’s still a good electronic record - a good genre album.

I can see why this was used in soundtracks. It has a few good tracks for clubbing to, and I definitely felt like I was in a movie because it's some great tracks for movie scenes when characters are in action scenes, montages, and so on. This album could really just be the entire soundtrack to a silent movie where the music flows with the actions of the characters. Essentially it's good for listening to, has an upbeat vibe. Overall great for 1996.

Big beat. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Lachen hoor, deze vrolijke Ericmuziek. Biepjes, ritmetjes, gekke stemmetjes, het is allemaal erg onderhoudend en je draait hem probleemloos meerdere keren.

Hé. Het album met het nummer Michael Jackson. Met die fijne Junkie XL vibe. Hè, niet? Op mijn schijfje wel. Ow dat is een bonustrack die niet op het origineel zat? O, nou ja. Nummers als Give the Po'man a Break en Punk to Funk zijn ook wel ok. Een geinige breakbeat plaat. Maar het is nog wel een album zonder handtekening. Debuutje natuurlijk. Maar Fatboy Slim luister je vooral voor de creatieve combinaties die vaak de stevige beats relaxed maken. En dat kwam blijkbaar pas later.

Van sommige genres vind ik dat er teveel albums vertegenwoordigd zijn in onze snoblijst. Ik vraag mezelf af of dat met big beat ook zo is. Ergens voelt het tijdloos (waarschijnlijk omdat ik er mee opgegroeid ben), maar ergens is het ook weer enigszins gedateerd (het was namelijk de tijd dat ik opgroeide). Hoe dan ook vind ik het zelf altijd wel lekker klinken (wederom vanwege dezelfde reden). Ook dit plaatje van Fatboy Slim hanteert een aantal bekende trucjes. Het heeft een lekker breakbeatje, wat sampletjes en het zorgt ervoor dat er een goede opbouw in de muziek zit door elke keer een geluidje toe te voegen of te veranderen. Bekend recept, prima uitgevoerd. Ik mis alleen even een bekend hitje, dat doet het toch altijd wel goed op een album, het geeft een album een bepaald karakter (al dan niet terecht. Het komt ook regelmatig voor dat de hit totaal niet representatief is voor de rest van de muziek op een album). Maar qua luisterplezier zit dit album toch aan de positieve kant van het spectrum. Dan voor mij de altijd belangrijke vraag, zou ik dit zelf in een lijstje opnemen? En dan zou ik uiteraard kiezen voor het album met de grote hits, die we eerder al hebben gehad. Mocht je voor dat andere album 5 sterren hebben uitgedeeld (en dat deed ik), dan is het natuurlijk wel interessant wat een artiest ervoor dan wel erna heeft uitgebracht. En daarom hoort dit er dan misschien ook wel in. Leuk om te luisteren, nog niet de kneiters van hits, maar wel goed uitgevoerde big beat. Niks mis mee, 4 sterretjes.