1 Giant Leap - 1 Giant Leap (2002)

1) Dunya Salam (feat. Baaba Maal); 2) My Culture (feat. Robbie Williams & Maxi Jazz); 3) The Way You Dream (feat. Michael Stipe & Asha Bhosle); 4) Ma' Africa (feat. The Mahotella Queens & Ulali); 5) Braided Hair (feat. Speech & Neneh Cherry); 6) Ta Moko (feat. Whirimako Black); 7) Bushes (feat. Baaba Maal); 8) Passion (feat. Michael Franti); 9) Daphne (feat. Eddi Reader, The Mahotella Queens & Revetti Sakalar); 10) All Alone (On Eilean Shona); 11) Racing Away (feat. Grant Lee Phillips & Horace Andy); 12) Ghosts (feat. Eddi Reader)

Western electronica goes on a round-the-world influence trip, and it's actually more than just souvenir sounds galore.

Key songs: "My Culture", "The Way You Dream", "Ma' Africa"

1 Giant Leap is first and foremost a concept. It's the result of two British DJs/producers wanting to travel around the world in a quest to bring people from several continents and various backgrounds together through the shared language of music. It's an idealistic celebration of human culture and art all over the world, almost to an embarrassingly naive degree, and on both how despite all our differences we are the same and yet life can still be something completely different in another part of our very same shared planet. This sort of wide-eyed sentimental love for humanity isn't exactly new as a concept, but the thing here is that Duncan Bridgeman and Jamie Catto actually did the trip around the world.

Sort of. 1 Giant Leap only really stops in London, India, New Zealand, parts of Africa, and a couple of states in the USA so it's hardly the globetrotting adventure it makes itself out to be. Where the dynamic duo do land though, they blend their influences and guests wildly. Nearly every track is a mini-condensation of the duo's journeys, with musicians from entirely different parts of the world "collaborating" within the frames of the same songs, their sounds mixing together into a multicultural feast guided by modern electronic production. The guest list ranges from global superstars to local expert talent and if there's one thing that Catto and Bridgeman have done expertly, it's making sure that everyone fits together – no one hogs the spotlight or dominates regardless of how famous they are, nor do the duo themselves ever make it out to feel like they should be the stars for making it all happen. The concept is what matters and it's the concept that has brought everyone together. The one time where this is slightly blurred is "My Culture", the starting point of the album's journey (after the intro). Its sound is the least global of the album and both Maxi Jazz and Robbie Williams are (were) such household names that the song could just as well have come from either of their own albums. But with both of them genuinely engaged in the music and the message and the tune itself being such a banger, it's one of the album's most obvious highlights. It also thematically feels like the square one, the launching point at the producer duo's own home before moving into the world at large.

A lot of blood, sweat, tears and time were clearly spent on creating all this and making sure that it all works together, and as a result 1 Giant Leap does feel like a grand musical adventure. There's an epic scale to things as the twists and turns take you from urban London to hypnotic Indian dreams, African dancefloors and uncategorisably multicultural soundscapes. It's impressive, it's quite exciting and the album as a whole feels like something worth mentioning just because of it. Hearing Asha Bhosle and Michael Stipe duet within trippy ambient patterns before launching into a rave in "The Way You Dream" never stops being as majestic as it was the first listen, and the infectious, foot-stomping energy of "Ma' Africa" is a perfect representation of the album's main mission statement. If the idea behind creating the album is celebrating the world's diversity, it's exactly what the album establishes itself as in its starting run of tracks.

It's funny then that Catto and Bridgeman have decided to be their own buzzkills. All the extroverted, hook-laden tracks have been chucked right into the beginning and after the RnB-tinged "Braided Hair", the album moves onto a path of world-weary, half-ambient moodiness and only returns from there for brief sections every now and then. The excitement of trekking all over the world is replaced with late-night introspection and coping with the exhaustion of the journey, and as a result both the concept and the excitement start to wobble. What started out as a celebration across all nations turns into something completely different in a strikingly abrupt fashion, the bright cheers and colourful music replaced by downbeat notes and almost melancholy blues. The swooping beauty of "Daphne" lifts up the atmosphere a little and "All Alone" (the one moment where the vocals belong to the people behind the project rather than the guest stars) is clearly the best of the moody lot, and the duo acts as a brief little oasis before the very end, where "Ghosts" awaits with its nigh-funereal tone. The end of album is so far removed from what came before that it's odd to think it's still part of the same project and for all the undoubtable musical qualities the latter half professes, it's a strange whiplash to go through.

As a musical journey though, it's still well worth the time and recommendation. The whole "Westerners go around taking influences from elsewhere" thing has undoubtedly been done several times but 1 Giant Leap feels genuinely passionate and in spirit with its ideals. Unlike a lot of its sonical predecessors it never feels like a "Western album": the spotlight and voice have been given to every single person who participates and the resulting collection of songs truly does feel global. It does it so well in fact that you kind of want to believe and invest in all the romantic, conceptual notions the album carries. But even beyond that, it's still a good collection of songs. An occasionally overlong collection that could have done with a better running order, granted, but its high points are worth it alone.

Rating: 7/10