COLLISION

While I've seen DJ Harry spin, I fell in love with his work through his " The String Cheese Remix Project ." As a follow-up, I picked up "Collision." Compared to "The String Cheese Remix Project," this musical meal was cooked in the same kitchen using like-minded ingredients and a similar recipe. Despite such strengths, the end product just doesn't satisfy. At all times, the music is consistently good, but DJ Harry never takes to the next level. This album never transcends that fine line between good and great. As techo infused background music, "Collision" works very well. Indeed, the disc has a psychedelically organic vibe. Additionally, the artwork is stunningly beautiful. Despite such merits, it just isn't compelling for active listening. It lacks the hooks that made "The String Cheese Remix Project" so compelling. As long as you can pick it up for a reasonable price, "Collision" is worth it for the curious. For most listeners, this album won't get more than a few spins before making a "collision" with your CD storage unit.

As an old school media kind of person.... I still get the daily paper... I prefer to own, and be able to touch, a cd with the music I like. I bought the cd for one song... " All My Life "... I figured there should be at least a few more good tunes around that one... and there are! DJ Harry is one of our Pandora channels, so we here many of the tunes from this cd... I will probably tuck this one away soon and look forward to finding it another day... kind of like some of my cd's from the 80's and 90's...!

Unfortunately the rest weren't as good the one song that drove me to purchase this. I wish Amazon would allow for full sampling of songs.

DJ Harry's debut, COLLISION, crashes into your eardrums with the tropical house of the title track, which then segues into the deeper "Tragedy in Blue." But he veers into downtempo funk dub on "Monkfish," while "All My Life" has more of a folk feel, though merged into the beats, before a sense of mystery slips onto "Shadows." "Flock" breaks from all that, though, and plunges head-first into a spacy electro-funk (reflected later in "Galactic" and "Other Side of You"), while "Aquarium Man" delves into Afro-pop. And, finally, "Send in the Clowns" avoids song that immediately comes to mind for a sinewy groove. A solid, overlooked album.

ON NOV. 14th, I WROTE THE FOLLOWING REVIEW: It's as simple as looking at the packaging. Beautiful. With beautiful music inside. First soung is house, but damn good. Real musicians worked on this and it shows. Two other tracks have a 4 to the floor beat, though more downtempo. The majority of the tracks draw upon a diverse range of styles and are downtempo and musically lush. Some have a raw flavor (the dude's been 'round hip hop djs and it shows), others have a bit of a jazz breakdown. I think my friends who hate "electroinica" would also love this album. Any trip-hop fans out there or house fanatics will pee their pants listening to this album. It is gorgeous.TODAY, JAN 11th, I WRITE MORE:not many cds stay with me for this long.Making mix cds for friends I have constantly used different tracks (mostly , 3, 4, and 7) off this amazing cd. Since November 2004 all of "Collision"s tracks have NEVER left my iPOD. I still have every track on my laptop despite limited hard drive space. As I listen to more instrumental hip hop this album has grown on me even more. This is a great album.I picked it up back in November 2004 because it looked like a soulful downtempo electronic CD. Its not electronic, however. These are real live instruments making the music. But I was hooked. Instruments, computers... I don't care. I've always enjoyed lots of electronic music. I am always listening to my Kruder and Dorfmeister CDs. But few CDs stay with me as long as K&D. I pick up 2step and hip hop CDs all the time. They become dated. I move on.Recently I've been listening to more motown (Four Brothers soundtrack), a Northern Soul compilation from Andy C, and tracks off of the Australian import series "Pulp Fusion" (which has awesome tracks by Minnie Riperton, Gary Bartz NTU, The Blackbyrds, Jimmy McGriff, The Fatback Band, and others). I've been digging the Poets of Rhythm, Connie Price & the Keystones, El Michels Affair, the new Breakestra album, and Chris Joss's "You've Been Spiked!". So I've been staying away from my house CDs, my 2step CDs, rarely been picking up my Thievery Corporation, my Bent, my 60 Channels, my Boards of Canada, my Amon Tobin (but I still dip into all my Ninja Tune artists from time to time.... let me also plug the new Blockhead album--AWESOME!!). So, I've journeyed away from dance music. Heck, I even listen to Roy Ayers and Aaron Neville now. Tastes change, mutate, metamorphize.BUT... and you might have guessed it. This CD is moving me more than ever. Its got layers (like SHREK said when describing Ogres as like onions). If this CD were 30 bucks I'd still recomend it. You don't need the other stuff in your shopping cart here at AMAZON... just get this CD. Everyone should pick up a copy. Don't deprive someone else of this CD. Buy it new. If there's any used copies, those folk will listen to it again in a year and be so glad they didn't sell it. If you've got a friend, buy them a copy. The packaging will allure them into listening to it a few times; trust me--they'll be HOKED!! The album art is beautifully nostaligic while also funky in a contemporary "street art" sorta way. It'll make them listen to the album again. When the album gets old, your friend will look at this old gift, be intrigued again by the artwork, and allow the gift to become fresh and exciting all over again. This album is a gift that keeps on giving.So quit reading this review and buy this album. Its for your nephew who is into hiphop, for your dad who likes Marvin Gaye, for your brother who listens to Cream, for your friend who listens to nu-jazz and broken beat, for your sister who just picked up Lady Sovereign's album so she can finally ejuect that Ayai Napa album by MasterStepz, and for you, so you don't have to listen to MF Doom or Bloc Party in 2006. Trust this Harry fellow, and trust me. I've never been to Colorado, where this DJ turned producer is from, but I am so intrigued that someday I'll visit. It may be 5 years from now before my feet find their way into sunny Boulder, but I'm sure that DJ Harry's "Collision" will be on my iPOD in 2011.And if the producer is reading this album. Thank you DJ Harry. Much love and best wishes for 2006. (PS... I'm listening to your album right now, well, I was when typing my long review, now I'm onto a mix by DJ Joe Nice... bigup to the dubstep massiv!)

I bought this album a while ago after hearing one track through a music sharing website.... I am still impressed, not only does DJ Harry cross different music genres but the album to me still has that timeless quality - it could easily have been produced this year.