The Chemical Brothers - Albums & Compilations Collection 1995-2015 (21CD+DVD)

The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.

While growing up, both Rowlands and Simons grooved to an eccentric musical diet, ranging from the Smiths and Jesus and Mary Chain to Kraftwerk and Public Enemy. They met while taking the same history course at Manchester University, though neither were native Mancunians – Rowlands enrolled because of the legendary Haçienda nightclub nearby, while Simons acknowledged the city as birthplace to the Smiths and New Order. The pair began sampling Madchester's vibrant nightclub scene together during 1989 and 1990, just at the peak of Britain's fascination with a DJing style named Balearic. Pioneered at the island hot spot of Ibiza during the mid-'80s, Balearic relied on a blend of early house music, Italian disco, rare-groove jazz and funk, Northern soul, hip-hop, and alternative dance. Original Balearic DJs like Trevor Fung, Paul Oakenfold, and Mike Pickering brought the sound back to indie clubs in London and Manchester, and the style proved very attractive to musical eclectics like Rowlands and Simons.

Though Rowlands was already performing in the alternative dance group Ariel, the pair began DJing together at the Manchester club Naked Under Leather in 1991. Hardly believing that their weekend project would progress, they took the semi-serious handle Dust Brothers (a tribute to the American production team responsible for one of their favorite albums, the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique). Despite their doubts, Rowlands and Simons' club night did grow more popular, thanks to the duo's Balearic mix of rare house tracks flavored with hip-hop breakdowns, independent-dance fusions, and ancient secondhand discards. After deciding to try and re-create their unique sound in their tiny bedroom studio, the Dust Brothers emerged with "Song to the Siren," an intriguing example of the new alternative dance scene including sample victims Meat Beat Manifesto and This Mortal Coil.
After the single was pressed up on a limited release of 500 copies, it began getting attention from Britain's top DJs, initially including an old friend named Justin Robertson but later including Andrew Weatherall and Darren Emerson. Weatherall licensed the single to Junior Boy's Own Records, and after the pair had finished university, they moved back to London to work on another EP (14th Century Sky) and a residency at another club. After their third release, "My Mercury Mouth," the duo began to get more high-profile clients for remixing: besides Justin Roberston's Lionrock collective, Primal Scream, the Prodigy, and the Charlatans all received treatments.

When lawyers for the original Dust Brothers came calling in 1995, though, Rowlands and Simons were forced to change to change their name to the Chemical Brothers (the proposed Dust Brothers U.K. was turned down). Word on the street and nightclub scene was so good that it hardly mattered; their new residency at the Heavenly Sunday Social quickly became one of the hottest club nights in England – documented on the mix disc Live at the Social, Vol. 1 – and their debut album, Exit Planet Dust, was heavily praised by critics. Another fan of the record, Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher, agreed to lend his vocals to a future single named "Setting Sun," the Chemicals' tribute to one of their own favorites, the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows." The single went to number one in late 1996, and the Chemical Brothers opened up for the giant Oasis concert at Knebworth besides headlining their own shows all over the world.
the Chemical Brothers' second album, Dig Your Own Hole, took charge of the top spot on the album charts upon its release in April 1997, and on the wings of America's growing electronica push, the album sailed to number 14 stateside and went gold. The duo released a mix album in 1998, Brothers Gonna Work It Out, and followed with their third studio LP, Surrender, in 1999. Rather lackluster expectations sparked a return to the underground with the white-label-only single "It Began in Afrika" and the duo's fourth album, Come with Us. It too failed to earn the high notices of the first two albums, although after another three-year gap Rowlands and Simons returned with another, 2005's Push the Button, with guest vocalists Q-Tip, Tim Burgess, Kele Okereke, and the Magic Numbers. The music celebrity parade continued on 2007's We Are the Night, this time including the Klaxons, Willy Mason, Fatlip, and Midlake. In 2010 they released Further, their first album with no vocal collaborations, and in 2011 they released Hanna, their first film soundtrack. Sticking with film, in early 2012 they released to select cinemas Don't Think, a combination of a Chemical Brothers live show and a visual document from their longtime art director Adam Smith. The film (and live show) was made available for purchase in March 2012.

Biography by John Bush, Allmusic.com

The former Dust Brothers make oblique reference to litigation averted on their debut full-length. The Chemical Brothers' sound is big on bombast, replete with screeching guitar samples and lots of sirens and screaming divas. A breakthrough album of sorts, Exit Planet Dust was, upon its release, one of the few European post-techno albums to make any sort of headway into the stateside market.

Review by Sean Cooper, Allmusic.com

A handful of musicians always seem to be a few steps ahead of the culture they love. Take the Chemical Brothers: when they DJ'd in Ibiza a few years into their career, they once made the loved-up, Balearic clubbers start to cry by simply not playing house music. It's likely that if any of those clubbers got a chance to hear Live at the Social, Vol. 1 they'd probably be an absolute wreck. Because this mix effort (the band's actual debut mix album) is a varied, monstrous collection of dirty beats and undeniable good times. So open-minded dance fans will rejoice. Truly, the center point of the album nearly says it all. As the Chemical Brothers fade from the trumpeting blare of Red Snapper's hip-hop to what sounds like mythical sirens of some parallel digital age (in fact a blend into the band's Lionrock remix), there is little doubt that this is not a run-of-the-mill mix effort. The whole experience feels thunderous. It helps that the Chemical Brothers consistently break out of their genre stereotypes. Although they get the credit – and blame – for "inventing" what is known as big beat, this mix proves that the band were always about more than that. The rest of the track selection alone is far from superstar DJ predictability. Instead of favored big beat track after big beat track, the band can go from sampling Public Enemy to showcasing the robo-house of Davy DMX to scratching in the locomotive breakbeats of Tim "Love" Lee to even taking the anti-dance culture stance of slipping in British indie stalwarts the Charlatans. Everything feels eclectic as well as coherent. Sadly, it would take them a couple more years to produce a completely stunning mix album worthy of their mixing and live skills (1998's Brothers Gonna Work It Out), but this early mix effort still shines with its own diverse, intense power. Definitely not for the faint of ears. Not for the conservative dance contingent, either While those aching to hear the comforting 140 bpm of house might indeed start to find their chins start to wobble, those in love with any kind of intelligent, eclectic, explosive dance music will only feel like smiling.

Review by Dean Carlson, Allmusic.com

Taking the swirling eclecticism of their post-techno debut, Exit Planet Dust, to the extreme, the Chemical Brothers blow all stylistic boundaries down with their second album, Dig Your Own Hole. Bigger, bolder, and more adventurous than Exit Planet Dust, Dig Your Own Hole opens with the slamming cacophony of "Block Rockin' Beats," where hip-hop meets hardcore techno, complete with a Schoolly D sample and an elastic bass riff. Everything is going on at once in "Block Rockin' Beats," and it sets the pace for the rest of the record, where songs and styles blur into a continuous kaleidoscope of sound. It rocks hard enough for the pop audience, but it doesn't compromise either the Chemicals' sound or the adventurous, futuristic spirit of electronica – even "Setting Sun," with its sly homages to the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and Noel Gallagher's twisting, catchy melody, doesn't sound like retro psychedelia; it sounds vibrant, unexpected, and utterly contemporary. There are no distinctions between different styles, and the Chemicals sound as if they're having fun, building Dig Your Own Hole from fragments of the past, distorting the rhythms and samples, and pushing it forward with an intoxicating rush of synthesizers, electronics, and layered drum machines. the Chemical Brothers might not push forward into self-consciously arty territories like some of their electronic peers, but they have more style and focus, constructing a blindingly innovative and relentlessly propulsive album that's an exhilarating listen – one that sounds positively new but utterly inviting at the same time.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

To buy time after the success of Dig Your Own Hole, the Chemical Brothers released their first DJ mix album, Brothers Gonna Work It Out. Dig Your Own Hole was one of the handful of electronica albums to find a wide audience in both the U.K. and the U.S., largely because of its gigantic, straight-ahead beats. Whether by design or not, it was electronic music that could reach a wide audience because it was about what all rock or pop music is about at its core – rhythm. To their credit, the Chemicals viewed themselves as part of a continuum, not as ambassadors of techno, which is presumably why they used their elevated profile to showcase a style of music unfamiliar to a mass audience with songs unfamiliar to a mass audience. That might lead to the preconception that Brothers Gonna Work It Out is a chore or an educational lesson, which couldn't be further from the truth. Brothers Gonna Work It Out is a rush, pure and simple. Using their own songs, plus a huge selection of other records and remixes, they've created a relentless, frequently exciting record that pushes forth on the momentum of unpredictable juxtapositions and big, big beats. During the course of the 70-minute disc, the Brothers spin everything – Willie Hutch, Meat Beat Manifesto, Spiritualized, Renegade Soundwave, Manic Street Preachers – which only emphasizes how they've created their own identity through piecing together remnants of pop and DJ culture, from forgotten favorites to cult classics. Artistically, it doesn't quite match their pair of studio efforts, but it's a nice stopgap for fans awaiting their third full-length album.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com

By the time of the Chemical Brothers' third album, Surrender, the big beat phenomenon they had done much to engender was more apt to be heard on a soft drink commercial than the world's hipper dancefloors. And with the growing omnipresence of big beat's simplistic party vibes threatening to cave in the entire scene, Tom and Ed came to grips with what is – compared to their previous work – a house record. The pounding four-on-the-floor thump of tracks like "Music:Response," "Got Glint," and the duo's take on KLF-style stadium house for the single "Hey Boy Hey Girl" signals that this is a transition record for the Chemical Brothers, one that could eventually take them back into the straight-ahead dance mainstream status enjoyed by acts from Daft Punk to Armand Van Helden.
The irony here is that even considering the changes, Surrender still feels very similar to its predecessors. The focus on wave-of-sound production, buckets full of old-school vocal samples, and various sirens and beatbox effects sound like they were lifted wholesale from their breakout album, Dig Your Own Hole, or their first release, Exit Planet Dust. And while a few of the vocal tracks focus on new collaborations, they're along the same lines, making it tough to spot the differences from past albums – the quavering British vocals of Beth Orton have given way to the quavering American vocals of Hope Sandoval, and the Charlatans' Tim Burgess is replaced by New Order's reclusive Bernard Sumner (a sure sign that the Chemicals have moved up a notch on the music-industry food chain). Also, two returning guests (Noel Gallagher and a member of Mercury Rev, here Jonathan Donahue) make very similar contributions to the record in the identical places they appeared on Dig Your Own Hole. Even besides its simpy title, the Gallagher track "Let Forever Be" is the very same electronica update of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" that made their 1996 collaboration single "Setting Sun" a number one hit in Britain. And the Donahue track, "Dream On," is very similar to the indie psychedelia of "The Private Psychedelic Reel" from Dig Your Own Hole. Sure, the Chemical Brothers do this type of music very well; it's just that Surrender isn't quite the change of direction they'd been aiming for – it's simply the same great album they'd made two years earlier.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

Don't call it a comeback (they never left) or a return to the underground (there's still a spot reserved in Britain's Top Ten). Still, after disappointing critics and fans with increasingly crossover material, Chemical Brothers Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons returned with a tighter, more danceable record, including fewer rock star collaborations (only two, shunted toward the end) and a lead single ("It Began in Afrika") introduced almost a year before, on white label only, for crucial DJ ground support. From the vocal sample introducing the opener ("behold…they're coming back"), it's clear Rowlands and Simons know the importance of this fourth album, and it detonates like a bomb blast, as though the duo knew that Come With Us had to be bigger and badder than all the bombastic breaks they'd dropped in the past. "It Began in Afrika" is next up, with percussion-heavy tribal-house charging into trance-state acid and a warping vocal sample repeating the title. After the opener, "Galaxy Bounce" is the best track here, locking into a nice Chic groove and alternating a strutting drum break with stop-time turntablism. The vocal features are solid but ignorable; Beth Orton's "The State We're In" is a predictable, pleasant folkie jam, and Richard Ashcroft's closer, "The Test," a pseudo-mystical breakbeat epic. The Chemical Brothers' best studio work has a kinetic energy and pace borrowed from the flow of their DJ sets. After forgetting the key on 1999's Surrender amidst handling all of the celebrity guests, they got back to business with Come With Us.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

When the big beat boom gradually subsided, the Chemical Brothers initially sought refuge within a carefully crafted version of house music both epic and psychedelic. Still, the duo are fusion fans at heart, and their fifth studio album, Push the Button, finds them easing back to their true love – pulverizing stylistic boundaries while they seek out clever hooks to hang their production caps on. The first half of the record is heavy on collaboration, beginning with the clear highlight, "Galvanize," which features guest Q-Tip riding a delicious mid-tempo groove and the brothers teasing out an ingenious Middle Eastern string sample over the course of several breakdowns and over six minutes. "The Boxer" has ChemBros veteran Tim Burgess of the Charlatans UK coming on like an extroverted Steve Miller, while the next track, "Believe," features Britpop newcomer Kele Okereke (of Bloc Party) agonizing over an energized electroshock production composed of equal parts Prince and Chicago acid house. It's clear the Chemical Brothers are still searching restlessly for new sounds and new fusions; only they could alternate a polemical hip-hop track – "Left Right," a guest spot for Anwar Superstar, who, incidentally, may be the younger brother of Mos Def, but sounds like he's been living in Jay-Z's head for a few years – with a feature for an indie band, the Magic Numbers ("Close Your Eyes"). Obviously, it's far more refreshing to explore new territory rather than merely go back over old ground; while "Come Inside" suffers by aping their 1997 approach, the subsequent track, "The Big Jump," finds the pair energized with a fresh gloss on their patented sound (although it is easy to notice how the skronky guitars in the background are clearly a post-electroclash development). While there aren't as many heart-stopping productions as on 2002's unjustly neglected Come With Us, Push the Button proves the Chemical Brothers have retained the innate curiosity necessary to keep them blazing trails for years to come.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

The Chemical Brothers never stopped being great producers, but during some of their ho-hum full-lengths of the early 2000s, they relied too much on production skills and forgot what they were first known for: innovative sounds and great hooks. (It's hard to deny that their comparatively sleek psychedelic house was a far cry from the big-beat bombast and excitement of their first two LPs.) Unfortunately, We Are the Night is no departure, although it does reveal Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons showing some build-to-suit character instead of angling for the straitjacket-tight and over-serious dance music of their past ten years. The first half of the record, including the single "Do It Again" (unconsciously ironic title?), is no better nor worse than most of what The Chemical Brothers produced between 1998 and 2007, but beginning with a diverting little electro noodling called "Das Spiegel," it becomes clear that there's a little more going on here. Hip-hop's favorite toker, Fatlip, stops by to relate an odd tale about fish ("The Salmon Dance"), "A Modern Midnight Conversation" dabbles in Italo-disco (but gets most of its flavor from a sample), and the duo stretch out (slightly) for the creepy four-four crawl "Battle Scars" with neo-folkie Willy Mason. The Chemical Brothers have occasionally shrouded their more interesting productions until the second half of their LPs, but something else is obviously needed.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

The Chemical Brothers' second career-spanning compilation is basically a substitute for the first, including nine of the same tracks first reissued on 2003's Singles 93-03 and then making room for a few of the touchstones released between 2003 and 2008 (two of which are new to this collection). The early classics "Chemical Beats" and "Leave Home" are still among the best of their career, while "Block Rockin' Beats" and "Setting Sun" (featuring Noel Gallagher) found the mature Chemical Brothers quickly growing comfortable with a stadium-sized sound and profile. From there, the duo appeared to merely refine their approach, gathering in further psychedelic and house influences while they scored gradually more popular guests over the subsequent ten years. Brotherhood's track listing could easily be quarreled with, but it includes most of the approved highlights from each album, early or old, innovative or orthodox. One of the new tracks features an intriguing matchup, with Spank Rock's Naeem Juwan joining the ChemBros for "Keep My Composure," a rather clever piece of acid hip-hop.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

Further is the first Chemical Brothers album without a guest vocalist since their debut. Consequently, with no worries about crafting tracks around a Q-Tip or Richard Ashcroft, the duo has full freedom to focus on enveloping listeners in the sound world usually just experienced at its shows – although, naturally, without the lights and atmosphere to accompany the music. After a beatless first track titled "Snow," the 12-minute single "Escape Velocity" approximates a rocket launch, the impressive effects continually rising over the first few minutes until the beat kicks in with full force. Still, as a single or an album track, "Escape Velocity" isn't a total success. The effects and distortion would certainly do Kevin Shields or Sonic Boom proud, but the lockstep beats, when they do come in, are practically an anticlimax. From there, Ed and Tom go in differing directions, with typically varied results; they seem to have learned lessons from the past, varying their tracks slightly. "Another World" is a perfect example, appropriately otherworldly and shimmering, an '80s throwback capable of provoking jealousy in chillwave maestros like Neon Indian and Washed Out. But the Chemical format of old is still rampant and still rather stultifying; the psychedelic distortion on "Swoon" sounds self-sampled (or swiped from Orbital's "Lush 3-1"), while "Horse Power" has very little to recommend it except a distorted vocal repeating the title and, wait for it, horse whinnies. The Chemical Brothers have remained in the stadium house category for a decade-plus due to their immersive music and vivid light shows, but from the stale beats and lack of new ideas on display here, they'd do better going beatless or hiring a drummer.

Review by John Bush, Allmusic.com

Hot on the heels of recent film scores from Daft Punk (Tron: Legacy) and Basement Jaxx (Attack the Block), the Chemical Brothers are the latest '90s electronica duo to transfer their knob-twiddling talents to the big screen with this official soundtrack to Hanna, the Joe Wright-directed tale of a young girl (Saoirse Ronan), trained by her father (Eric Bana) to become a multi-lingual assassin. Ignoring the temptation to smother their usual blend of hypnotic breakbeats and booming basslines in layers of cinematic orchestration, the album features several tracks that would fit quite comfortably on their recent studio effort, Further, such as the Middle Eastern-tinged "Escape 700," the claustrophobic, industrial electro of "Bahnhof Rumble," and the whirling sirens and old-school hip-hop samples of "The Devil Is in the Beats." But away from their superstar DJ sound, the pair pursue an uncharacteristically stripped-back, lo-fi production which perfectly suits the unsettling plot line of the Eastern Europe-based thriller. Opening number "Hanna's Theme" (also featured here in a vocal version featuring the ethereal tones of Stephanie Dosen) provides the motif which runs throughout its 20 tracks, with its twinkling music box instrumentation, eerie cooing harmonies, and lullaby-ish melodies also prevalent on the likes of the slightly creepy "The Sandman," the alternative kids' TV theme "The Devil Is in the Detail," and the atmospheric "Interrogation/ Lonesome Subway/Grimm's House." Elsewhere, "Car Chase (Arp Worship)" is a suitably adrenaline-charged fusion of twitchy techno and thundering trip-hop grooves, the ominous basslines and Italo-house piano chords of "Container Park" are underpinned by a series of sinister sound effects which should come with a health warning for those with a nervous disposition, while "Hanna vs. Marissa" brilliantly builds up the tension of the film's pivotal scene with an array of clattering rhythms, ambient noises, and ear-piercing synths. Several numbers are nothing more than brief pieces of incidental music ("Chalice 1," "Sun Collapse") which don't serve any purpose outside the context of the film, but strip away these occasional aimless noodlings, and you're left with an appropriately bold and brooding soundtrack which shows that 20 years into their career, the Chemical Brothers still have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Review by Jon O'Brien, Allmusic.com

An album that fades in – grinding and beeping like a space shuttle returning to Earth – Born in the Echoes is the first LP in five years from the Chemical Brothers. It's a journey back home for the big beat or stadium dance duo, just like that spaceship intro implies, and one with all the necessary mutations. The dark, otherworldly, and prog rock sounds that kept many away from their 2010 release Further are back, although here they're framed much more attractively. Inspiration, innovation, and a well-chosen group of guest vocalists are rolled out sensibly, schooling the current EDM crowd on how to craft an album while balancing the heavy songs. With the hallucinatory, interlude-like "Taste of Honey" giving way to the Cate Le Bon feature on the Meco-meets-Nico title track, this album ebbs and flows as if the '70s Pink Floyd hadn't ignored disco. Speaking of, "Under Neon Lights" with St. Vincent as a robot siren is either Studio 54 on shrooms or The Matrix on acid. As usual, none of it is too garish even with all the loudness and chaos, and some of it is quite gothy and dark, including "EML Ritual" with Ali Love helping execute a mainstream dance tune that coolly acknowledges the passed-on genre of "witch house." The veteran duo deliver the rocker "I'll See You There" in the pop culture-aware style of the Black Keys rather than old chums like Oasis or the Verve, and if that isn't Daft Punk's recent repping of the '70s being "borrowed" throughout the album, that's certainly the spirited sway of Future Islands influencing and driving the fantastic Beck feature "Wide Open." Add an appearance from the swagger master Q-Tip and Born in the Echoes is an excellent mash of familiar and vanguard, the very same formula that lifts all the duo's best albums above expectations.

Review by David Jeffries, Allmusic.com