Innovative Life The Anthology 1984-1989

%%header%%

%%message%%

An overdue overview that is era-specific instead of career-spanning, Innovative Life compiles several Arabian Prince productions originally released in the 12 format on Rapsur, Street Kut, and Techno Kut, along with the fruit of a dalliance with the early N.W.A. As detailed in the phenomenal liner notes, this disc sheds a spotlight not just on Arabian Prince but the West Coast, which tends to get a very short shrift throughout coverage of electro and pre-gangsta-era hip-hop. Not all of the content here is gold -- Strange Life, the first single, is a limp curiosity, recorded with musicians who knew much more about Poco than P-Funk -- but plenty of it rates with any of Arabian's Kraftwerk/Bambaataa-spawned brethren on the East Coast, not to mention his fellow L.A. scene running mate, Egyptian Lover. All the ingredients of classic electro are present -- the bounding machine beats, synthesizers set to either paranoid or assault, cyborg vocals, wordplay that switches from the sci-fi-obsessed to the playfully (rather than crudely) lecherous. (The timeline here cuts off just before Arabian cut It's Time to Bone.) The most noteworthy missing track would be J.J. Fad's Supersonic, easily the most well-known Arabian production, but anyone around at the time of its release can likely replay it in his or her head from start to finish. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi