BASEMENT JAXX: THE SINGLES RATE

 

 

Basement Jaxx have provided us with their quirky style of house music for over 20 years now. They quickly built up a killer string of singles and put a compilation together of all the essentials up to 2005. 'The Singles' was a hugely successful move, as it topped the chart in the U.K. and has sold over a million copies.

 

Now... it's time to see what BuzzJack thinks of the songs on it! Please rate each one out of 10. You have one optional 11 and -1 in the mix too. The deadline is Monday 28th October 2019 at 23:59 UK time, three weeks from now, so that should be plenty of time to re-familiarise yourselves!

 

Let's go:

 

xx Red Alert

xx Good Luck

xx Romeo

xx Oh My Gosh

xx Bingo Bango

xx Where's Your Head At

xx Rendez-Vu

xx Jump n' Shout

xx Lucky Star

xx Plug It In

xx U Don't Know Me

xx Do Your Thing

xx Jus 1 Kiss

xx Flylife

xx Samba Magic

 

Spotify playlist:

 

So excited to see how this turns out! I feel like it could be fairly unpredictable at the top as they have so many highlights.

 

I plan to re-listen to the album on vinyl with its beautiful blue and yellow discs in the coming days :wub:

I love this compilation - a shame they never updated it though as they had some pretty decent stuff after it was released also.

I agree! 'Raindrops' is one of my absolute favourites of theirs :wub:

 

(I think this is probably my all-time favourite dance related album nevertheless, soooo good)

10 Red Alert

09 Good Luck

06 Romeo

09 Oh My Gosh

11 Bingo Bango

06 Where's Your Head At

08 Rendez-Vu

08 Jump n' Shout

03 Lucky Star

09 Plug It In

07 U Don't Know Me

07 Do Your Thing

10 Jus 1 Kiss

08 Flylife

xx Samba Magic

 

I'll try and listen to that last one.

 

They've got some proper tunes in their arsenal.

07 Red Alert

09 Good Luck

08 Romeo

09 Oh My Gosh

08 Bingo Bango

11 Where's Your Head At

08 Rendez-Vu

08 Jump n' Shout

06 Lucky Star

08 Plug It In

08 U Don't Know Me

08 Do Your Thing

10 Jus 1 Kiss

06 Flylife

05 Samba Magic

I’m intending to do a proper review of each track for this. It is literally my absolute favourite Greatest Hits and one of the best dance albums in a long while *.*

I was going to post my rate up, but wasn't satisfied with what scores I was giving the songs so will have another listen to the album and post up my rates.

10 Red Alert

08 Good Luck

11 Romeo

10 Oh My Gosh

09 Bingo Bango

08 Where's Your Head At

10 Rendez-Vu

05 Jump n' Shout

04 Lucky Star

06 Plug It In

04 U Don't Know Me

07 Do Your Thing

10 Jus 1 Kiss

05 Flylife

03 Samba Magic

7 Red Alert

10 Good Luck

7.5 Romeo

11 Oh My Gosh

7 Bingo Bango

7.5 Where's Your Head At

7 Rendez-Vu

6.5 Jump n' Shout

8 Lucky Star

10 Plug It In

10 U Don't Know Me

6 Do Your Thing

7 Jus 1 Kiss

8 Flylife

7.5 Samba Magic

I'll do the proper rate later but I have to shout out for these too...

 

08 Hush Boy

09 Take Me Back To Your House

09 Hey U

09 Raindrops

07 My Turn

08 Mere Pass

10 4 My People Remix

09 Cold Shoulder Remix

07 She Wants To Move Remix

07 Mermaid of Bahia

07 Yodel Song

Gah that Cold Shoulder Remix is amazing. Haven’t heard it in ages! Kiss used to play it all the time

Thank you Jade for doing this! :D

 

This is absolutely one of the best Greatest Hits albums I own and actually one of the first I bought when I started getting into dance music properly in 2005. I remember buying it from Asda on the day it came out :') I got the 2 Disc edition at the time, but I lost that so only have the single CD version now.

 

Boo at Get Me Off being excluded because that was a great single from Rooty and even though its chart impact was minimal it still went Top 40! Cish Cash should've been a single too, it got a video (and is included on the counterpart DVD release to this The Videos) so I think the intention was maybe there but they'd clearly decided to end that era and get ready for this to be released.

 

11 Red Alert

The first song I ever heard from them and probably the same for many others (I had always thought this was their debut until this came out :kink:) and is their best track without a doubt. The video used to scare me as a kid :lol: but it has such a stomping production and a fantastic groove that it deserves its 11 points!

 

09 Good Luck

Lisa Kekaula is such a powerhouse on this track and the backing track sounds like nothing else that was released in 2003/4. As soon as that 'TELL ME, TELL ME' comes in I'm hooked.

 

08 Romeo

I liked the switch up of the vibe of this record and the chorus is catchy af. Kele Le Roc does a fantastic job at delivering the vocals.

 

10 Oh My Gosh

Released as the lead single from this GH, it was great to have something brand new for this and now stands the test of time as one of their best tracks. I had no idea who Vula was until this came out but she certainly suited the vibe of their music. And yes, we do see that boy standing over there ;)

 

10 Bingo Bango

This song is just an absolute hoot with a fantastic carnival vibe and the production just shines through. This firmly cemented their 'Basement Jaxx' sound for being so quirky and interesting.

 

07 Where's Your Head At

A bit of a racket, but still great nonetheless. The video cracks me up with those monkeys and to be fair the song immediately gets stuck in my head whenever I hear it.

 

06 Rendez-Vu

This is probably my least favourite song from the Remedy era, but it was clearly a favourite amongst the public as this is still their highest charting single to date! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy hearing it but the almost mumbly vocal production doesn't do that much for me.

 

09 Jump n' Shout

Woo this is one track I really didn't remember at the time of getting the album so hearing this then, and now, was a pleasant surprise. It's crazy! Slarta John's lyricism baffles me to this day but I can't help bop along.

 

10 Lucky Star

This was very much my introduction to Dizzee Rascal in 2003 and it is definitely a Basement Jaxx song through and through. I've mentioned the production a lot throughout this rate, but this is just that song that defines how unique they are.

 

08 Plug It In

Who'd have thought they'd get an ex-NSYNC member to appear on a track, but they did! An intriguing song with another odd video to boot. Plug It In was a song that wasn't really on my radar at the time of the release but is definitely a standout single from the Kish Kash era.

 

09 U Don't Know Me

This is one that has just got better and better over time and I definitely prefer this version that was included on the GH instead of the Jaxxhouz Remix for the single release. Again, Lisa Kekaula just smashes it out of the park. The great thing about the single release was the video with the lookalike Queen going on a partying rampage :lol:

 

10 Do Your Thing

Originally included as part of the Rooty era and then re-released as the third and final single of this GH, Do Your Thing still stands the test of time as being one of the duo's best singles.

 

05 Jus 1 Kiss

One of the weaker singles of the Rooty era, but definitely still enjoyable.

 

08 Flylife

I thought this was just tacked on at the end of the album as a bonus track or something so was surprised to see this was actually their first charting single from back in 1997! It's swooping production is fantastic.

 

07 Samba Magic

Their debut single from 10 years previously in 1995, it has a great vibe and finishes the album nicely as a throwback.

 

---

 

11 Red Alert

09 Good Luck

08 Romeo

10 Oh My Gosh

10 Bingo Bango

07 Where's Your Head At

06 Rendez-Vu

09 Jump n' Shout

10 Lucky Star

08 Plug It In

09 U Don't Know Me

10 Do Your Thing

05 Jus 1 Kiss

08 Flylife

07 Samba Magic

Every 11 so far is unique *.*

 

No problem lewis! I enjoyed reading your commentary and seeing a high score for 'Do Your Thing' :heart:

-ruins the unique 11s streak-

 

11 Red Alert

08 Good Luck

09 Romeo

10 Oh My Gosh

09 Bingo Bango

10 Where's Your Head At

10 Rendez-Vu

08 Jump n' Shout

08 Lucky Star

07 Plug It In

07 U Don't Know Me

10 Do Your Thing

07 Jus 1 Kiss

08 Flylife

08 Samba Magic

 

God bless this album and its beautiful vinyl

 

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Boo at Get Me Off being excluded because that was a great single from Rooty and even though its chart impact was minimal it still went Top 40!

 

I know! From 2002 but sounds about 5 years ahead of its time, with late 00s electro-house vibes!

10 Red Alert

09 Good Luck

11 Romeo

07 Oh My Gosh

06 Bingo Bango

09 Where's Your Head At

07 Rendez-Vu

08 Jump n' Shout

02 Lucky Star

10 Plug It In

05 U Don't Know Me

00 Do Your Thing

01 Jus 1 Kiss

-1 Flylife

03 Samba Magic

10 Red Alert

07 Good Luck

09 Romeo

11 Oh My Gosh

10 Bingo Bango

08 Where's Your Head At

08 Rendez-Vu

07 Jump n' Shout

09 Lucky Star

10 Plug It In

05 U Don't Know Me

08 Do Your Thing

06 Jus 1 Kiss

08 Flylife

09 Samba Magic

 

I'd give Raindrops so much too, it's between that and Oh My Gosh for their best, though the other 10s are strong af

Thanks everyone for the rates so far *.* still two weeks to submit one!

One week left to submit a rate!