Gonzales - Z

  by Mark Rowland

published: 4 / 8 / 2003

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Before the release of his third album 'Presidential Suite', Gonzales was pretty much a strictly underground figure, releasing one EP and two albums that received very little press coverage. On the release of his single 'Take Me to Broadway' (off 'Presidential Suite') however, people suddenly started to sit up and take notice. Gonzales is one of those artists that appeals to students very easily- The beat driven music with an indie edge, the smart, funny rapping, Gonzales' unique background (a Canadian born Jewish MC)- all of this appeals to the mind of any student at universities across the world, and once word got out about Gonzales and his odd little rap tunes, word spread about campuses worldwide. This is not to say that Gonzales only appeals to people on three year degree courses. These beats are accessible- even my dad likes 'Take Me to Broadway', and he can't stand '"all that rap stuff". As well as being on the 'Presidential Suite' album, 'Take Me to Broadway' is also on 'Z'- kind of. This is because it's been re-worked from scratch from an alt-hip hop masterpiece into a funked up dance number, the rap magically transformed into a club-style lounge croon. That's what 'Z' is all about, a best of' package with a difference, a complete re-working of old songs. Most songs are re-worked into something resembling the kind of soul/funk/jazz that Stevie Wonder used to make in his hey day, with the odd track being lounged up good and proper. Gonzales usual style is not completely worked out however. The first single from 'Z', '(Another) So Called Party' is the kind of skewed hip hop that the original 'Take Me to Broadway' was. 'Decisions' is the best kind of minimal rap music and 'This One Jam' is what Will Smith's music would sound like if he was actually good, and also contains the immortal line "I'm a combination of Joe Stalin/and Woody Allen". 'Soft Shoe Snoozin'' is also pretty beat driven, and features a surprisingly good rap from Princess Superstar, while 'The Joy of Thinking', featuring Peaches, has a bass-line that would be equally at home on both a Stevie Wonder album and an N*Sync album, but manages to pull it off without sounding total rubbish . It is, in fact totally the opposite (probably because the track is thankfully more blind funk genius than embarrassingly bad pop band). The loungiest moment on 'Z' is provided by Austrian Louie Austen's crooning on 'Let's Groove Again', which is pure 60's film title sequence music, and yes, it still manages to be pretty damn good. Even if you've got all the original versions of the songs on this album, 'Z' is still worth getting, if only just to see how much the songs have been changed, though 'Z' can easily stand up as a new Gonzales album in its own right. All of these tracks really are new songs by Gonzales. They just happen to have the same names and lyrics as some of the other songs he's written.

Track Listing:-

1 Chilly In F Minor
2 Variations On A Scheme
3 (Another) So Called Party
4 This One Jam
5 Lovertits
6 Soft Shoe
7 You Are
8 Why Don't We Disappear
9 The Joy Of Thinking
10 Decisions
11 Take Me To Broadway
12 Starlight
13 Let's Groove Again
14 Dans Tes Yeux
15 Love Scene/Higher Than You

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