UGLY DUCKLING - Bang for the Buck - 2006 - Album review

UGLY DUCKLING - Bang For The Buck - 2006 - Album review
HIGHLIGHTS: Breakdown - Smack - Andy vs. Dizzy - Slow The Flow
SOUNDBITE: /You better watch out it might get ugly /Cuz you my friend are beginning to bug me /
RATING: 5/5
'Bang for the Buck' is the classic UD recipe of brass and wah-wah loops over phat breaks and soul-funk basslines but they've avoided the skit-heavy content of previous LP 'Taste the Secret' and kept it similarly uptempo - as opposed to the slower grooves of the first EP or 'Journey to Anywhere' LP. They often get dismissed in hip-hop circles as 'retro-old-school'. Retro stuff is sh*t if it's a pale imitation, if it stands up alongside the classics (and this album does) it can't be sh*t. Maybe it should be described as 'traditional' rather than retro. Whatever - the beats, loops and rhymes here are quality and the subversive UD humour is in full effect all the way through ripping into A&R men who are blind to UD's talents despite an obvious groundswell of public support /they said this sound won't make it today/ they don't want to hear what we're trying to say/ - and you have to admit they've got a point. A&R execs do seem to have a double standard about 'retro' between hip-hop and other genres of music - The White Stripes and The Strokes are even more retro than UD and they get promoted to the hilt. Not that UD care that much, they're having too much fun making the music they want to make, rocking dance floors and taking the p*ss out of the overblown posturing of certain rappers, record execs and er... each other, as Einstein comments (when asked to adjudicate over who was the better rapper) in a bored voice at the end of the 'Andy vs Dizzy' 'battle',- /Er - i dunno - wasn't listening/. A meteoric rise to fame was never going to happen for UD but this LP will gain them many new fans and lose them none. Buy it. Trust me on this - you can apologise for doubting me later.