The chillout album has traditionally been aimed at people either too space-poor to fit decks in their lounge or too spongled to mix in the crucial dawn hours. However, the genre has thrown up some interesting variations on the usual format, including the sporadically entertaining (depending on who’s compiling) ‘Back To Mine’ series and the similar, if a little more bong-friendly,‘Late Night Tales’. But surely none of these are as conceptually astounding (and comedown conversation starting) as Michael Caine’s personal Balearic chill album. Yes, it turns out Britain’s all-time most-beloved thespian unwinds after a hard day of let’s pretend by putting together chillout mix CDs for his friends, three of which, thanks to the magic of Elton John (who negotiated Caine’s deal), are being released over the coming months.
Novelty value aside – and let’s face it, Jeff Koons could get a residency at the Whitney out of a novelty seam like this – this first instalment is pretty good. It’s effective rather than inspired, the sort of thing which would work very well as an introduction to ambience for a mature friend. There are, as you might expect from someone of Caine’s generation, and unfamiliarity with psychotropic rave drugs, a few rather pedestrian moments, including an unwelcome appearance from Lambrini-house monsters Chicane’s ‘No Ordinary Morning’ and Eva Cassidy’s overexposed ‘Fields Of Gold’. However, these are mixed (and we say ‘mixed’ in the ‘iTunes crossfade button’ sense) with some more esoteric choices; Bent, the habitually underrated ‘Nottingham Air’, will no doubt appreciate having made it onboard, for example.
If there’s a criticism to level at Caine’s selectorism, it’s that many of these tunes are surely familiar to anyone with an interest in musical relaxation of the post-club kind – the Felix Da Housecat mix of Nina Simone’s ‘Sinnerman’ is a great track, but many will surely already own it three times over simply by process of osmosis. However, integrating out-of-genre choices, such as closer ‘Move Closer’ by Phyllis Nelson, suggest that future episodes in the series could exhibit a lateral creativity which might even earn Caine a coveted spot at Cafe Del Mar.
