Various Artists - 'Cained' (Universal) Released 03/09/07

So the story goes something like this: Michael Caine, at one of Elton John’s dinner parties, consistently kept picking out the artist and song title of selection of ‘chill out’ or dinner party songs that were playing. Caine becomes somewhat known as a little bit of a connoisseur of ‘chill out’ music and now, here in my hands, lies his first curated compilation. It’s a standard, simple story I suppose.

'Cained' is therefore a selection of his favourite chill out selections, mostly taking in elements of loungecore and basic downbeat electronic music. The issue immediately is the same as with any chill out album or compilation. It’s mood music. It can’t kick you up the arse and grab your attention as, for the most part, its not really meant for that purpose. Chill out, loungecore music tends to be designed as a more complex form of muzak, to be heard but not listened to. Therefore, a whole album of the stuff can be a little uninteresting to experience unless the complexities of the music are cranked up and the songs, usually the ones with guest vocalists, need to be superlative to fully hold the attention. It’s something that occurs with instrumental music as a rule of thumb. The music needs a high degree of complexity to keep listeners interested in what its doing.

The compilation, if you are looking for dinner party music or something to check out in the downtime between joints, is pretty good. Magnet’s languid version of ‘Lay Lady Lay’ with Gemma Hayes is a beautiful rendition while Eva Cassidy manages to escape intense blandness to make a song written by Sting, ‘Fields of Gold’, actually sound pretty good. The best moments come from the expected places, John Martyn’s ‘Sunshine’s Better’ especially is music to soothe and interest, a perfect way in for those unknown to Martyn’s work. If anything, that’s what you would hope for from the project. That certain tracks the man’s collected will break out a little with his backing.

Other than these, there is nothing bad on the record as such, perhaps excepting the woeful and annoying ‘Rose Rouge’ by St Germain. Otherwise, its all solid selections of music its hard to get excited about. If you are interested in chill out and don’t own all these already, it’s a good primer. If chilling out ain’t your bag, walk away.