Personnel includes: Adam F (vocals, talk box, whistling, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, keyboards, percussion); Goldie, Tracey Thorn (vocals); Dave Ital, Greg Lester (guitar); Pete Shrubshall (flute, saxophone); Hillary Burt (flute); James McMillan (trumpet, brass); Damon Brown (trumpet); Julian Joseph (Fender Rhodes piano); Tim Philbert (bass); Jeremy Stacey (drums); Spry, Andros (percussion); MC Conrad.
Adam F broke into the drum-and-bass arena with the two-fisted knockout of "Circles" and "F-Jam." All doubters who scoffed at his privileged showbiz background (dad was a notorious glam-rocker and young Adam himself toured America as a Moody Blues keyboardist) were silenced by the absolute perfection and consummate musicality of his simmering grooves. With a talent for arrangement and programming that vastly belies his 24 years, Adam F established himself as a fixture of the acid-jazz/jungle crossover set.
A perennial outsider, Adam F shuns the club scene, professes a strong spirituality, and embraces live ensemble musicianship over retread sampling. Where others nick obscure Blue Note riffs, Adam plies his own saucy post-Weather Report fusion enticements ("F-Jam," "Music In My Mind"), seasoning them with effected vocals and sharp breakbeats. You can't pigeonhole Adam. "Metropolis" and "Jaxx," colossal twin-slabs of claustrophobic urban menace, offset the seductive "Aromatherapy" and "The Tree Knows Everything," a slick dance-pop showcase for Everything But The Girl vocalist Tracey Thorn. "Dirty Harry," as lean and punchy as Lalo Schifrin's orchestral workouts, shows a genuine understanding of funk. That alone sets Adam apart from the majority of his fumbling, beat-wrangling contemporaries.
