1999 found Botti firmly climbing the ladder for the
crown of the new king of chill. Having released two well-received and
high-selling albums, written and recorded a deservedly lauded soundtrack to
cult film ‘Caught’, as well as toured extensively around the globe, Botti
settled down to produce an album that would unashamedly, as laid out crystal
clearly in his liner notes, slow things down and create the perfect mood.
From the offset, the first track, the very radio
friendly ‘Irresistible Bliss’, grooves along nicely with a moody sense of cool,
but without becoming too ‘smooth’. Immediately too you can hear a better
stronger sound to Botti’s work. The production is more rounded, fuller even,
helping plump up the bass and enhancing the rhythm sound of the record. Also
assisting on a number of tracks, is a strong orchestration, provided by none
other than Anne Dudley, that helps add a richer sound to the proceedings –
without ever sounding saccharine or over-powering the band.
Another thing to dawn on you is that whereas ‘First
Wish’ had a distinct secondary voice in its keyboards, and ‘Midnight Without
You’ featured the guitar in a secondary spotlight role, ‘Slowing Down The
World’ has just one instrumental voice – the trumpet of Botti. And as ever, the
tone of the instrument is gorgeous.
As before, Botti has a guest vocalist on one of the
pieces, this time in the form of Sting, who adds a suitably world-wearied
sounding vocal line to a suitably melancholic take on ‘In The Wee Small Hours’.
A perfect pairing, Sting’s singing beautifully complements Botti’s wistful
trumpet playing - the only let down being the slightly limp sounding backing
keyboards.
It’s unfortunate then, that one thing ‘Slowing Down
The World’ has in common with ‘Midnight Without You’ is having two vocals
tracks – one very much worth its inclusion on the album, and one that should
really have been left off entirely. Whereas the ‘Midnight Without You’ title
track though was pure blandness, a cover of Randy Newmans ‘Same Girl’ is absolutely
attrocious and sits completely out of place with the rest of the album. Why is
it so bad? Unfortunately, although Chris Botti has easily the most beautiful
and crisp trumpet voice, his singing voice leaves much to be desired. Straining
weakly against some non-descript piano the song is simply a mistake and makes
you wonder who thought this was a good idea.
Luckily, the next track ‘Where I’m Calling From’
instantly more than gets things back on the groove track, and the album ends on
a good note too, in the form of the most orchestrated track on the album,
‘Letting Go’.
Interestingly, despite the more overt attempt at
chill-out, Botti’s third album is perhaps the most jazz sounding, in both its
arrangements and Botti’s own playing. And despite the more chilled direction,
the album heads more toward jazz than the previously more pop-sounding first
two records. The result is that both the slower moodier tracks and the more
upbeat pieces all give the feeling of simultaneously being uplifting and
chilled, despite being just a little more melancholic sounding than the earlier
‘First Wish’ or Midnight Without You’.
Ultimately, where the first two Botti solo efforts
sounded very alike and in many ways were perhaps interchangeable, ‘Slowing Down
The World’ attempts to and succeeds in sounding different – different whilst
still maintaining the Botti elements. And with some elements working better
than before, and others working much worse, it is personal preference in style that
will determine which you deem the better of the albums.
Much better though was just around the corner. Botti
would be enlisted to join Stings touring band for almost three full years. In
the middle of this tour, he would be able to get just one ten week break. This
would in turn provide the right stuff needed to produce his first great album –
‘Night Sessions’.
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