Track Listing

1. Count Me Out
2. Mr McGee
3. Swing
4. Everything Up (Zizou)
5. Pop Art Blue
6. Medicine Man
7. Ghost Symbol
8. Sleeper
9. Solastalgia
10. Road, The
11. All Of Us

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #740 in Music
• Released on: 2009-09-28
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Over the last ten years, Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker (aka Zero 7) have amassed a decent reputation as one of the 90’s key ‘post-rave’ electronica outfits. Their debut album Simple Things, was one of the most uplifting and coherent downtempo documents of the era, up there with classics by Massive Attack, Air and Nightmares On Wax. Subsequent albums When It Falls and The Garden have been good, if less consistent. Their latest offering, Yeah Ghost, is their patchiest yet, zigzagging carelessly through experimental electronica, meandering acoustic folk ("Pop Art Blue", "Swing") and upbeat tracks like the Basement Jaxx-esque "Mr McGee" and "Medicine Man" (both featuring London vocalist Eska). While there are undeniably some good songs here, many of them featuring the golden Zero 7 sound, others such as recent single "Everything Up (Zizou)"--which features Binns on vocals--feel sub-standard, especially lyrically, and the more outré moments ("Count Me Out", "Solastalgia", "Ghost sYMbOL", often feel jarring rather than interesting or exploratory. While it’s doubtless good for bands to step out of their comfort zones, it’s generally better if they can do it with a little more grace and vision. --Danny McKenna

CD Description
Fourth album, following 2006's 'The Garden', from the Brit downtempo/chillout duo. Not content to make the same album again, with 'Yeah Ghost' they have turned in a markedly different work brimming with new ideas, from funky uptempo club bouncers, through avant-garde ambient, to indie-influenced, organic-sounding tracks like the free single 'Everything Up (Zizou)'. Features vocals from folkie Martha Tilston and the soulful, throaty Eska Mtungwazi, who has performed with Matthew Herbert.

Customer Reviews

One Man's Meat ....
Messrs Binns and Hardaker would appear to have taken a bit of a
drubbing within these pages for their new release 'Yeah Ghost'.

I would wish to offer a more moderate and forgiving view of their efforts.

Creative continuity is not a given with any artist(s).

Highs and lows; cul-de-sacs and unforeseen diversions are inevitable.

Zero 7 have never made a big noise but it has been a consistently
satisfying and inventive one. The 11 tracks in this collection do not,
or at least not to my hairy ears, deviate far from what has come before.

'Swing' is a perfectly lovely song; its airy harmonies and steel drums
are full of the sound of summer. Naive and utterly charming.

'Everything Up (Zizou)' is a warmly lilting piece of gentle funk shot through with
breezy synth arpeggios, pizzicato guitar and those cracking layered vocals again.

The light jazzy arrangement of 'Medicine Man' is a toe-tapping delight.

'Ghost sYMbOL', with its slippery beats and hauntingly deconstructed voice
is strangely addictive. A darker and atmospherically realised sound-scape.

Final track 'All Of Us' delivers a rhythmically complex conclusion in which
the duo's innate, knowing and refined musicality really shines through.

We can't all get what we want all of the time but I was more than happy
with the little dose of elusive magic that this fine album gave me.

Highly Recommended.

A week ago I wrote a review slating this CD. 7 days on and it has really grown on me, so now I'm eating humble pie!
Like other reviewers I own all the previous Zero 7 albums and love every one of them. Initially I was very disappointed when I heard the new material and consequently submitted a negative review. One week later I've found that I'm enjoying the album more and more and I'm glad I stuck with it. I've edited my comments to reflect my change of opinion.

For me, Pop Art Blue is the main track that delivers that quintessential Zero 7 sound and would easily fit on to any of the previous albums. Likewise, The Road, Swing and Everything Up are also worth listening to and should appeal to fans of Zero 7's previous works.

The rest of the album takes a new direction. Mr McGee is the bands first venture in to the territory of "commercial Pop" (stealing a synth riff from from Soft Cell's "Chips On My Shoulder") and it's a good song if you rate it in comparison to music of that genre. (In fact it's very catchy!) Likewise, Medicine Man sounds like Tina Turner singing a Britney Spears track (again, not a bad song when compared to other pop tunes).

Count Me Out and Ghost Symbol sound like tracks influenced by Gorillaz and Sleeper may be an attempt to win over the Basement Jaxx audience. All of Us and Solastalgia are an unusual sound that at first really grated on me, but in time I have grown used to them and no longer skip them when playing the album.

Overall, as already said, this CD has really has grown on me and demonstrates that Zero 7 have more things to offer. In addition to this album, or maybe an alternative, if you miss the old sound I'd recommend buying Sia's "Some People Have Real Problems".

This is their new album. It is not like their other albums.
Blimey, this is my first ever Amazon review. For many years i have been contented with reading other people's, but now, after reading reviews on this page i have been compelled to break the habit.
I've been listening to Zero 7 since Simple Things was released, they are jointly my favourite band along with Lemon Jelly, Groove Armada and Hybrid. When It Falls was different to Simple Things, and The Garden took the band in another direction. So it is with Yeah Ghost. It may be their most 'un Zero 7 like' album to date but i love it. As with all their albums there are new voices, but it's still their slinky sexy style. Along with the songs the instrumentals are present and correct and yes, it is a short album, but as with Lemon Jelly, i'd much prefer a 9 or 10 track 45 minute album that's consistently excellent than more than an hours' worth of good mixed with filler.
I saw these at the UEA in Norwich, it was a superb two hour set in which they performed pretty much the whole album along with a few of their most popular hits, the new tracks were unusual and i wasn't expecting the new style, but i'm definitely glad they took the risk. If you're feeling daring then perhaps you should too.