Various Artists - 1 Giant Leap

Filmmaker Jamie Catto and producer Duncan Bridgeman traveled around the Earth last year with a digital audio camera and an idea. The two wanted to capture sounds and imagery from several artists and musicians in attempts to create a worldwide collaboration of sorts. While artists like Neneh Cherry, Michael Stipe, Baaba Maal, Horace Andy and Maxi Jazz are featured on this collection, the album suffers the musical vision of the sole producer, Duncan Bridgeman. It's natural that an album recorded all across the globe sound like world music, but I refuse to believe that all the English speaking countries of the world can offer is hip-hop. Almost any track that features an English speaking artist turns into this world beat, hip-hop mess - it's really very disturbing. The rest of the cuts on the album are decent, with a few standouts. "Ma' Africa", featuring The Mahotella Queens and Ulali, takes the listener through a tribal techno track highlighted with African styled vocals. The opener, "Dunya Salam" featuring Baaba Maal, is almost like a prayer or incantation that attempts to bless the proceedings of the disc. Finally, the closer, "Ghosts" featuring Eddi Reader, is a meditative ambient track marked with whirling synths and sparse, droning vocals. Being an American, with English being my primary language, it's tough for me to think that the best way my culture can speak to the world is through the avenues of hip-hop. I recognize the art form as important to American culture, although would not jazz and blues be just as important? Nonetheless, 1 Giant Leap is a great idea, but it's the opinion of this writer that it wasn't carried out as well as it could have been. [www.1giantleap.com]