Café Del Mar
Volume 8
MCA
Usually, Café Del Mar releases are somewhat upbeat and musically eccentric, but Volume Eight fails to live up to the other seven. Despite the overall dullness of this compilation, there are some highlights: Dido offers a great slow and beating “Worthless,” Mari Bone does “Gula Gula” (an electronic world fan’s wet dream), a vocally driven “100 Billion Stars” by Lux and a super tranquil “Pina Colada” served up by Digby Jones. This volume also includes Goldfrapp, Afterlife, Tiny Tunes, and Lamb. The only problem with Volume Eight is that it’s Café Del Mar, the leader of the Ibizian pack, not “Joe’s Ibizian Music,” so the standards are set very high. It’s not the worst album by any degree, it just isn’t the same quality you’d expect from a Del Mar release.
MCA Records, 2220 Colorado Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404; http://www.mcarecords.com