Customer Reviews
Back on top - By: John Tree, 06 Nov 2008 
There is an old sayingin music that you are only as good as your last album, & I am afriaid Quantic may be suffering from thisin the public's perceptions at the moment.
The Fifth Exotic, Stampede & Apricot Morning are all wonderful albums that have been played & played to death on my system...but his last effort An Announcement To Answer left me cold. There seemed to be little spark or originality there. So when this new release hit the streets I have to admit to being a little non-plussed. Could I be bothered to make the effort?
Well I read a couple of positive reviews & my curiosity started to gnaw, so I decided to take the plunge. So glad I did...we are back to the beautifully produced sunshine & buoyancy of his earlier works. He is still doing his usual wacky fusion experiments, his Colombian excursions have obviously left their mark...like mixing Dub with Cumbia & other such unlikely bedfellows, & on the whole they work very well indeed.
There is plenty reggae vibe here, tropical flavas... delightful hints of Orchestra Baobab pepper the album, Jazzy optimism, inventive percussion & Django cool.
So there you go...there are some great tunes here, but perhaps as an album, it not quite as compelling as some of his earlier works****1/2
Return to form - By: Paul Dennis, 09 Sep 2008 I have been a fan of Will Holland for some timein all his guises. I would say that some of his recent releases have not grabbed my attention as some of the older stuff did. I was thinking he may have spread himself too thin. However this album has enjoyed heavy rotation since I bought it. A summer album for the summer that never was!
A great mix of styles, latin, funk, dub. There are some real dub standards mixedin here. I would not say it's that much reggae inspired, much more of a dub stylein the 70's sense.
Give it a fair try it may just help your digestive tract...
Latin Carribean Chill - By: Furthur, 07 Aug 2008 
Quantic & his many delicious updates of the Funk idiom has made an eager fan of me a long time ago. Here he continues, asin his recent stunning "Tropidelico" offering, to explore what colombian influences he is being infused by whilst living there.
This time however there is no marked funk reworking, just a very chilled, very laid-back, Latin Reggae intrumentals affair which at first can strike as a good musical-background-easy-listening-coffee-table type of album.
But of course there is more to it than that, & it boasts fine musicianship, particularlyin the last few tracks where the piano parts are a real listening pleasure. The two last tracks faultlessly conjure images of a sweaty mid day lazy Cartagena bar. Whilst this probably won't rate as his best ever album, it is surprisingly addictive, very consistent from beginning to end (that increasingly rarer breed of an album where you never need to skip one or more tracks you do no like), & a warmly welcome addition to anyone familiar to the delights & sheer variety of modern Colombian music (Sidestepper, Pernett, Batata, San Palenque, Mojarra Electrica, etc) & the older school (Discos Fuentes!).
As a matter of fact it is the slight Reggae tinge of the first few tracks which are a bit of a let down, & caused the 3 star rating to this review. As a long term Reggae fan, I always welcome anyone trying to mix it with other influences, but am not yet convinced this particular Cd was too successful at doing it. I hope though Mr Holland will continue to explore this avenue, & am convinced that if he does his next album will be way more exciting than this one.
In the meantime he probably did this on a simple, sweaty, relaxed, stretch of timein Cali, smoking a lot of colombian gold & enjoying himself with his friends, & thanks Pachamama for that, that simple pleasure clearly shows here.
Delightful Reggae Influenced Album from Quantic - By: Adam K. Hicks, 30 Jul 2008 I bought this on a bit of a whim earlier. I have listened to most of Will Hollands work & to be honest I thought it would be difficult to beat the last Quantic Soul Orchestra collaboration - Tropidelico.
It appears to have a slow start, although I think thats just me slowing down & relaxing to the album, it comes into its own around the fourth track, The first version on the album of Cuidad del swing - which is certainly a place i'd like to visit. This starts a series of outstanding & mellow tunes, culminatingin Juanita Bonita, which I had to repeat several times.
He has successfully made an album which can while the summer evenings away, mixing a reggae feal with strong latin roots. I certainly will be listening to this album when I'm travellingin a far distant land laterin the year. Thanks to Will Holland & the other musicians on this album for making my day!
