Pre-Owned The Chillout Session [2002] (CD 0824669500523) by Various Artists

0824669500523. Pre-owned: Good condition. CD. A remixed and slightly altered repackaging of a similar Ministry of Sound release from one year earlier, The Chillout Session collects two discs of delicious downtempo music. It's an admirably broad mix -- compiled by American MoS ambassadors Andrew Goldstone and DJ dB -- ranging from electronica album-rockers like Massive Attack, Air, and Boards of Canada to remixes of alternative artists (Zero 7 reconstructing Lambchop as well as Radiohead, Static Revengers redoing the Stone Roses), as well as a few indie rock tracks that work well in context (Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining," Hefner's "Level Green," Sigur Rós' "Staralfur"). Also included (surprisingly) are a few golden oldies of a vintage more than just a few years old, like "Les Nuits" by Nightmares on Wax, "Cantamilla" by Tranquility Bass, and "Modular Mix" by Air. Two full hours of downtempo often seems just as interminable as the same amount of hard house, but it plays much better as background music. ~ John Bush, Rovi