Random Era The Searching Years LP Featuring former Shakti members Philly Whizz and Ash The Gent (alongside some of the best cuts and scratches I've heard on an album in a while from DJs Rasp, Nimble and LSG) comes this lyrical missive from the Merseysiders. There's a balance of the humourous / 'serious' (the serious stuff seems to be more effective to my ears) here including the highlight of the floor rocking light-hearted dub of 'Body Move' which I can imagine will be sliding shortly into Mr Scruff's box. Unusually for a modern hip hop album there are few guest artists. The samples are a mix of the over-familiar and the choice (especially the spoken word ones). The Scouse accents are sometimes a little difficult to understand for this soft Southern nancy. Many of the songs seem a little short / not complete (as well as skits not being labelled as such) and the album comes in at just over 45 minutes (in my opinion in this download age a CD should be 'full' to be good value - with acapellas etc). There is also a 12" EP available with select songs from the album (including 'Body Move'). 7/10 - Chris Byrne  Related Links: Go Wise © ukhh.com 1999 - 2008