Simple Things - Zero 7

Advantages: Truly beautiful music that holds your interest.
Disadvantages: I honestly can't think of any.

...woven over the top of simple but engaging basslines. Glorious rising, floating harmonies are juxtaposed with slightly darker, more bass-driven tunes. In terms of musical innovation, this could be as important to the dance world as Blue Lines was all those years ago. It's THAT good. It's hypnotic, subdued, trance-like music - you couldn't really dance to any of this, it really is for relaxation. But unlike so much of this chillout dross that's being ...
...individual. The eleven seperate tracks form a very soothing, beautiful album that improves with every time you listen. It has very broad appeal, young and old will find it equally engaging, and it spans a great number of musical tastes and genres. In all, this is one of the most interesting, innovative and beautiful albums in recent years, and I highly recommend it to anyone. Awesome. ... Read review

Advantages: Where shall I start?
Disadvantages: None

...The only unfortunate thing about Simple Things is that it can be quite repetitive. Can be quite repetitive. Repetitive. Repetitive. But not in an annoying way. It's quite soothing, and there's only so much that can be done with chill-out music! 05. Simple Things The title track certainly does go freely and willingly in to your deeper psyche. Pleasuring your mind slowly and very tastefully. The exact female voice jumps out at you, and still remains ...
...downtempo formula, and making it damn great. 06. Red Dust Strummings, and hummings with piano and pleasure. All in the mix to create some red dusty substance. Electronic FX please the mind, and play with it slowly. 07. Distractions Can't think up a great deal to say about this track, but great none-the-less. 08. In the Waiting Line Very similar to 'Simple Things', but subtle lyrical changes, or you couldn't tell the difference. Which is no ... Read review

Advantages: Great collection of refreshing tunes with some original vocals
Disadvantages: Some unmemorable instrumental tracks

...and then their debut album Simple Things last summer. Simple Things is a collection of soul and jazz influenced grooves that are tinted with harder edge electronica and trip-hop. From start to finish, the order of the day is simple: well thought out and uplifting melodies, some great harmonies and baselines and an almost undetectable sprinkle of quirkiness throughout. The album starts brightly with I Have Seen, a slow but definite introduction with ...
...over the next two tracks, Simple Things (again featuring Mozez) and the instrumental Red Dust that it does so. Simple Things is probably the darkest track on the album with a deep resounding drum accompaniment and a defeatist melody, whereas Red Dust is much more simplistic in its approach almost feeling RnBish at times with its bouncy rhythm but with the cosmic synths and piano backing it up it doesn't get on your nerves too much. Both tracks are ... Read review

Advantages: Dreamy, carefully crafted chillout
Disadvantages: The "Destiny" track is so good the remaining tracks struggle to meet expectations

...same and was initially disappointed. Simple Things has however grown on me over time. Simple Things was a 2001 Mercury Prize nominee and is characterised by its downtempo, extremely chilled tracks. 4 of the 12 tracks are purely instrumental. There is a strong jazzy feel with frequent use of rhodes, ambient soundscapes and beautiful melodies that develop over time. Comparisons are made with Air but I personally much prefer the more melodic sound ...
...background of each track. Simple Things kicks off with the excellent "I Have Seen" featuring the vocals of Mozez. This is one of my favourite tracks because of the drumming, addictive bass/rhodes melody which repeats again and again putting you into a chilled out trance and reinforced with the lyrics "I have seen time go so slow, days come and go", the sweeping strings, ambient sounds woven throughout the track and the acoustic guitar strumming ... Read review

Advantages: Very mellow, good mood music
Disadvantages: Not for fans of pop.

...started with Zero 7 - Simple Things. The album is comprised of both songs and plain musical pieces (can't remember the word I wanna use here.. answers on a postcard please) and is arranged perfectly, blending the two together to create a fair seamless album. I normally have a preference for playing CDs in random order, but this, like Play by Moby, has to be played in sequence! All the tracks work together so well it's hard to highlight any in particular. ...
...I love some of the plain musical tracks like Red Dust stand out. The best is the first though. A very mellow song called I Have Seen. As a debut album, this is fantastic! I can see why my mate was raving about it when he first got his mittens on it! It's very similar in ways to the work of Air. More Moon Safari than 10,000Hz Legend though! ... Read review

Advantages: Chilled out stress buster of a cd
Disadvantages: Bit samey and not a big progression from Simple Things

...The debut album, Simple Things, was an awesome pieceo of chillout fare that could not fail to wiggle it's way into anyone's overstressed soul. When It Falls is more of the same. That is simultaneously a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that its the ideal tonic for a hard day's work or after a heavy night out. It's perfect to help lower those blood pressures and the tunes just help you get to that point of drowsiness that you can drift off into the ultimate sleep. However, you kind of expect more from a group like Zero 7. Simple Things proved that they're awesome and ingenious. The mix of instrumental tracks and old style songs and melodies was perfect. With When It Falls, they've gone more along the song route and less of the instrumentals. Not that bad a thing, but it's not as easy a blend as before. Another thing... Read review

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Advantages: THE chillout CD of them all! I dare you to feel stressed after listening to this!
Disadvantages: No-one on the planet should dislike this CD, but if you're into Rammstein, maybe not!

...This is one of the most unbelievable albums I've heard in years! As with Zero 7 - Simple Things, my DJ mate in Nottingham is the original recommender of this CD and my mate Jon leant me his copy to drive back to Devon from Milton Keynes with. I bunged it in the player and off I went. The journey has never seemed so short! Lemon Jelly are made up of two men. Nick Franglen and Fred Deakin. Lemon Jelly.ky is their first full album which is actually a collection of three limited edition EPs which they released over the past two or three years. It's hard to describe what this music is like or about... it's just different and like nothing you will have heard before! You could use many words... ambient.. mellow.. and none of them really fit the bill individually. Each track is a medley of instrumentals and strange samples. The first... Read review

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Advantages: Outstanding melody and lyrics, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable.
Disadvantages: None.

...One of my all time favourite CDs, I've listened to this album countless times and recommended zero7 to many-a-friend telling them to start with 'When It Falls'. Easily 5 stars in my opinion. Other reviews have mentioned it being as good, or almost as good as their earlier release 'Simple Things'. I'm of a slightly different view point as I stumbled across this album first, hearing zero 7 mentioned in passing, I thought I'd try it out. It absolutely blew me away; subsequently, after going back to listen to Simple Things, I still prefer this. Don't get me wrong, both are exceptionally good, but When It Falls has a special place in my music collection, and I still listen to this album very regularly. It is great background music, very relaxing and chilled out. I can't think if a better album to sit back in the evening and relax... Read review

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