Miles from Home

by John BushLong delayed because of release problems with Mo' Wax, Peshay's debut funnels his jazz influences -- not just the slick end of '70s fusion and disco, but the hard boppin' '60s as well -- into a solid album of breakbeat dance. The jazz'n'breaks angle is done better than most, thanks to input from two of the jungle scene's prime engineer/producers, Decoder and (on two tracks) Photek. The title track is an obvious highlight (it actually appeared on Mo' Wax as a single more than a year earlier), and the live bass and piano on "Live at 2:37" are a welcome attempt to continue integrating jazz improv with drum'n'bass. The rap track "End of Story" also works very well, with vocals by J-Live and beautiful Fender Rhodes playing by Illinton. For most of the album though, the results argue well on paper but end up a bit dry and overly respectful in the final analysis. Miles from Home has a few notable highs, but seems too polished and labored over to work as a truly great album. It's difficult to dispel the impression that it suffered from the extra studio time.