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Lost Horizons is the second studio album from the British electronic duo Lemon Jelly, released on October 2002. Released by XL Recordings and produced by Nick Franglen, the album generated two charting singles in the UK, "Space Walk" and "Nice Weather for Ducks"; the latter has often been called the album's stand-out track. The album, which is built around a mix of organic instrumentation and idiosyncratic samples, was met with largely positive reviews by music critics, although it was somewhat criticised due to its near-constant mellowness. In the United Kingdom, Lost Horizons peaked at number 20 on the Official Albums Chart, whereas in the United States, it peaked at number 24 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums component chart. The album's two singles, "Space Walk" and "Nice Weather for Ducks", were also successful, peaking on the UK Singles Chart, at number 36 and 16 respectively. The album was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and Brit Award in 2003, and was eventually certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments exceeding 100,000 copies.
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Reviews
What a corking album. Experiment Number Six - one of the few bits of music that genuinely makes me feel uneasy. There's a lot to like about this album - and little to dislike. As I wrote for Stereolab's Emperor Tomato Ketchup, it's less music and more an experience. I don't think anyone could hold this up as an example of songwriting; it doesn't really fit that description. It provides the listener with a hook, it leads a way to somewhere otherly. I'll admit that some of the mechanisms it uses are a little cliche (or have become so in the 20+ years since this was released) and yes, it may be very slightly too long, clocking in two seconds under the hour. But for something that was released at the nadir of music, I'm happy to report that this is indeed an excellent album.
Lost Horizons by Lemon Jelly is an easy listening electronic album with loads of samples. The use of sampling for the (lead)vocals works great. The sound and "lyrics" are light and give a pleasant feeling. However the length of the tracks give me a less than pleasant feeling. The album with eight tracks is 60 minutes long, so the compositions are 7.5 minutes on average and that is way too long.
I actually really enjoyed this mixup of samples and things. Retro future vibes. Pretty chill
Lost Horizons is the aural form of all the good things in the world. It blissfully captures a world without worry and wraps it inside of an acoustic instrumental electronic/downtempo/trip-hop package. I say this with no exaggeration, this is possibly the happiest music I've ever heard and I love it. The most interesting thing about this album from a musical perspective is how it balances the instruments with the electronic melodies. It primarily uses folk acoustic guitars and jazzier stuff like horns and strings, this gives all the songs a very comforting rural kind of feel (the fun and comforting kind with community like you see in Japan and Europe) while not feeling stuffy and old fashioned thanks to the downtempo beats. Lost Horizons also uses extensive use of sampling, most notably for vocals, which is generally short repeated phrases from old media, again contributing to that rustic feeling. Samples are also used for the music though it blends in a lot more. The album is extremely mellow, apparently some people complain about this but I think it's playing to its strengths. It does get very ambient at times which leads it starting to play into the background during certain, weaker songs, but usually snaps back to reality with a vocal sample or the introduction of new instrumentation. I like the ebb and flow that it has personally. It also has smooth transitions as to not break it's zen state, the only exception to this being the one between Nice Weather for Ducks and Experiment Number Six. Should it be on the list: Yes Top 3 songs: Elements, Space Walk, Nice Weather For Ducks
An old favourite and a delight to see on this list. It’s hard to pick a standout — every track feels deeply familiar.
Very entertaining, and had the infinity play on in Apple Music and it lead to some other interesting artists. Bonus!
Smooth and enjoyable. Glad I got the chance to add this album to my playlist.
Really interesting electronica stuff that worked for me, but as another comment says, all the compositions are too long. Cut every song down by 10-20% and it's great. Each song just stays a little too long. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No
Tends not to be my genre but I actually liked this a lot. The spoken word and unconventional audi sampling actually felt like part of a coherent narrative and the music was engaging thoughout.
This was a pretty banger album
Fun enough samples to pass the time. Less annoying than Fatboy Slim in his heyday
Enjoyed this pretty good chill samples, though to quote my 5 year old “What’s this strange music your listening to Daddy”
This ran long but was pretty good, especially for being "electronic" although it's more of a sampling of random genres and sounds than your typical electronica.
Forgettable
I normally like this kind of thing but it's really bland and uninspired. There's nothing here that wasn't done years and years before.