SOME groups, after ten years together, are just getting into their stride. Others have revealed all that they are going to reveal. For all their extravagant conceits and lovable quirks, Fun Lovin' Criminals fall into the latter category. Their new album, Welcome to Poppy's, covers well-trodden territory, while their return after a two-year hiatus with yet another new drummer, Frank the Rhythm Master, was all part of a familiar pattern.

The three musicians - singer and guitarist Huey, keyboard and bass player Fast and the aforementioned Frank - set off at a brisk clip with a couple of new songs, Stray Bullet and Lost It All. We were pitched into a world of hoodlums, heists and high-fives as Huey embarked on the first of many smooth-talking tough-guy raps about life on the mean streets of the Big Apple.

Dressed in raffish dark suits and white trainers, Huey and Fast looked the acme of American wide-boy cool, and as they eased into the more relaxed gait of Loco, with its swaying Latin rhythm and soaring Santana-esque guitar solo, they brought a unique style and authority to the occasion. Huey joked with the crowd between numbers in a rapid, Noo Yoik mumble that was hard to decipher. But there was no mistaking the bond of affection between group and audience.

As a show it gelled nicely enough. But the impression of the group as a one-trick pony persisted. Whether a number was loud, quiet, fast or slow, Huey stuck the same gruff, soft-spoken rap. The release last year of a greatest hits collection, Bag of Hits, seemed to draw a line under their achievements with their record label - which promptly dropped them. And to judge by this performance the formula can only yield diminishing returns in the future.

New songs, such as You Got A Problem, sounded like old favourites, such as their call-and-response anthem The Fun Lovin' Criminal. And the old songs prompted the most resounding response, particularly a romping rerun of their biggest hit, Scooby Snacks.

Only at the end did they attempt a genuine change of pace as Huey strapped on an acoustic guitar and they played the melancholy ballad You Just Can't Have It All - a brief pause for reflection, at last. If the Fun Lovin' Criminals are no longer one jump ahead, there was still enough going on here to keep them ticking over for a while yet.

Reviewed by David Sinclair

3/5

FRONTMAN Huey Morgan is of the opinion that a Barrow-land gig is the high point on any tour.

Given the level of hero worship which greets their appearance on stage, this is hardly surprising.

Glasgow loves The Fun Lovin' Criminals, an adoration that is as utterly uncritical as it is devoted.

A leaner-looking Huey asks if we mind hearing the new stuff. Not in the least, if only it didn't sound quite so like the old stuff.

New album Welcome To Poppy's largely comprises the classic elements of the FLC sound; massive, rumbling bass, hip-hop rhythms,clanging guitars and rapped, streetwise lyrics.

The single Too Hot goes further -a perfect evocation of New York disco, circa Studio 54, it's such faithful pastiche that The Sugarhill Gang would have been proud.

Living On The Streets only serves to illustrate that Fun Lovin' Criminals are still at the same address as when they first championed the cool Latin rap groove.

They rarely stray from the sidewalks of New York City and if Scooby Snacks still satisfies (and it does) there is little else on the menu to tempt new listeners.

"If you’re looking for music to fuck, dance, mosh and chill to ­ it’s all here."

"Too Hot," is signature FLC rollin' alchemy, blending Latin rhythms and Hip-Hop beats, and aggressively driving the bump like a stoned Cadillac rolling through New York's Lower East Side. Thick with wicked guitar chops, Ian Dury-style pump, John Shaft street-shuffle percussion and Tijuana brass, the groove percolates with vocal call-outs and lover boy "ooh-ahhs."

"Friday Night has a melody so sweet it deserves to be played every weekend for the next decade."

After the tired 'Loco' album two years ago, it appeared Huey himself was growing bored of the gangster shtick.

Possibly due to life on a new label, maybe because of yet another new drummer, but FLC are suddenly back with their best album since their debut.

Stylistically, they haven't changed one Mafioso iota. But, save the odd lapse into jazz cliché, Huey's plugged his guitar in and the energy is back. A slice of finest pizza to the goombahs.

7/10

If there ever was a group that epitomized the essence of cool, that drew on influences from funk, soul, rhythm and blues, hip hop and hell it is Fun Lovin' Criminals.

Throw a little jazz in there, pieced them together to create their own unique groove, and sum it up with a home city of New York in a musical diary of their experiences.

Since 1999's covers and other random stuff album, 'Mimosa'; experiences that include the September 11 attacks, not to mention the current U.S. administration, plus of course drinking and broads, ALL of which are summed up in the track 'Friday Night' with the line "Fuck the war on drugs, fuck that Bin Laden".

FLC always grabbed my attention more with their upbeat tracks and fortunately there is plenty of them here. From the opener 'Too Hot' driven by an irresistible groove or 'Lost It All' driven by punk rock angst, still with that Fun Loving sound.

'Running For Cover' shows the suave jazz influenced side of the group with a guitar solo grown from pure rock 'n' roll!

Hip hop takes over for 'Take Me Back' and 'What Had Happened?' with the latter taking another political stab as Huey sings "Crime don't pay when it's off the books/all the taxes I pay go straight to crooks", a line that makes disturbing sense!

The album continues through to 'You Just Can't Have It All', an FLC ballad that misses their groove. For long time fans on FLC, you won't be disappointed. They remain true to their sound on Welcome To Poppy's.

Huey and his crew always were the coolest, most laidback customers on the chillout hip-hop planet, and that was never going to change.

And despite the regrettable forays into lounge, no amount of criticism ever looked likely to raise them from the torpor.

And little has changed on their latest offering, which mixes a similarly laconic cocktail of jazzy hip-hop with a dash of cheesy humour.

Running for Cover and Take Me Back are pure FLC fayre, with only You Just Can't Have It All letting the side down.

Seven years after the deservedly chuffed-with-itself 'Scooby Snacks' and all the beats, blunts and flagrantly-pretend wise guy-ness that came with it, you might imagine that Europe's own pet Noo Yawkers have had their chips. Not quite. Unperturbedly dusting themselves off, cartoon Roadrunner-style, as they pimp-roll to a new label, Huey and crew slap down a lazily-poised new disc, short on filler and long on if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it.

Like, f'rinstance, those irresistibly bouncy guitars, sly-mook raps and rubber beats ('You Got A Problem', 'Stray Bullit'). Like their increasingly-deft mining of swathes of black music - the Chic guitars and Cameo-isms of 'Too Hot', a tastily sample-tastic 'What Had Happened', the luscious Marvin Gaye-redux of 'Got Our Love' - practically unknown to most of the white "disco still sucks" USA.

Plus some songs about blunts, the block and attractive ladies. Long may they chance.

Reviewed by Jennifer Nine

****

NYC trio has now made itself the third-best white group in rap.

This New York trio debuted in 1995, reimagining the Beastie Boys as friendly black-leather bon vivants rather than aloof scenesters. Aside from a superb hit single, "Scooby Snacks", FLC never delivered fully on their grinning promise of making white rap irresistible - until now. On their juicy third album, lead singer Huey still whispers his smoother NY-Euro version of Eminem's phlegmy style. But FLC's arrangements now power on and groove and vamp with a hardy, offhand magnificence. From rock-blues ("Running for Cover") to hooky hard pop ("Stray Bullit") to tingling balladry and R&B ("Beautiful" and "Friday Night"), FLC sustain one helluva flow.

Reviewed by James Hunter

****

This time last year things weren’t looking too rosy for the Fun Lovin’ Criminals.

They were having trouble keeping hold of their drummers and, worse still, were being ditched by their record company who then released a "best of" package against their wishes.

Maybe any anger was dissipated by its top 5 showing.

But the Crims aren’t about to lie down. They’ve got a new label and a new drummer. He’s Frank the Rhythm Man and guess what – they found him at Rock City.

Well, that’s the way the story goes.

Welcome to Poppy’s offers little new to the FLC canon. The familiar mix of Latino, funk and lounge (Friday Night) is all there.

Lost It All punk’s it up a little albeit in a Gary Glitter kind of way (lots of hey, hey in the backing vocals).

You Got a Problem has a rhythm direct from The Fun Lovin’ Criminal, which suggests Huey and Fast might be running out of ideas.

Having said that, they might regard Mimosa as a stop-gap collection but their covers of hits was remarkably good and it would have been nice to see a couple more copy versions here.

Still, it’s good to have them back and whether or not the song remains the same, fans will be guaranteed getting into the groove when they play Rock City on 17th September.

Welcome to Poppy’s is released on Sanctuary SANCD187

3/5

New York's home-grown hip-hop duo, Fun Lovin' Criminals are terrific on their new disc, "Welcome to Poppy's," an album that's smart in both its grooves and its lyrics content.

Take their song "Living on the Streets" - the band lets lyrics of self-doubt box with street corner bravado to a funk underscore.

While this is certainly a departure disc for the Criminals - more rock than rap - the new direction really suits them.

And it isn't as if the duo has abandoned their MC duties either - they make a fine showing on "You Got A Problem," a song about love in the time of drug wars.

Having started as a novelty act based at New York's Limelight night club years ago, this album shows how far the Criminals have come.

3/4

Welcome to Poppy's’ sees the pioneering bad boys of eclectic New York sound continue to exemplify the essence of cool.

Carrying on as a laudable successor to the excellent 'Loco' and '100% Columbian', Fun Lovin’ Criminals new studio set is a more introspective, sentimental album but still preserves the infectious good humour and exhilarating vibes that the listener has come to expect.

The album opens with the alluring groove of 'Too Hot' that looks like being a genuine hit. Invigorating oceans of fun are still evident in all the songs from the punk rock angst of 'Lost It All' to the hip hop driven 'Take Me Back' and 'What Had Happened?’. Arguably the highlight of the album, 'Running for Cover' illustrates the charming jazz roots of the band.

Produced by Huey and Fast, the band continue to draw on their accustomed influences of funk, soul, rhythm and blues, rock and hip-hop but the album has a more contemporary, mature fluently commercial feel to it: It’s as if the bad boys have grown up but still cling to their roots. "You Just Can't Have It All" sways along as the sensitive side comes to the forefront.

As ever, a great, original piece of work from a group that continue to defy their peers and produce records of real depth and soul. Surely to go relatively unnoticed they remain as important a group as any other to emanate from the Big Apple in recent times.
~Michael J

Following the top 5 success of the 'Loco' single and album last year, Fun Lovin' Criminals are back with 'Bag Of Hits', a career retrospective featuring highlights from their 7 year history with EMI. From the obvious ('Scooby Snacks', 'The Fun Lovin' Criminal'), to the not-so-obvious (covers of the Climax Blues Band's 'Couldn't Get It Right' and Louis Armstrong's 'We Have All The Time In The World'), 'Bag Of Hits' is THE 'Criminal record everyone will want to have.

The original bandits of bad boy hip-hop, jazz and punk rock return with an invigorating album that is arguably their finest work to date. Effortlessly contemporary, refreshingly commercial, filled with good humour and good vibes, it's a worthy successor to such as classics as 'Loco' and '100% Colombian'. Produced by Huey and Fast, 'Welcome To Poppy's' features live favourite 'Baby' - a great punk rock tune, new single 'Too Hot', which is a classic F-L-C tune and a song that looks set to become a summer smash, and the rock track, 'Lost It All' - a three minute burst of guitars and "ooh ooh" and "hey" backing shouts. With all the oohs, heys, guitar feedback and hip-hop beats, what the Fun Lovin' Criminals are trying to say is that they still mean business. And business is still very, very cool.

Brit loving New Yorkers Fun Lovin Criminals have produced four fantastic albums of laid back stoner pop during their ten year career and this retrospective celebrates the hits, the obscurities and the fan inducing rarities.
Formed in 1993 the Criminals soon achieved cult status due to their electric live shows, eclectic sound and Scorsese style. Their first album ‘Come Find Yourself’ was a heady mix of funk, soul, blues, rock and hip-hop and soon found them being compared, favourably, with the Beastie Boys. The Tarantino sampling smash ‘Scooby Snacks’ saw them achieve world-wide recognition and the singles ‘Fun Lovin Criminal’ and ‘King Of New York’ further consolidated their position as everyone’s favourite Americans.
With follow-up album ‘100% Colombian’ (which extolled the virtues of their favourite pastime) and subsequent albums ‘Mimosa’ and ‘Loco’ the band moved further into the groove laden jazz of cocktail lounges and playboy parties. Never a band to be pigeonholed though, they still added hardcore punk and classic funk to their already heavily spiced soup of sound.
‘A’s, B’s And Rarities’ is a fantastic album that showcases the best of FLC. The tales of seedy New York, the cheeky humour and the cool quotes are all here mixed up with some of the best music of the last decade. All their most famous tunes are included backed with their finest b-sides and several previously unreleased or hard-to-find tracks. A great overview of a great band and one of the most comprehensive compilations in recent years.