The album opens with Baaba Maal evoking sunrise over his native Senegal on 'Dunya Salam'. The spiritual, prayerful, soulful vocals are stunning and truly beautiful. It then moves into single 'My Culture' featuring British popstar Robbie Williams and rapper Maxi Jazz, whose unlikely pairing results in a strangely moving track with urgent lyrics, a sense of joy and fantastic production, with funky bass, trumpets and ethnic percussion. When all the music stops and Maxi says 'If I don't see that I'm strong then I won't be' it is a spine-tingling, affirming moment.

Next is 'The Way You Dream', another amazing track which again sees an unlikely pairing in REM's Michael Stipe and Indian superstar Asha Bhosle. It begins slowly with aromatic drums, atmospheric acoustic guitar and ethereal vocals from Bhosie, then a darker sounding guitar comes in with synths giving the track a mysterious feel. Michael Stipe sounds right at home in the ambient surroundings although it sounds nothing like REM, and then the music quietens before building into full on rave with trance keyboards, very fast drums, but still the vocals of the two singers sounding perfect.

Fourth is 'Ma'Africa', beginning with Ulali's sweet backing before moving into a fast, funky global dance track with the energetic vocals of the Mahotella Queens and a beautiful poem by Moseo calling for African unity. This is very powerful. Braided Hair is next, probably the most straightforward pop song it features Speech and Neneh Cherry who offer nice vocals and fantastic lyrics. Its great though not as ambitious as other tracks.

Ta Moko opens with a sample from Tom Robbins who offers very important advice that our regrets are over not spending enough time with who we love, not over work or money. When the track proper begins its a slow-burning, darkly mysterious track with vocals from Whiri Mako Black of New Zealand. Bushes again features vocals from Baaba Maal and while not quite as stunning as Dunya Salaam his vocals are always delightful.

Passion features a beautiful poem written and read by Michael Franti in his deep voice and then spiritual vocals from Uganda. Daphne opens with the great quote 'music is proof of the existance of God' and suitably is a spiritual track with jazzy bass and guitar. When the track gets into full swing its Eddi Reader, a UK folksy singer who takes the main duties.

All Alone on Eileen Shore is a mostly Western track, mostly because of the fact that Duncan, one of the two British instigators of the project, takes vocals. The track is the most similar to Faithless on the album (Faithless being the band that Jamie and Duncan are involved with). Although the vocals are vocoded, something I don't usually like, it makes them strangely sweet and ethereal and perfect here. The backing is mellow, ambient acoustic electronica. It the middle of the track it gets darker and we get Ram Dass, a philosopher, reading important, touching words. Parts of the track then are more ethnic. It is one of the album's best.

Racing Away is fantastic as we get the reggae vocals of Horace Andy over an ethnic electronica canvas which is amazingly effectively, and it has the spirit of peace and nature that is important in reggae. Grant Lee Phillips offers more conventional American pop-rock vocals but the melody and lyrics are still groundbreaking. Overall it is again one of the best tracks. The album closes with the eerie 'Ghosts' again featuring Eddi Reader which is haunting and a perfect closer.

Overall, this is a perfectly constructed album. It is for everyone, not just fans of world but of dance, electronica, funk, rock, pop, philosophy or just great music. Its message and ambition are so huge that it is enormously important. Its a true spiritually uplifting experience. Its the best of 2002 and one of the great world music albums ever. 5 stars.


The album of 2002? Quite possibly.   April 15, 2002
William Barber (Edinburgh, Scotland)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman are geniuses. Travelling the world with a laptop to record a wide range of musicians, scientist, authors and thinkers on is unusual to say the least. However, they've produced what may well be some of the most beautiful and haunting music ever heard. They describe it themselves on the back of the CD as "exploring the unity in the diversity" and that it is.
Spanning all genres and all the world, this album truly is a masterpiece that deserves a place in everyone's collection. Featuring international stars such as Robbie Williams and Michael Stipe to relative unknowns like Baaba Maal and Speech. None of these artists recorded together yet the songs are contructed so masterfully that you'd never know. The vocals of Speech and Neneh Cherry on 'Braided Hair' are particularly impressive as it sounds so much like they recorded with each other.
The wonderful fusion of different styles in exceptionally good, "Ma' Africa" mixes an African womens choir with modern dance to great effect.
'The Way You Dream' is one of the standout tracks, Michael Stipe's voice will haunt you and effect you more than you can imagine.
This album will leave you enchanted and you can't fail to fall in love with it. Likely to be labelled "World" music which may put some off but don't let it for this really is an outstanding work which will appeal to everyone and deserves huge recognition, let's hope they do it all over again.


Williams,Stipe,Faithless,etc Do World Music-Amazing!   April 9, 2002
Ian Creamer (Dublin,Ireland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

1 Giant Leap can best be described from the 2 lines on the rear cover when it says "We travelled around the world collaborating with the most happening musicians, authors, scientists and thinkers we could find to explore the unity in the diversity." Essentially the theme of the c.d. is totally admirable but it's the musical aspect that will linger most in the listeners memory. Ex-Faithless member Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman have compiled a world music meets modern western music and presented it in an exciting way like I've never really heard before. Amazingly this c.d. was almost entirely recorded on a laptop in various musicians homes and then was all put together in a recording studio. In this they have harnessed the latest modern technology and mixed it with musical values that have been heard around the globe for centuries. Rhythm is the main mover in this c.d. They have amalgamated various rhythmic and ethnic sounds from every continent across the globe-from South/North America to Asia, From Africa to Oceania and Australia-and yet it's all mixed together with real cutting edge sounds of modern dance music. Each of the tracks feature vocalists who have extremely different styles coming from vastly different cultures. They recorded the music completely separately and you'd imagine that this would give this c.d. a very disjointed feel to it-yet nothing can be further from the truth. The first 2 tracks are an example of this-Babba Maal the amazing Senegalese vocalist shares a track that has rhythms that have origins in India and Asia. Then this leads into track 2 which starts of with a Maori emphasis before we go into modern dance style of Faithless lead rapper Maxi Jazz. His voice intertwines with the poppier sounds of Robbie Williams to give us the amazing track "My Culture". It's been a long time since Robbie Williams has been involved with such a great track. It's beginning to get lots of airplay here and to me this is quite bizarre as it's not often you hear World music fused with modern dance beats on mainstream radio or even on M.T.V.

While this track is excellent it's not the main one off highlight. Track 3 is simply beautiful and lasts for 8 minutes. It features Asha Bhosle the Indian icon and subject of Cornershop's famous #1 hit "Brimful Of Asha"-her vocals lead into Maori Whiri Mako Black and then the unmistakable sound of Michael Stipe-rarely have I heard him sounding quite so stunning, so tender on the amazing chorus and verse section as all these sounds fuse in a moment of musical glory. Think of a really great R.E.M. song but it will have a definite Asian-African fused sound.Each of the 12 tracks are mixed together in much the same way. It sort of keeps the listener totally absorbed and lulls you into a dreamy soundscape, yet you're also kept on your toes as you have no idea from what culture or where each song will lead. Some of the mixes are truly daring-like on track 4 we have choirs from South Africa interchanging with Native American choirs. Some tracks have middle eastern sounds which drift into a more Celtic vibe. They also collaborated with other great vocalists who are all mentioned in the track listing.

This really is quite a startling album-no weak tracks in my opinion and quite a few very memorable ones. The inner sleeve recalls how a drummer's call in Senegal will be answered by voices in Delhi and then a call from New York will be answered in Ghana 'all mixed together with other rhythms creeping in-One Global Pulse!'-Just perfect!


This truly illustrates the diversity of music   July 4, 2002
Erica Anderson (Minneapolis, MN)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

I was intrigued by the concept of 1 Giant Leap when I found out that founding Faithless member Jamie Catto was partially responsible for the album (and DVD). I was even more intrigued when I saw the list of guest appearances. The list includes Faithless's Maxi Jazz, international pop star Robbie Williams and REM's Michael Stipe. The entire album has an international flavor to the album combined with introspective lyrics. I didn't realize until now that the vocals were recorded separately and were eventually pieced together. I am impressed to say the very least. Duncan Bridgeman and Jamie Catto did a bang up job of tying the vocals together and making them sound as if they were recorded together. "My Culture" is the perfect example. This sound is my favorite track on the album. Robbie Williams' vocals are so high that at times he sounded like a girl which isn't a bad thing. His vocals blended well together with Maxi Jazz's unique rapping style. "Dunya Salam" is a song that I would might hear either on a Talvin Singh or DJ I Cheb Sebbah album. I love that Indian/Middle Eastern influences in the song. There is something about traditional Indian and Middle Eastern music that sends chills down my spine. "Dunya Salam" has that same haunting aspect. My other favorite song off the album is "The Way You Dream" with Michael Stipe and Asha Bhosle. It is a beautiful song. I particularly enjoyed listening to Michael's vocals on this song. "1 Giant Leap" is a great example of when modern music is fused with traditional music from all over the planet. The music isn't completely modern nor is it truly international. Somewhere in between "1 Giant Leap" is stuck in the middle. If only there were more concept albums (if you want to call this album a 'concept album') like "1 Giant Leap".