Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars

Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars
Studio album by Fatboy Slim
Released	6 November 2000
Genre	Big beat
Length	68:14
Label	Skint
Producer	Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim chronology
You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998) Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000) Palookaville (2004)
Singles from Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars
"Sunset (Bird of Prey)" Released: 6 October 2000 "Demons" Released: 2001 "Star 69"/"Weapon of Choice"" Released: 6 November 2001 "Song for Shelter"/"Ya Mama" Released: 6 December 2001 "Drop the Hate" Released: 10 December 2001 "Retox" Released: 14 January 2002 "Talkin' bout My Baby" Released: 17 June 2002

Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is the third studio album by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released on 6 November 2000 through Skint Records. It features Macy Gray, Ashley Slater, Bootsy Collins, Roland Clark, Jim Morrison, and Roger Sanchez as guest contributors. The album's title is an allusion to the Oscar Wilde quote "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Talkin' bout My Baby"	Anthony, Bricusse, Hall, Hall, Hirsch, Ross, Slim	3:43
2.	"Star 69"	Clark, Slim	5:43
3.	"Sunset (Bird of Prey)"	Densmore, Krieger, Manzarek, Morrison, Slim	6:49
4.	"Love Life" (featuring Macy Gray)		6:58
5.	"Ya Mama"	Cutlass, Finley, Heckstallsmith, Hiseman, Slim, Smith	5:38
6.	"Mad Flava"	Fatboy Slim	4:33
7.	"Retox" (featuring Ashley Slater)		5:17
8.	"Weapon of Choice" (featuring Bootsy Collins)		5:45
9.	"Drop the Hate"	Fatboy Slim	5:30
10.	"Demons" (featuring Macy Gray)		6:52
11.	"Song for Shelter" (featuring Roland Clark and Roger Sanchez; includes the hidden track "Talking 'bout My Baby (Reprise)")		11:26

On the iTunes release, "Talking 'bout My Baby (Reprise)" is separated from "Song for Shelter", making the track times 9:00 and 2:26 respectively.

Edited version

An edited version also exists, which removes "Star 69" (due to the song's recurring use of the word "fuck"), and removes the song's reprise at the end in "Song for Shelter".^{[citation needed]}

Critical response

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Alternative Press
Billboard
Robert Christgau	A−
Entertainment Weekly	B−
Mojo
Rolling Stone
Pitchfork	4.2/10
Q
Spin

The album received a mixed critical reception, though it generally tends towards the favourable. Robert Christgau gave it an A- rating and wrote "this is where Norman Cook achieves the nonstop stupidity breakbeats alone could never bring him", calling it "All shallow, all pure as a result--pure escape, pure delight, and, as the cavalcade of gospel postures at the end makes clear, pure spiritual yearning. Transcendence, we all want it." The A.V. Club called it "a big load of disposable fun and funk that's fluffier than cotton candy and just as weighty."

On the other hand, Pitchfork wrote "After enjoying a few years of relative popularity, it seems big-beat's appeal and relevance are waning. [...] After listening to Slim's latest, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, it seems we've reached come-down time. And surprise! It's no fun at all", though "the problem lies more with the everchanging landscape of electronic music and the dying big-beat genre than it does with his technical skill." Entertainment Weekly called it "Melodically repetitive, the songs only intermittently approach the energizing highs of earlier Fatboy cuts." Spin called it a "post-masterpiece puzzler where the kicks just keep getting harder to find, spread-eagle between pop limitations and artistic aspirations." Piero Scaruffi called it "a mere repetition of Fatboy Slim's stereotypes. Whether tackling soul (Demons and Love Life, with Macy Gray on vocals), disco-music (Retox), dub (Song For Shelter) or funk (Talkin' About My Baby), he merely reenacts his own career. The fun is gone and the time for nostalgic reminescing has come."