The Trip

“A few familiar names, the odd TV theme, a barrel load of riches.” So begin the liner notes from Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs for this two CD effort, an entry in a series of UK compilations from the mid-2000s that featured various DJs and bands creating their own versions of a representative mixtape, or more accurately a mix CDr given the era of release. It’s a real delight of, indeed, a trip, absolutely capturing Saint Etienne’s ear for glossy meta artpop, with their approach of random drop-in film and TV samples as desired on display here in turn. The first disc is meant as one for parties, dancefloors and gatherings, with classic figures like the Isley Brothers mixing it up with intriguing rarities like Nancy Priddy’s “You’ve Come This Way Before,” Lalo Schifrin’s funked-up remake of “Jaws” and the Shaft wannabe vibe of Brinkley and Parker’s “Pander Man.” The second disc aims for chill vibes and “a good Merlot on a November night,” often contemplative and sometimes quietly unsettling as with Mandy More’s dramatic “If Not By Fire” and the conclusion, John Barry’s early 1970s Ibsen adaptation theme “A Doll’s House.”