''Way Out West'' is the

eponymous An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

duo Way Out West. It was released on 1 September 1997 by the since defunct record label

Deconstruction Records Deconstruction Records is a British record label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst, together with Mike Pickering of M People. According to ''DJ Magazine'' it is "best remembered for marrying underground credibility and diver ...

, and peaked at 42 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

that year. The album includes its four singles, "Ajare", " The Gift", "Domination", and "Blue".

Background

The album's release was promoted by its four singles: "Ajare", " The Gift", "Domination" and "Blue", all released on Deconstruction Records. "The Gift" remains the group's highest charted song on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

to date, peaking at number #15. Both "The Gift" and "Domination" peaked at number 2 on the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

. Despite its success, the album does not have record of charting outside of the UK. Several samples from various music were used to create the album. On the topic of sampling, Wisternoff stated in an interview that "beforehand we ... came from poor backgrounds where we had (...) a sampler ... So we *had* to sample to get the sounds we imagined of." Most notably, "Blue" loosely samples the melody of the theme from the film ''

Withnail and I ''Withnail and I'' is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson's life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and "I" (portrayed by Richard E. Gran ...

'', "The Gift" samples Joanna Law's cover of "

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. At the time, the couple were lovers, although MacColl was still married to his ...

", (titled "First Time Ever") and "Ajare" samples " Do Your Dance" by

Rose Royce Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B group. They are best known for several hit singles during the 1970s including "Car Wash", " I Wanna Get Next to You", " I'm Going Down", "Wishing on a Star", and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore". Career Th ...

Critical reception

Upon release, ''Way Out West'' was met with positive reviews from critics. John Bush from

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

summarised the album as "a varied, engaging debut". In a review of Way Out West's second studio album ''

Intensify ''Intensify'' is the second studio album by English electronic music duo Way Out West (duo), Way Out West, released on 20 August 2001 by Distinct'ive Records. The album was marked by a move from the defunct Deconstruction Records label to Distin ...

'', Christian Hopwood from

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

commented that "it 'Intensify''might lack the variety of the first album 'Way Out West'', he also praised "King of the Funk", describing it as "excellent".

Track listing

Charts

Personnel

Way Out West *

Jody Wisternoff Joseph Wisternoff (born 25 November 1973) is an English electronic music producer and DJ. He is best known as one half of the electronic music duo Way Out West, and also as a solo producer of dance music spanning early 1990s hardcore to deep ...

– Keyboards, synths, samples, programming (all tracks) *

Nick Warren Nicholas John Warren (born 24 October 1968) is an English DJ and record producer. He is best known as a member of the electronic music duo Way Out West, his record label and global live events brand, The Soundgarden, and for his albums release ...

– Engineering, mixing (all tracks) Sampled artists * Joanna Law – Vocals (track 2) * David Dundas – Writing, arrangement (track 1) *

Rick Wentworth Rick Wentworth is a British film and TV composer, conductor, orchestrator and arranger. Composer His work in film began with composing the score for ''Withnail and I'', directed by Bruce Robinson in 1987, followed by Robinson's second film ''H ...

– Writing, arrangement (track 1) *

Ewan MacColl James Henry Miller (25 January 1915 – 22 October 1989), better known by his stage name Ewan MacColl, was a folk singer-songwriter, folk song collector, labour activist and actor. Born in England to Scottish parents, he is known as one of the ...

– Writing, arrangement (track 2) * T. Siddique – Writing, arrangement (track 7) * Cesar Marin – Writing, arrangement (track 9) *

David Lee Roth David Lee Roth (born October 10, 1954) is an American rock singer. Best known for his wild, energetic stage persona, he was the original lead vocalist of the hard rock band Van Halen across three stints, from 1974 to 1985, in 1996 and again fro ...

– Writing, arrangement (track 9) *

Eddie Van Halen Edward Lodewijk Van Halen ( , ; January 26, 1955 – October 6, 2020) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, keyboardist, backing vocalist, and primary songwriter of the rock band Van Halen, which he co-founded along ...

– Guitar (track 9) * Michael Anthony – Writing, arrangement (track 9) *

Thomas Chong Thomas B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, musician, activist. He is known for his marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo on Fox's ...

– Vocals (track 9) * Alison Cole – Writing, arrangement, guitar (track 10)

Trivia

*"The Gift" was performed live on an episode of the British television program ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. *"Domination (Mururoa Mix)" was the version featured on the album (uncredited on CD and vinyl versions, credited on music download track listing). *"King of the Funk" was featured on the 1998 compilation album ''Dope On Plastic! 5''. *On music download stores, the album's release date was written as "1990" (for unknown reasons) but later changed to "1 January 1997" *"Earth", the last track, (and the "Earth (Waveform Remix)") features a quote (twice, near the beginning and near the end) from

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The Time Machine ''The Time Machine'' is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895. The work is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle or device to travel purposely and selectively for ...

'', "the whole surface of the earth seemed changed, melting and flowing under my eyes". The unique mysterious male voice sounds like actor/director

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter, actor and visual artist. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered ...

or actor/director

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...

. Nimoy did a 1994

adaptation In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the po ...

yet the audio sampled is not from that Nimoy recording nor many of the audio book versions and movie available on YouTube, if they even include that quote in their adaptation. *"Ajare" was used by ITV during their Formula One coverage as part of a highlights package of the 1997 season.

References

{{Authority control Way Out West (duo) albums 1997 debut albums