To solve his dilemma, Cook has turned to the vintage R&B he loves. An assortment of sampled or live funk soul brothers, from Bootsy Collins to the more obscure Roland Clark, are wed to club ready tracks that are grittier, loopier, and more driving than much of 1998's ''You've Come a Long Way, Baby.'' ''Love Life,'' featuring an original vocal by Macy Gray, is a squalid strut. But the ''gutter'' Cook aims for -- a blaxploitation soundtrack for the new century -- also keeps the music earthbound.
Melodically repetitive, the songs only intermittently approach the energizing highs of earlier Fatboy cuts. His use of a Jim Morrison snippet on the surprisingly one dimensional ''Sunset (Bird of Prey)'' is also problematic: The instant recognizability of the Lizard King's baritone detracts from Cook's ability to make inherently inorganic music feel organic and very alive.
The disc achieves liftoff only on its last two cuts. Built around a sample from an old Bill Withers track, ''Demons'' is a hypnotic piece of electronic gospel that makes the best of Gray's munchkin on Ecstasy voice, and the panoramic synth swells of ''Song for Shelter'' return the majestic sweep to his music. With them, Cook finally reaches the stars. But as its title portends, much of the album stalls halfway there.
