Every boy has to become a man someday. Even a Fatboy. And for Norman Cook, former Housemartins bassist-turned-king DJ, a trip to Palookaville is just what the funk soul brother needed.

This fourth studio set from Fatboy Slim is a long way from the beat-crazy, sample-happy dance grooves that fuelled You've Come a Long Way, Baby. Mellower, moodier and more melodic, Palookaville's dozen cuts document Cook's increasing musical maturity -- he may be a hedonistic DJ, but he is 41, after all -- and seem influenced, if not inspired, by some recently reported marital woes.

The former is reflected in the wider and more varied stylistic palette that includes hip-hop, reggae, gospel and folk. As for the latter -- well, let's just say you don't have to be Freud to read between the lines of Mi Bebe Masoquista (My Masochistic Baby) or the nostalgically dreamy jazz-pop of North West Three (which samples John and Bev Martyn's Primrose Hill).

Palookaville isn't just musical marriage counselling, though. Fatboy fires up the sampler for Don't Let the Man Get You Down, which is based around the "long-haired freaky people" line from the 5 Man Electrical Band's Signs. Slash Dot Slash and the African-influenced Jin Go Lo Ba bump up the BPMs briefly, while old pal Damon Albarn drops by for the folky Putting it All Back Together and Bootsy Collins brings in da funk to a bass-heavy cover of Steve Miller's The Joker.

Even so, it's easy to see life isn't all one big rave to Cook any more. Which makes Palookaville is as close as Slim has ever come to getting heavy.

Track Listing
1. Don't Let The Man Get You Down
2. Slash Dot Dash
3. Wonderful Night (featuring Lateef)
4. Long Way From Home (featuring Jonny Quality)
5. Put It Back Together (featuring Damon Albarn)
6. El Bebe Masoquista
7. Push And Shove (featuring Justin Robertson)
8. North West Three
9. The Journey (featuring Lateef)
10. JIN GO LO BA
11. Song For Chesh
12. The Joker (featuring Bootsy Collins)