O enigmatic acid jazz, from where do you come, to where do you go, and what flowers dost ye plant along thy path? A few years ago, the winding progress of my musical tastes took me for a brief detour into the This is Acid Jazz series on Instinct Records. At the time, other music journalists were linking acid jazz and trip-hop with acts like Portishead and Massive Attack, and I began to wonder: what is this thing called "acid jazz," anyway? Soon enough, I had my answer.

In a nutshell, acid jazz is the mellower side of trip-hop, lacking the edgier, heavier dance beats. Acid jazz relies on funk conventions to spice things up, with electronic touches and ambient flourishes mixed in. It's not so bad as a genre, but the This is Acid Jazz series took few risks and tended to recycle the same artists repeatedly, rather than breaking new music and ideas. I found better music on the Give 'Em Enough Dope series, but hey, that's me, and another review.

The Spoken Word edition of this series doesn't shatter any expectations or challenge any conventions. Instinct offers up 10 competently composed-- if uninspired-- acid jazz tracks, each framing Gil Scott- Heron- style spoken word raps. Politically charged, for the most part, the spoken word pieces villify the establishment, tha man, and tha system in a parade of cliched imagery and shallow commentary. One would expect high energy, rapping fists and flying spit for such subject matter, but the delivery is instead lackadaisical and easy, perhaps to match the musical backgrounds.

The Spoken Word features such hotshots as Howie B, Mighty Truth and the Sharpshooters, and is a decidedly decent listen, though a mite disappointing. The lack of passion on most vocals gives the album a washed- out, uninteresting (though not quite boring) feel that doesn't exactly encourage multiple listens. And, since many of these tracks could just as easily qualify as regular "songs" (as opposed to strict spoken word), hardcore spoken word fans will find the music distracting and unnecessary.

Taken as a whole, The Spoken Word does many things, but none of them particularly well. It's got a decent groove, but nothing spectacular, mated with adequate spoken word. The end result is a hybrid disc that smacks of mediocrity, and would probably be best avoided for all but devotees of both genres.

-James P. Wisdom