1 Giant Leap: 1 Giant Leap

By GRAHAM REID

(Herald rating: * * * * )

Of the many albums which attempt the marriage of world music, ambient and trip-hop, this all-star celebrity collision (with Baaba Maal, REM's Michael Stipe with Bollywood star Asha Bhosle, Robbie Williams with Maxi Jazz, and more) is certainly more memorable than most.

Among its pan-global mix'n'matches, few come better than the drowsy Stipe/Bhosle collaboration The Way You Dream, which also includes Maori singer Whiri Mako Black, and the unearthly Bushes, featuring Senegalese singer Maal's disembodied vocal.

Black comes into her own on Ta Moko with Turkish instruments and Indian flute, while Robbie and Maxi Jazz's disparate perspectives meld surprisingly well on the beat-driven My Culture, which opens with spoken word by Auckland carver George Nuku.

The brainchild of producer Duncan Bridgeman and former Faithless member Jamie Catto, this never feels like an exercise in worthiness nor a pastiche, but is a considered amalgam of hypno-beats, exotic instrumentation and a rare, understated sensibility given the potential disaster of so many egos. Pretty terrific.

Label: Palm Pictures/FMR