'The Trip: Created by Jarvis Cocker and Steve Mackey' (Family) Released 13/03/06

If there�s a project capable of proving that the concept still carries value other than monetary, it�s this titanic 35-track helping of hip sounds from Jarvis Cocker and Pulp chum Steve Mackey. Ranging from the Moondog�s heavenly harp recital �Pastoral� to the Birthday Party�s raving mad �Release The Bats�, a blast of berserk swamp-blues from the days when Nick Cave was more likely to set fire to pianos than sit at one for a spot of serenading, the thrills offered by this Trip are more plastic than lysergic. Or at least it�s probable that Cocker and Mackey had to plough through acres of charity shop vinyl to unearth this treasure chest of compelling curios (Elton Motello�s crazed glam stomp �Jet Boy Jet Girl�, pub-blues belter Johnny Wakelin�s chant-powered Rumble In The Jungle commemoration �In Zaire�, Suicide man Alan Vega�s lethargic lunge at rockabilly on �Jukebox Baby�), curious covers (OMD going cut-price Kraftwerk on Velvet Underground�s �Waiting For The Man�) and genuine gems (The uneasy truce between a fragile folk ballad and unrelenting rhythm track on Bob Lind�s �Cool Summer�, Arlo Guthrie�s incredible folk-blues fusion of Fred Neil, Bob Dylan and Nick Drake�s Bryter Layter on the haunting �I�m Going Home�, the potent bargain-bin psychedelia of 'Flashing Light' by Screaming Lord Sutch).

It�s not all submerged in obscurity, though, as the Beach Boys pop in with the sublime �Feel Flows�, Jonathan Richman takes a wrong turn en route to Zion and ends up with an �Egyptian Reggae� and The Fall go funky on the superlative-exhausting �Lost In Music�. There�s not a duff track in the bunch, although reactions to Sonny Bono�s square anti-drugs sermon �Pammies On A Bummer� will vary depending on the recipient's kitsch-stomaching abilities.

The proceedings flag during the last fifth of this 2-hour ride, but it�s unavoidable as even a track as razor-sharp as Dion�s fluid jazzbo rendition of Hendrix�s �Purple Haze� can�t help sounding a bit blunt next to the nightmarish portrayal of urban squalor on �Beasley Street�, punk-poet John Cooper Clarke�s jaw-dropping 1980 update of Dylan�s �Desolation Row�, the most colossal performance here and easily worth the price of admission alone.