As Fred Deakin so blithely puts it, the triple disc album ‘The Triptych’ is not “a full on dance set… nor is it a cool background mix for dinner parties and the like – too many surprises for that.” Rather, it is a personal statement from a talented creative artist who is one half of Lemon Jelly, a packaging of over twenty years of record buying to create the ultimate “FredMix”.

‘The Triptych’ is a very personal album. In addition to the eclectic track selection that comes from the heart (and even from his wedding ceremony), the CD box includes a sixteen page booklet put together by Fred. The booklet not only provides an introduction to the album, but includes notes on every single track that Fred includes, whether he is discussing the record store he bought the track off, his father’s taste in music or just random comments on the track. I’ll leave that up for you to discover and concentrate more on the actual music…

The first disc has an underlying funkiness to it. There are a lot of percussive-base tracks, with every now and again some spoken tracks or tracks with voice-overs (such as the religious Amor Dei). And every now and again there is a real curve ball, such as St Etienne’s He’s On The Phone or the mixing of a Pete Seegar folk track into a filthy Trentemoller Remix.

The second disc has more of a dance vibe that the first, for example when some funky dancefloor beats courtesy of Theo Parrish, Jesse Johnson and Man Parrish are dished up in a row, although other genres such as the old-school rock of Ray Bryant’s Madison Time from 1960 are never more than a track or two away. Standouts include Mezzoforte’s Garden Party, the very old school rapping of Kurtis Blow’s Xmas Rapping and the electro classic Mr No.

The third and final disc meanwhile is distinguished by a nod to the soulful and spiritual side of music, albeit not without silly moments like Bob Wallis’s Three Live Wires. There’re tracks from Maxwell (_Get To Know You_), Bugz In The Attic (_Happy Dayz_) and the psychedelic Spirit (_America The Beautiful / The Times They Are A Changin’_).

‘The Triptych’ is not the type of recording that I’d recommend to just anyone. Almost four hours of tracks split over three discs from an eclectic array of genres? It makes for a challenging listen. But, if you like Lemon Jelly, or just respect their type of music, the album will be an outstanding addition to your music collection.