Electrically Possessed

The compilation begins with the EP, The First of the Microbe Hunters, described as having a "busy" and "jazz-based sound".{{cite web |last=Heaton |first=Dave |title=Sound-Dust |url=https://www.popmatters.com/stereolab-sound-2496081238.html |website=PopMatters |access-date=27 September 2018 |date=27 August 2001 |archive-date=12 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112114216/https://www.popmatters.com/stereolab-sound-2496081238.html |url-status=live }} This is followed by the next track "Solar Throw-Away [Original Verson]", which was unreleased. A different version of the track appeared in a 7" tour single, released on 10 April 2006, also containing "Jump Drive Shut-Out".{{cite AV media|title=Electrically Possessed|others=Stereolab|publisher=Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks|year=2021|id=D-UHF-D42|type=liner notes}} The track "Pandora's Box of Worms" is an unreleased out-take from the Dots and Loops (1997) recording sessions. "Explosante Fixe" and "L'exostime Intérieur" were part of a 7" tour single released in September 2008. The Underground is Coming was released as a 7", 33rpm tour single in 1999, containing the tracks "The Super-it", "Fried Monkey Eggs [Instrumental]", "Fried Monkey Eggs [Vocal]" and "Monkey Jelly". "Monkey Jelly [Beats]" was unreleased.

"B.U.A" was written in collaboration with artist Charles Long for his 1998 artwork titled "B.U.A [Burnt Under Assembly] An Entanglement of Wholes" and was previously unreleased. "Free Witch and No Bra Queen" and "Speck Voice" were part of a 7" inch tour single released on 31 August 2001. "Heavy Denim Loop pt 2" is an unreleased out-take from the Mars Audiac Quintet (1994) recording sessions. "Variation One" was part of a soundtrack and compilation CD for the 2004 documentary Moog. "Dimension M2" was part a compilation CD title Disko Cabine, released in June 2005. "Calimero" was written in collaboration with Brigitte Fontaine, released in July 1999 as a 7" single under Duophonic Super 45s.

{{album ratings

|MC=83/100{{cite web |title=Electrically Possessed; Switched On, Vol. 4 by Stereolab |url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/electrically-possessed-switched-on-vol-4/stereolab |website=Metacritic |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=en}}

|rev1=AllMusic

|rev1score={{rating|4|5}}{{cite web |last1=Heather |first1=Phares |title=Electrically Possessed; Switched On, Vol. 4 - Stereolab |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/electrically-possessed-switched-on-vol-4-mw0003472917 |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=29 April 2021 |language=en}}

|rev2=Classic Rock

|rev2score=6/10{{cite journal|title=Classic Rock review|journal=Classic Rock |date=May 2021 |pages=97}}

|rev3=Exclaim!

|rev3score=7/10{{cite web |last1=Sylvester |first1=Daniel |title=Stereolab Unearth Long-Lost Classics on 'Electrically Possessed [Switched On Volume 4]' |url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/stereolab_electrically_possessed_switched_on_volume_4_album_review |website=Exclaim! |access-date=14 March 2021 |language=en-ca}}

|rev4=MusicOMH

|rev4score={{rating|4.5|5}}{{cite web |last1=Cotsell |first1=Matt |url-access=subscription|title=Stereolab - Electrically Possessed (Switched On Vol Four) {{!}} Album Reviews |url=https://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/stereolab-electrically-possessed-switched-on-vol-four |website=MusicOMH |date=26 February 2021|access-date=27 February 2021}}

| rev5=Pitchfork

| rev5score=7.9{{cite web |last1=Ham |first1=Robert |title=Stereolab: Electrically Possessed (Switched On Vol. 4) |url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/stereolab-electrically-possessed-switched-on-vol-4/ |website=Pitchfork |access-date=27 February 2021 |language=en}}

| rev6=Uncut

| rev6score=7/10{{cite journal|title=Uncut review|journal=Uncut |date=April 2021 |pages=49}}

}}

Electrically Possessed was met with universal acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 6 reviews. While critics considered it a weaker volume in the Switched On series, critics have seen Electrically Possessed as an example of the band releasing consistent material. Robert Ham of Pitchfork called the compilation "a bounty of highlights from a rich period when Tim Gane was writing pop songs with multi-layered, almost-proggy arrangements to better support frontwoman Lætitia Sadier’s dense sociopolitical lyrics." Regarding the compilation "cover[ring] nearly half of [Stereolab]'s career ", Heather Phares wrote that "by contrast, the original Switched On gathered just six months' worth of music -- but like the other volumes in the series, it captures the flavor of its era just as completely as Stereolab's full-lengths." Other reviewers of the compilation gave retrospective reappraisals to the band's post-Dots and Loops material in this period, which initially received lukewarm to negative reviews.{{cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/29618-stereolab-switched-on-electrically-possessed-review|first=Zara|last=Hedderman|date=25 February 2021|title=The Quietus Review|website=The Quietus|accessdate=21 September 2022}}

Ham said that after the first seven tracks of the EP The First of the Microbe Hunters, the compilation "naturally doesn’t move along the same deliberate course as a proper album... The material compiled here isn’t sequenced chronologically, so the mood and sound jumps from track to track and there are a small number of nonessential inclusions, like ['Pandora's Box of Worms']". Daniel Sylvester of Exclaim! wrote that while Electrically Possessed "offers no real throwaways", he said that the EP The First of the Microbe Hunters, "hasn't exactly improved with age aside from the rubbery, melodic standout 'Household Names'", and felt that tracks such as "Explosante Fixe" and "Monkey Jelly" were "uninspired".

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Tim Gane and Lætitia Sadier, except where noted

| title1 = Outer Bongolia

| length1 = 9:29

| writer1 = Gane, Andy Ramsay, Sean O'Hagan

| title2 = Intervals

| length2 = 4:38

| title3 = Barock-Plastik

| length3 = 3:17

| title4 = Nomus Et Phusis

| length4 = 4:23

| title5 = I Feel The Air (Of Another Planet)

| length5 = 8:12

| title6 = Household Names

| length6 = 3:43

| title7 = Retrograde Mirror Form

| length7 = 6:45

| title8 = Solar Throw-Away

| note8 = original version

| length8 = 3:06

| title9 = Pandora's Box Of Worms

| length9 = 2:16

| writer9 = Gane, Ramsay

| title10 = L'exotisme Intérieur

| length10 = 3:23

| title11 = The Super-It

| length11 = 3:51

| title12 = Jump Drive Shut-Out

| length12 = 2:43

| title13 = Explosante Fixe

| length13 = 4:25

| title14 = Fried Monkey Eggs

| note14 = instrumental

| length14 = 2:08

| title15 = Monkey Jelly

| length15 = 1:54

| title16 = B.U.A

| length16 = 4:51

| title17 = Free Witch and No Bra Queen

| length17 = 4:44

| writer18 = Gane

| title18 = Heavy Denim Loop Pt 2

| length18 = 2:54

| title19 = Variation One

| writer19 = Gane

| length19 = 4:01

| title20 = Monkey Jelly

| note20 = beats

| length20 = 1:53

| title21 = Dimension M2

| length21 = 4:03

| title22 = Solar Throw-Away

| length22 = 3:59

| title23 = Calimero

| length23 = 6:25

| writer23 = Gane, Brigitte Fontaine

| title24 = Fried Monkey Eggs

| note24 = vocal

| length24 = 2:08

| title25 = Speck Voice

| length25 = 5:01

| total_length =

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{stereolab}}

Category:2021 compilation albums

Category:Stereolab compilation albums