Yesterday, as we crossed four States in record speed and I decided that Gary, Indiana was not a place I was interested in combing back to soon, myself and my road-tripping passenger grappled with the issue of the road trip soundtrack. Mitigated by the fact that we had to keep both front windows open for the entirety of the journey in an effort not to asphyxiate ourselves in a car whose airconditioning leaves a lot to be desired, we were on the hunt for tunes that would be instantly recognisable (and thus worthwhile over the buffeting headache of winds passing through the cabin at 80mph), not too noisy (in order not to exacerbate combined problems of heat and irritation after 11 hours behind the wheel) and preferably with some throwback value because, after all, that's what great road trip soundtracks are all about. As we finally discovered the joys of cruise control, Fabolous' 'Into You', from his second studio album, 2003's 'Street Dreams', fit the bill for all of the above. It is, in a way that not many could have predicted back in the early 2000s, timeless and fairly universally enjoyed. Somewhere between Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Toledo, Ohio, Fabo was our saviour. (more...)