Why?: I was on a bit of an Underworld kick in the early 2000s. I was particularly interested in DJ mixing, beat matching and all that jazz that you can do with your iPhone these days. I bought this CD hoping for a cool DJ set with the tracks all mixed together. That isn't really what this is...
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I think before this list I'd listened to this CD maybe twice at the most. I dismissed it because I thought it wasn't a big DJ set with tracks all mixed together.
That's unfair, because it is, it just gives each track a lot of time, and the mixing between each track is so subtle you could be forgiven for thinking there wasn't any.
I'm grateful to hear this again because I discovered the incredible intro track, Gil Scott Heron's "B-Movie" which is 12+ minutes of 1981 political rant and funk. It's brilliant. B-Movie is followed by TLC's "Creep" which I can't make myself like, despite TLC frequently coming up in 90s must-listen lists, but the next track, Doctor Octagon's "Bear Witness" is great. It's these first tracks, and the way they're presented, that probably initially put me in a bad mood with this album, as they're not really DJ set material.
But after these intro tracks the set really kicks in with Rave Signal, "Horse Power" and Remy & Sven, "Piano Power", both tracks closer to the Underworld style that I expected for most of the complication. They're followed by the great reggae of Toots & The Maytals, "'54-46" which in the best DJ mixing effort on the album, flows beautifully into LTJ Bukem's "Music", followed by a drum&bass remix of Depeche Mode, "Barrel Of A Gun" which sounds so much like an Underworld song I didn't pick it for what it was, into Aphex Twin's "Didgeridoo" and finally seamlessly into Dead Prez, "Hip Hop".
Just to show off they follow the set with a couple of tracks from Mali artists: Ali Farka Toure, "Machengoidi" and a small sample of Tartit, "Buloululba", which sounds like it might have inflenced the introduction to "King Of Snake".
The CD ends with R&B D'Angelo, "Brown Sugar" and a dub track, Gregory Isaacs, "Public Eyes". I Googled Gregory Isaacs and he's described as the "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae" so it's a pity this is a vocal-less dub mix.
I enjoyed this listen, but R&B isn't my thing at all, and the dance tracks are interesting in showing Underworld's influence, but I'd prefer to listen to Underworld. I'm really happy to have been exposed to Gil Scott Heron though. That's worth the price of admission.
[A bit of Googling has found GSH was homophobic. That's spoilt the fun a bit...]
5/10
