Colin M
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Posts posted by Colin M
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17
Kraftwerk
Trans-Europe Express
(1977)
The reverence with which Kraftwerk are treated when discussing electronic music is as strong today as it ever has been - submissions for this poll have them "easily as influencial as the Beatles" (dundeebarry) and "the blueprint for most of what we have today" (pantene ProV). I wholeheartedly agree, but it's interesting that many of us still feel the need to qualify this reverence, and symptomatic of the attitude towards "electronic music" from many people who still see good old rock and roll as somehow more credible and able to be considered "classic" than the myriad of other genres out there. Kraftwerk are not only one of the most important musical acts of any kind because of their sonic influence, but their conceptual approach to all of their classic albums means their music stands as great art and in some cases implied political comment. This is never moreso than on 1977's Trans Europe Express.
It's easy to hear much of the running of TEE as a soundtrack for a continent-wide train journey, and in many respects it works in that manner. The title track is one of their most celebrated and the relentless rhythmic base that carries through the suite of the second half of the album makes an explicit sonic and descriptive reference to travel through "Europe Endless", mimicking the repition of rail travel and retaining a kinetic energy that can only signify continual movement. It's all conceptually about European identity - not necessarily obvious from the music itself, which still sounds fresh today. Chunks of TEE became part of Afrika Baambaataa's Planet Rock, making it explicitly part of the DNA of hip-hop and electro.
The earlier tracks on the album are thematically linked - Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies introduce themes that Kraftwerk expanded upon later in their career about the links between man and object, reality and perception. They provide fabulous synth pop with striking deadpan vocals. It's always noticeable just how weird Kraftwerk still sound, even as they become ever more celebrated.
From Autobahn onwards, Kraftwerk's music, image and presentation became focussed and managed in a way that has kept them unique as artists, even as all of those things continue to provide influence for countless others. Picking their best album is arguably to overlook and miss out on their output as a whole, but Trans Europe Express is a wonderful example of their work and comes highly recommended.
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18=
Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip
Angles
(2008)
Coming straight outta Essex, the cult of Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip is an ever growing force, a word of mouth success that deserves a greater audience. Rapper/poet/singer Scroobius Pip delivers an ever fascinating and compelling flow of consciousness over the tapestry of beats, sounds and hooks provided by producer Dan Le Sac, and on this debut album it all comes together to form a hugely exciting and varied collection of tracks.
For a nominal hip-hop band, the pair have struggled to make the breakthrough with the purist audience the genre often attracts. An MC named after an Edward Lear poem was perhaps never likely to appeal to those weaned on the hollow subject matter of much of modern rap, but that's their loss. Whether name-checking Herbie Hancock and rapping about the periodic table on Development, or offering up genuinely touching views on self-harm and suicide on The Magician's Assistant, Scroobius Pip is the perfect guide through the record.
Dan Le Sac's productions share top billing throughout though, combining endless sounds and ideas that help make this a genre-hopping experience that still all sits neatly together. It combines electronic programming and live instrumentation, a mosaic of colourful shifting musical themes. The head nodding beats and stuttering breakdown of Rapper's Battle, pulsing synth of the title track, and chilling piano lines of stunning climax Waiting For The Beat To Kick In are just some of the highlights on an album that's packed full of them.
Musically the whole album has an endearing anything goes attitude - Radiohead's Planet Telex is chopped to great effect alongside acidic bleeps on Letter From God To Man, and Dizzee Rascal's Fix Up Look Sharp is mangled and stretched beneath interchanging rock guitar and synth riffs on Fixed, while elsewhere there are seemingly inexhaustible twists and turns through a maze of colourful motifs. Angles is an exciting and always fresh sounding experience that deserves wider recognition - a great discovery sitting here among other more celebrated albums.
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Alright album, not as good as exit planet dust, wouldn't have been anywhere near my top twenty. I'll have to give it another listen. Lost I. The k hole and private psychedelic reel are belters though.
I'm of the same mind really - not a great personal favourite but the back end of the album is where it's really great. In going back to it it struck me how heavy the whole thing is, it's pretty suffocating at times.
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18=
The Chemical Brothers
Dig Your Own Hole
(1997)
I remember a description of an early release by the brothers Chemical (then still known as the Dust Brothers, conveniently ignoring the rights of the existing producers of the same name) painting their music as Marley Marl meets the Jesus and Mary Chain and being fascinated by the prospect. The Chemical Brothers are one of the key protagonists of a refreshing attitude that existed in the 1990s, recognizing the fragmented nature of scenes and shunning the snobbishness that surrounded them. As both artists and DJs they were happy to fit into numerous boxes and to just listen to and play whatever they loved - why shouldn't great music of all types sit together without any need for qualification? Never just about wilful eclecticism, it's an attitude towards music that is still sadly missing in too many people, but it's also a hard approach to apply to making music while managing to form a natural whole.
The Chems' second album is a heavy trip which manages to do this and brings the various sonic inputs into sharp focus. The breaks, slap bass and Schooly D samples that form the basis of party anthem Block Rocking Beats are a thrilling intro before we're into the frenetic charge of the title track and Elektrobank. These are charging, visceral chunks of music, riffing like Motorhead over the deft programming of the beats. Setting Sun takes the blueprint of The Beatles' Tomorrow Never Knows and updates it into a clattering noisy unlikely number 1 single, and who better to join a Fab Four party than Noel Gallagher, set free on an imaginative excursion his own band would never be able to accomodate.
As if wary of their reputation as "the dance band for rock fans", the middle section of the album sees a direction closer to pure techno tracks, the pumping beats of It Doesn't Matter and scorching acid of Don't Stop The Rock inching closer to more "conventional" club music, yet still as noisy and heavy as the earlier tracks. It might all be exhausting if it didn't sound so bloody marvellous.
We're heading and climbing towards a stunning finale - the sparkling funk of Lost In The K Hole leads to the pretty guitar figure of the Beth Orton collaboration Where Do I Begin, which stutters and melts towards the end, forming an intro to the musical tour de force that closes the album - the sitar fuelled Private Psychedelic Reel that makes an exceptional climax to the record. It's a career high that lives up to its name and brings the curtain down on this brilliant brain melting collection.
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Thanks for the feedback so far guys - I'm enjoying this immensely. We'll have a handful of albums to reveal tomorrow to get us back on track.
The Animal Collective were magic, by the way
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That's yer lot til tomorrow night I think, I'm off to see the Animal Collective tonight. Plenty to chew over in the meantime
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20
Can
Tago Mago
(1971)
One of my favourite things about Tago Mago era Can is that new vocalist Damo Suzuki was picked up by the band when spotted busking. It conjures up a brilliant picture of the experimental scene in Germany at that time where such a thing might be possible. The notion that someone might pick up a busker while wandering down Sauchiehall Street and convert him into the frontman for a pioneering and hugely influential experimental rock troupe seems impossible. Not in 1971 Munich though!
For those who haven't yet discovered the joy of Can, Tago Mago is definitely the place to start and arguably their most towering achievement. In parallel to the tape editing approach of Miles Davis and Teo Macero (the music here isn't a million miles from the glorious On The Corner) and the sound effect happy Jamaican dub pioneers, Tago Mago sees them using studio equipment as part of the composition process, and creating some mind bending and sometimes baffling music as a result.
The album is split in two (it was released as a double LP) - the first part is more conventional by today's standards, tight, funk-fulled grooves powered by Jaki Liebezeit's proto-breakbeat drumming, with sprinklings of effects often accompanying Damo's wild frontman lyrics. The influence on subsequent electronic music is clear throughout. Liebezeit is relentless throughout the 18 minutes of Halleluwah while the backwards vocals and synth drones on Oh Yeah are terrific. Kid A fans, start here. It's still rock music though, with plenty of loose jamming and chiming guitar riffs that aren't a million miles from Crazy Horse at their best.
The second half is even more notable for its use of electronics and it goes further out there than any nominal rock band ever have. Holger Czukay was let loose to indulge his tape loop and edit experiments and on Aumgn he creates an ever shifting tapestry of weird effects, drones and noises, taking this deep into avant garde territory and messing with your mind. Peking O goes even further out with some crazy Improv, Suzuki seemingly involved in a call and response session with a drum machine that the others try to program to play as fast as possible. It's still crazy sounding and out there today, so spare a thought for the poor hippies exposed to it at the time.
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21=
Orbital
The Brown Album
(1993)
The brothers Hartnoll were among the best of the 90s explosion of electronic artists, developing their music from their rave and techno roots from the late 80s scene to more accomplished electronic listening music, and eventually indie friendly quirky hit and miss endeavours. I can barely think though of a greater journey of melodic techno hooks than their terrific second album.
I still get spine tingles from the opening and bass kicking in of Lush 3.1, and from there on in we're on a fantastic journey through many of Orbital's greatest moments. Impact (The Earth Is Burning) is forever one of the highlights of their live sets, and still sounds every bit as essential here.
The whole album is relentless in its forward propulsion through track after track of classic peak time joyful dance music. Remind brings the drama while the 909 kicks and snares and layered riffs of Monday never seem to tire.
The live version of blissful climax Halcyon+on+on has become more famous for its hands in the air samples of Bon Jovi and Belinda Carlisle, but here it's still in all it's original glory, unadorned by such silliness. It's hard to believe that it's 20 years since this album was released - even more so by the fact that it doesn't seem to have dated at all. I'll be delighted if Orbital are still around for another 20 years playing this music to ever ageing disciples like me.
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21=
Utah Saints
Utah Saints
(1993)
Utah Saints! U-U-U-Utah Saints! To those of us who grew up in the early 90s, it's impossible to hear the name of Michael Stipe's favourite dance act (now there's an endorsement) without reacting in this manner. “The first stadium house band” according to Bill Drummond, the Saints were unashamedly pop and their music became briefly ubiquitous as a result.
The big hits are all here – pilfering pop divas of the day to marvellous effect. Kate Bush and Annie Lennox are stuffed into the sampler and spat out alongside monster piano and rock riffs. Something Good, What Can You Do For Me and I Want You exploded onto the pop charts way back then, making everything else seem monochrome in comparison.
The rest of the album is mostly more of the same, and that's no bad thing. New Gold Dream-81-82-83-84, Believe In Me, Too Much To Swallow... in fact damn near every track is full of the joy of pop. Soulution, States Of Mind and Trance Atlantic Glide are relatively sombre in comparison, and it's probably just as well given the energy and excitement on display elsewhere.
Utah Saints should still serve as a reminder to many a po-faced purist how exciting pop music can be. I'm off to listen to Something Good again......
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As a product of the 90's the only stuff i listen to from that era are the big big hitters (i.e prodigy, aphex twin, underworld etc..) and the global underground/renaissance comps (that I couldn't vote for
). As much as i like Pryda, quite surprised it got in.Hoping to pick up a few good titles from this poll. Gave big bud a listen and sounds pretty decent.
Without giving too much away, a number one vote for an album got it into the list. Those that tied for 25th place were all somebody's favourite but not voted by anyone else. I think that works quite well as it makes the list a bit more diverse
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21=
Carl Craig
More Songs About Food And Revolutionary Art
(1997)
Among the most celebrated of Detroit's supposed "second wave" of techno artists, Carl Craig has had an amazing career with a huge back catalogue ripe for discovery. From his 69 guise to Paperclip People to his amazing remixes, he has treats a plenty that deserve a wider audience. More Songs was his second album under his own name, and gathered new and old tracks, several of which are up there with his best and the best of all Detroit techno.
Craig is never slow to serve up chunks of melody, and the tuneful acid riff of Televised Green Smoke sits atop a lush Detroit offering. We then have the cinematic Blade Runner-esque Goodbye World and slo-mo hip-hop beats of Red Lights carrying us towards the piano led tech-house of Butterfly. This album sees Craig provide a varied display of his exceptional musical gifts, and it sounds every bit as good today as it did back then.
The undoubted peak of the record though comes with two of Craig's classic and best known tracks the looped vocal sample and thumping beats of Dominas are joined by an amazing bassline and those trademark synths, before the utterly magnificent At Les comes in with its fluttering riffs, bed of synth pads and sprightly breakbeats. This is emotional machine music at its best from an absolute master and genius of electronic music. At Les is up there with the best music of any genre for this listener, and this album is worth the admission price just to hear it alone.
For all his great music since, I'm dying to hear another Carl Craig album if it's even half as good as this collection of amazing music, it'll be well worth the wait.
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21=
The Orb
The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld
(1991)
Sample based music takes many forms, from the loops and chops of golden era hip-hop to Herbert's clipped house, but in 1991, Dr Alex Paterson unleashed a 2 disc epic of ambient excursions and collages that soundtracked many a smoking session and afternoon nap. Progressive may have a different meaning in dance music, but Adventures often recalls the mighty Floyd in spirit if not always explicitly in sound.
The good Dr and his cohorts (including Kris Weston, Jimmy Cauty of KLF fame, Steve Hillage of Gong and long time collaborator Thomas Fehlmann) here apply an everything and the kitchen sink approach to found sounds and aren't afraid to plunder huge chunks of other records, taking them out of context to sail atop their glorious ambient backings.
Steve Reich is looped to great effect on ambient house masterpiece Little Fluffy Clouds, while an out of context Minnie Ripperton pops up unexpectedly later on. There are a myriad of sound effects and incidental cues accompanying this trip through dub, house and spaced out meandering. The pretty guitar motifs of Star 6&789 and the circular basslines of Spanish Castles In Space are personal favourites.
The real treat though is the lengthy finale of the snappily titled A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain That Rules From The Centre Of The Ultraworld – a track that the term “trance music” seems designed for if it didn't now conjure up something else entirely. On it The Orb take us deep into inner space in a compelling and hypnotic trip that brings this classic album to a brilliant close.
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Good write up on Pryda, which was my number 1. If you're being put off by "Call on Me", that album is nothing like. Eric Prydz and the Pryda alias are completely different. "Leja" is about as different a sound to "Call on Me" as you'll hear, for example.
It was different from what I expected in general, it's not that fine a line really between it and some of the other things on this list. Can definitely see the appeal!
Edit: I think I meant to say it is a fine line. My brain is melted by The Orb.
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Is youtube gubbed just now? For the last few days it's been very selective on which videos it will play for me, tried chicane and herbert which wouldn't play but polygon window did.
Call On Me video playing fine for me, several times in a row.......
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25
Bjork
Homogenic
(1997)
Bjork's third album proper saw her team up for the first time with Mark Bell, one of of UK house and techno pioneers LFO, who would remain a key collaborator on subsequent albums. Homogenic is a perfect marriage of electronica, swooning strings and Bjork's glorious songs and voice.
The machine gun splatter of beats and throbbing bass that introduce Hunter set the scene, and still sound cutting edge 15 years later. The strings of Joga and sax of the utterly gorgeous Unravel (two of the best songs ever written, people) combined with electronic beats and effects provide a wonderful arrangement for the real star of the show to shine – I can never get over how incredible a rush it is to hear Bjork let rip. I fucking adore this record, in case you haven't guessed already.
All pop music should sound like this – 5 Years contains distorted beats that lead to more of those incredible strings and that voice that provide highs way beyond any so called anthem ever can. The loop and clicking rhythms of Immature swing majestically, Alarm Call is electronic swingbeat before Pluto provides pumping gritty techno (I think Bell was calling the shots on that one). The closer All Is Full Of Love is spaced out bliss that leaves you drifting after a fantastic trip with everyone's favourite Icelandic pixie. Damn, nearly made it.
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24=
Eric Prydz
Eric Prydz Presents Pryda
(2012)
To the uninitiated, the name Eric Prydz almost certainly conjures up a specific set of images – No matter what you think of modern progressive house and trance, let's all take a moment to remember fondly those times we've all sat enchanted by those pneumatic gym bunnies while Steve Winwood is looped ad nauseum, as if you're paying attention to the music.
Anyway! Pryda is a mammoth 3-disc set that serves both as career retrospective and new album for Prydz, and it's that disc of new tracks that is nominated here. While David Guetta has come to monopolise the entire pop industry (it seems), Prydz remains unsung to a degree, the progressive connoisseur's choice, and Pryda displays his array of production tricks and musical devices that invite adulation from his legion of fans.
It's an album jam packed with highlights and peaks – in fact it's Prydz's skill in delivering those peaks that stands out. Shadows' squiggly hook and electro-pop groove is an infectious opener before the blissful bleeping melodies of Agag and Beyond 8 lock you in. Sunburst is the first track to really explode big-room style, and anyone who's ever lost themselves in the communal joy of clubbing should understand the appeal, regardless of your taste.
This album undoubtedly won't be for everyone reading this thread, but there's no question that with his overworked arpeggiator, Prydz is an absolute master in his field, and Pryda is brimming with melodic peaks and highs. If you don't want to jump and punch the air when the strings and beats of Mighty Love kick in, then there's no hope for you. Take a leap of faith.
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Hopefully more albums to reveal tonight/tomorrow - I need to listen to some more first and think of some new superlatives to throw at them.
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26=
Polygon Window
Surfing On Sine Waves
(1993)
The evil twin to Aphex's first Selected Ambient Works offering, Surfing On Sine Waves was technically Richard D. James' debut album, preceding SAW85-92 by a whole month. While the more ambient offering remains RDJ's most celebrated album, Surfing On Sine Waves offers a slightly darker more techno-driven affair, yet sounds every bit as vital.
The album was part of Warp's Artificial Intelligence series, designed as electronic listening music rather than functional body music for the club. This record can still punch its weight though - the single Quoth delivers heads down battering pulverising techno beats, and there's dark acid riffs a plenty throughout the album.
It being RDJ though, there's plenty of wonderful melodic and rhythmic hooks to carry you through - The opener Polygon Window delivers a flurry of handclaps against what have come to be known as Aphexian synth lines. Early highlight Audax Power begins with gorgeous swathes of colour before heading off into a bad acid trip along the way. The riffs are compelling and inventive, laying down a template for much of the "Braindance" Aphex's Rephlex label came to be famous for releasing.
Surfing is a fantastic collection of electronic music from one of the leading lights of the genre - If It Really Is Me manages to subvert piano house to sound mournful, while Supremacy II provides a ghostly Julie Andrews introducing captivating techno beats ands hooks. Quixote offers up essential electronica before the drifting closer Quino-Phec shows the first signs of Aphex Twin's magnificent touch for ambient music.
I would happily argue the case for every one of his albums to be included in this list, but James' sole excursion as Polygon Window remains a great favourite of mine - brilliant and inventive throughout, with a great balance between dark and light. It's an unsung achievement amongst his more celebrated releases, but for those who know its charms, it's up there with the best of his work and the best electronic music in general.
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I completely forgot about Hebert. Probably wouldn't have made the top ten but just gave Desire a listen on youtube. Cracking tune.
Same here - when I saw it submitted as a vote, I hoped it would make the cut even though it wasn't in my list. Have enjoyed listening to it again!
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26=
Herbert
100 Lbs
(1996)
In a universe of faceless bedroom producers, few electronic artists have trodden as interesting and weird a path as Matthew Herbert. From legendary early gigs using only a crisp poke and a sampler, to big band jazz excursions, contracts with himself on rules of composition, political concept albums on the food industry, experiments with pigs and music sampled from bodily functions (2001's imaginatively titled,erm, Bodily Functions), he has always remained a fascinating character which his music reflects. His recent ascent to become head of the reborn BBC Radiophonic Workshop brings fresh excitement on what comes next.
100 Lbs was before all that though - his first album release as Herbert, and a musical benchmark that remains amongst the best music of his career. This album is sample based house music, a sprightly affair which is almost certainly the lightest of touch in this top 30. Parts of it allow adjectives like "quirky" and "jazzy" to be used without the annoying connotations they might usually carry - Album opener Rude swings along, Oo Licky's looped sample of Joao Gilberto singing from The Girl From Ipanema buries itself into your brain, and when a voice declares "Turn the record over, and let's DISCO!" on Friday They Dance, you can't help but giggle.
Yet for all the quirkiness, this record still holds weight against the best of club music. Desire carries a bassline that would slay any dancefloor and there are plenty chunky and tracky beats to propel you on your way. It's an often sparse yet brilliantly arranged and composed album of supreme deep house.
It's often striking that for all the strange endeavours that accompany Herbert, his music remains easily accessible, sometimes even conventional. There's always just enough weirdness in his methods though to keep him away from wine bar dullness. He would go on to make more sophisticated sounding music, but would probably never again make something as charming and vital sounding as 100 Lbs is.
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26=
Chicane
Far From The Maddening Crowds
(1997)
Dance music's relationship with Ibiza now stretches back decades. Before everyone and their dug was off to 'ave it large though, the island's name became synonymous with the image of gorgeous sunsets and sunrises soundtracked by widescreen electronica. Few artists have ever so explicitly evoked those images as Chicane.
Everyone knows Chicane's Offshore in some shape or form - it's undoubtedly one of dance music's greatest and best-known riffs, a two note hook that has soundtracked a thousand travel programmes. Despite what snobbish revisionists may tell you, it was embraced by the deeper house underground before it's charm took it way overground. It screams Ibiza and it's present on this sun-drenched album in two different forms. It provides a template for a classic album, but its by no means the whole story here.
From Blue To Green, Leaving Town and Sunstroke follow the pattern - tight breakbeats engulfed by atmospheric synths with motifs that practically scream "Balearic" at you. Maddening Crowds is by no means a one trick pony though - Lost You Somewhere takes you well and truly into the club, and album highlight Red Skies is the very definition of epic synth driven dance music.
Commercial dance music is as big as ever, but little of it ever seems to entrance like Chicane at their peak. If the cold's getting you down, stick this on your headphones and you'll be transported off to the island paradise in your mind.
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26=
Big Bud
Infinity + Infinity
(1999)
Released on LTJ Bukem's Good Looking records, Infinity + Infinity is infectious liquid, atmospheric drum n bass that sinks its claws into you from its beginning. It's a journey through rolling beats surrounded by atmospheric pads and hooks that lock you in to their charms and won't let go.
Beginning with the stunning Darker Than Blue, Big Bud guides us through a fine selection of treats that segue smoothly into one another with ease. Guitar and piano motifs provide incidental drama while a hypnotic repeated groove keeps you on edge. When the cinematic strings enter halfway through the track, you're captivated for what else is to come.
As a veteran of the scene, Big Bud's fine production skills are on display throughout. From the eerie atmospheres and galloping beats of Pure Re-Mix to the deft programming of High Times, and the gorgeous pads of the clubbier A Way Of Life, Bud pulls off the great trick of all the best d'n'b - we're locked into a headspace yet propelled forward constantly by the kinetic energy of the ever sprightly beats.
Penultimate track Ellen's Song drops the tempo yet keeps the beats rolling, with a heady groove and lazy saxophone drifting over the top. It sets us up for the album closer Stone Groove, that keeps it downtempo but makes a soothing end to an exhilarating journey - one you'll want to make time and time again once you've fallen for this gorgeous masterpiece.
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Despite the incredible range of albums nominated (135 different albums from just 19 voters!), the list somehow managed itself into a neat Top 30. There are some tied albums, where possible if this has happened, I have split by the number of individual votes an album received, so if one album received more votes than another but tied on points, it would finish above that other album. Everyone who voted will have at least one album represented, even as in some cases if they were the only person who voted for it. I'm not familiar with some of the albums and know some of them inside out,
So here we go, Pie & Bovril's Top 30 Electronic Music Albums........
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OK dokey, voting is now closed. Time to make sense of this list!
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). As much as i like Pryda, quite surprised it got in.
P&B's Top 30 Electronic Music Albums
in The Music Forum
Posted · Edited by Colin M
16
Goldie
Timeless
(1995)
James Bond movie henchman, Strictly Come Dancing loser, Eastenders bad man, reality show whore - in 1995 Goldie was none of these things. Back then he was just the "larger than life" former graffiti artist and underground music leading light, albeit with more gold in his gums than hangs around B.A. Baracus' neck. Goldie was the face and sparkling smile of jungle, a pioneer and ambassador for the scene. His Metalheadz label and legendary club night were at the forefront of this exciting and vital new music, and his debut album was the most awaited release in the genre for both the fanatics and the fascinated hipsters looking in. Timeless remains an astonishing achievement, a monument for the UK underground and a step up in production values to a level not previously seen in jungle.
Goldie's mission here was clear - jungle was not just for the bedroom producers, but was to be a professionally, expertly presented sound that could hold it's own against all other fully developed musics - this was not just crazy kids messing on their Amigas and budget samplers, but could involve "real" musicians to produce a fuller sound than ever before. Ably assisted and facilitated by the steady hands of Rob Playford of Moving Shadow fame, Timeless is gigantic in scope. The 20 minutes of Timeless (Inner City Life) that opens proceedings is an exhausting epic in its own right. It sounds sculpted, the strings full and expansive, the galloping breakbeats propelling you forward at all times. Inner City Life along with Angel and You and Me are tracks that the phrase "urban hymns" seems made for - soul divas adding pretty toppings to the full bodied tracks beneath.
The criticism always thrown at Timeless is that it was just too much, a bloated prog opus that like most double albums could benefit from some smart editing. There is perhaps some truth in that (and the more readily available version nowadays is indeed a 1 disc selection), but it's interesting to listen to it some 17 years later and realize that there's actually not that much filler on it, so much of it still sounds so vital. Sea Of Tears sails close to prog jazz fusion territory, but it's still another thrilling epic that holds your attention. For all the sophisticated musicianship and production values on this album, it kicks and swings with all the kinetic energy that made jungle so essential and made other music seem so inconsequential after you'd caught the bug. Saint Angel, Jah the Seventh Seal, A Sense of Rage (Sensual V.I.P mix), Kemistry all hold those captivating rolling beats that seem to create that higher state of conciousness of the best of underground hardcore music. Only the noodling of Adrift is an automatic skip, and we'll happily write that off as an error of judgement and assume that nobody was bold enough to challenge Goldie's ego (Or we would if we hadn't heard his hour long "classical" excursion all about his Mother that forms part of the turkey followup to this on Saturnz Return).
Timeless was a massive achievement and a huge influence on UK dance music to come. Dubstep pioneer Loefah recently said about it: "Timeless didn't need jungle; if anything jungle needed Timeless." Those words sum it up perfectly - this was a huge and bold step away from the roots of the music to create something far more accomplished than it had seen before. It's one of the greatest albums of the 90s and one of the biggest musical statements ever to come from UK dance music.