Rhythmatic ‎– Take Me Back

Few of the signifiers wheeled out by the current UK scene are a match for the real thing - and it's records like this which tend to render that scene all but dispensable. In the face of such instinctive programming even the sincerest of this year's rave-indebted music begins to sound painfully ironic.

All three versions of 'Take Me Back' make their case with the minimum of fuss, but it's the biorhythms mix that cuts right to the chase, stripping back the A-side's rolling breaks to leave lean, razor-sharp electro. It may not impress the hyperactive bass toddlers of today, but if they could just put down the blue smarties for a second and listen to this they might learn a thing or two in the process.

This isn't quite a super kick-ass record, but it is a chill bass-heavy mover for its time. I'm sure it would sound wicked on a 40,000-watt system, but good luck impressing the kiddies of today with it. It's somewhat sparsely minimal but does exemplify some nice chord changes and different "parts", thus rendering it a "song" and not just a "track". But that was par for the course in 1990, music was a bit more intuitive and listeners weren't quite ready for the "same thing from start to finish" records that came later. They demanded better production. I think a good DJ could slip this one in on a good set of either techno or even hip-hop, and a hip-house MC could probably improvise some styly stuff with it, but as a stand-alone track, I still say - good luck impressing the kiddies! It's just a bit slow (which I personally don't mind) and sparse for other tastes beside mine. Personally, I like this track a lot, it's just not universally kick-ass. Now am I gonna get some scathing comments like I did for my review of "We're Rockin' Down The House"?