Tic Tac Toe - 456 / Ephemerol

First heard this on a Top Buzz set of the Fantazia event at Matchams Park Bournemouth - May Bank Holiday 1993. Stands out from everything else with its killer dropped Bass Synth Riff after gradual atmospheric build up. Singled out for me as THE tune that got me into the Rave/D&B thing.
A milestone piece of vinyl & hard to come by, the remix is good but doesn't come close to the original.

Quite simply my favourite tune from this era. Arguably (and there are many arguments over this!) the tune that started d&b. I remember hearing Bukem playing it and it stood out a mile, head and shoulders above all the other tunes, even though he was playing classy tunes.

Both sides are great. Ephemerol is the most popular one but my preferance is for 456 which is the tune I'm referencing in the above. Ephemorol is quality *QUALITY* hardcore of the finest type. But 456 is genre creating. Snappy Amen beat with that lovely little flick using the off beat crack of the snare and a simple but fantastic bassline all underpinned with dubby fx galore (although subtle). I think that's why this tune is so magic; it's quite understated in many ways.

I want this tune's babies and no mistake. If you see it buy it...the remix (which you see for sale a lot, which I also own) is nowhere near the greatness of this.

Bit of crappy trivia: Written by Simon Ratcliffe who went on to be half of Basement Jaxx.

Another bit of (useless) info: you usually see this tune filed under the artist name Tic Tac Toe as that's all that printed on the white label, but subsequent releases show that this was actually the name of the record label so it's not clear what's what