E-Z Rollers – Tough At The Top

Dom & Roland Remix is a proper cruncher, with a slower tempo, which lets this roll out like a train hurtling towards you. The bass is rugged and heavy, the breaks are pitched slower giving them weight and presence. Similar vibes to the remix of Terrorist by Renegade. Nice tune

Timecode just rolls it out through a whole bunch of scrapes, crunches and scratches until you are caught up in it. The clear, simple and warm bass stands out all the more for the weirdness of the rest of it. For me, not having this would render my collection incomplete.

My friend Dennis used to play this back around 20 years ago. I was usually spaced out at Bust The Box and some records that he played settled in a part of my brain where strange forgotten emotions and supressed feelings get lodged. All I could remember for a long time was the 'once I had a dream' vocal so I used to search for that. It bubbled up eventually. I couldn't ask Dennis as he passed away in 2006 aged only 29. Damn.

I remembering buying this on sight for the Origin Unknown remix - got it on the deck at home and I genuinely thought my the needle had snapped when I put the Timecode remix on! I checked it several times, but no it really does sound like playing sandpaper!

The origin unknown remix is the one here, dirty funk double bass stabs dropping around half way makes this a must have in anyone’s dnb collection.

Origin Unknown's remix is a huge huge track and one of my all time favourites! But what makes this release even more outstanding is that it's also got Timecode's (aka Rob Playford himself) remix on it too. You don't see much of his production so this is a rare chance to grab it, and the tune itself - a mesmerizing techstep roller barely reminiscing the original - is just wicked.

So many great memories of playing this remix, especially at home to my friends. I remember the first time they heard the breakdown with the distorted baseline they went mad! It's time to bring this one out of storage and let the next generation hear it.

Andy C + MC GQ @ Mannheim Summer Session around 98. Andy was last one, and he spinns "Tough" remix 2 times with rewinds.

The vocal sample in the beginning of "Tough at the top" samples the Cannonball Adderley vocal intro to "Why am I treated so bad?"

Quite simply one of the best basslines in drum and bass.