"Cutting edge", "ground breaking" and "boundary pushing" aren't words you can really use to describe this album, however "varied", "well crafted" and "fun" certainly are. If you like big grimey bass and beats, there's plenty for you here, along with some choice ragga vocals snippets, old rave hoovers, sirens, Steven Seagal movie samples and of course succulent amens. "Barrave" is basically a remix of "Spice" by Eon, but it's rather nice. "Like A Machine" is an minimal, bleepy, disjointed growly thing. "Play" is choppy, sample-stuffed, rave-spattered breaky number. It's all a bit familiar, but all so very enjoyable. I am slightly disappointed that the junglistic tracks don't really get as brutal as you'd expect, except on "Multiple Stab Wounds". However, that track really is a killer. It's one of those unstoppable beasts that I would compare with the likes of Soundmurderer's "Badman", Capone's "Massive" or the infamous Ambush 10 in terms of sheer relentless amen butchery. Spactastic.

"Rocket Launcher" is pure funk at 500mph. Strangely enough it contains some 4/4 sections which do at first seem like a bad idea, but they work. Very fast tempo, but still very funky.

"Funkstation" does seem a bit too fast at its original speed. Maybe that's just me. However, at 33 it is a fantastic funky breaks track. You can't just play any drum 'n' bass track at the wrong speed and expect it to sound good, but this one really works - I recommend that you try it.

A year and a half later I come back to listen again to some of his works. Clearly a lot has happened in that time, as I am now frankly embarrased by the previous comment. Technically proficient and jolly enough melodies, but ultimately I find it hard not to skip through the tracks as quickly as possible to reach the end. Mostly just like all your average "trance" - same blueprint, different melody. Just isn't enough to sustain my interest these days.

What a throroughly bloody unbelievably brilliant compilation. Damn this is good. Soul Of Man do their funky thing on the first CD, with all manner of top stuff such as Terminalhead's remix of "King Of The Land", some Aquaksky vs Master Blaster, a few of their own marvelous offerings, and ends off in fine style with Bushwacka!'s (is that exclamation mark really necessary?) "Feel It".

CD 2 is a bit more laid back, as the title (Phantom Beats Laid Back Mix) would suggest. C83's "Back In The Day" has to be heard, bloody lush it is. And there's other lovely things by Spoon Wizard and Phantom Beats themselves. Just lovely.

CD 3, also mixed by Phantom Beats, notches it up a bit. Techy breaks, all slammers. Especially "U Will Be Under", "Beats, Rhymes, Flavour", "Reformatted" and "All The Freaks". Damn this is good. Really. And it was only a tenner. This really is good... I might have mentioned that before. Yeah, I think I did. But really, it's good.

As far as I can tell, the "SE" mix is exactly the same track that appears on The Critical Path album. Also, I think this 10" was only released as a promo, although I can't be sure. Rather nasty, glitchy breaks business going on in the SE mix, you know you love it. However, the Laudanum Vapour Gardens Mix is just lovely, real nice and relaxing, still a bit weird though (a good thing). Damn shame i've never come across anything else by that artist.

Indeed, those old skool stabs are quite something. Plus the beats are superdense, and the ambient background FX adds to the sinister element of the track, to make it quite possibly one of my favourite slices of the ol' drum 'n' bass ever.

The main side sees Mr Parkes doing some recycling. By that I mean that he takes the vocals from "Can't Come Down" (off the Solaris album), and that mind blowing bass from the fires of Mount Doom... er, sorry, also from the Solaris album (albeit modified). The first few times you hear it, it completely overloads your synapses, but after those first few times, it is merely fantastic.

The Main Element remix just does it for me every time. That bass is just so damn funky, and so is the percussion. Those lovely delicate Main Element melodies sit somewhat procariously over the top of the funk, which is probably why it is so damn good. It's proper trance, basically. A proper little groover. Love it.

I've been waiting ages for this (well, what seems like ages), so my expectations were quite high. Thankfully, they've come up with one of the best breaks albums i've had the pleasure of hearing. "What Time Is It?", is a right monster. I wasn't too fond of it until I heard it in the context of the album - rolling breaks with a killer bassline, and a few reggae influences, methinks. Proper Bo'. The next few tracks are more vocal, actually talking about real issues. Quite punky, these geezers have attitude, and it serves them well. "Breaking Rules" is more full on, proper dancefloor material. The next one, however, is a more downtempo number. "Posion" is a fantastic track, melancholic chords and atmospheric vocals add to the spacious feel, and it just flows. "Headstrong" is my pick of the bunch, with it's amazing breakbeats, gurgling bass, mad FX and great lyrical business from Mr Spee. Track number 8, "Weekend Warriors", has a rather intense bassline, and is another one with contemplative lyrics, not too heavy. Lovely stuff. "Beats, Rhymes, Flavour" is one of the heavyweights, with head-punching breaks, devastating bass, punchy vocals bits and those mad FX again. Woo! "Dubious" is proper dub stylee, all echoey and spacious, with fragmented vocals floating about within it. Dubtastic! The closer, "The Scene", is about all the scum in the industry, a big up middle finger to all the people that should fuck off and let the people that love the music get on with it. Respect the music.

I would agree that it's not the most original of tunes, but that's not what this is about. This is about laying down huge big sounds, wedging a mammoth beat and room-shaking bassline underneath them, and letting it roll. In my book, that's more than enough. Sure I love to listen to things that require you to listen and concentrate, but sometimes you just need to go fookin' mental.

I can't stop listening to this. It all starts off with a great little custom intro, something you come to expect in any mix by a Finger Lickin affiliate. And then in comes the insanely funky and instantly arse-mooving Hexadecimal mix of Sound Alliance's "From Home", courtesy of Mr Ben. More top notch slamming funkiness ensues until the Plumps themselves stir things up a bit with some Squeaks, and also some Bleeps (how about that for value for money?). It heads into deeper rolling territory from there, with a bit of Evil9 and Lee Coombs with Meat Katie, and then comes back to the those punchy breaks, with a couple of cheeky Plumps mixes of some well known tunes, namely Mr Velcro Fastener's "Electric Appliances", and the closer "I Feel Love" by Donna Summer (yeah, I know it's been bootlegged more times Jeffrey Archer has lied, but it's great fun). Move-Ya!'s "Dope Freak" and C83's "Back In The Day" are both great for bassbin devastation by the way.