Tayla – Soul Survivors

Definitely not as good as the original compilation. The Invisible Man and Rantoul tunes on the original compilation are way better than the mispress tunes here.

I think this has aged fairly well 20+ years removed from its release. Disc 1 presents a futuristic sounding take on the GLR sound with a heavy helping of the synthy growls of Future Engineers, certainly the highlight of the compilation for most I'd assume. The majority of the tracks on CD 1 don't appear to have been released on Nexus outside of this compilation so having this set is a real treat, particularly the Makoto and FE tracks. Solid offerings from Rantoul and Atlantiq round out the mix.

Disc 2 is a more standard Good Looking Records affair, akin to some of the bonus discs included with the Points in Time and Looking Back compilations. This isn't a DJ mix, however, only a collection of singles. It stands as an enjoyable smattering of 8 Nexus records released as singles aside from Doc Scott's formidable Tokyo Dawn, residing famously on LTJ's Earth label. Makoto - Wave is a delightful trip through a sunny island atmosphere and was the only track I hadn't heard previously on Disc 2. An absolute gem.

You can't go wrong with either disc here, though CD 1 is probably the standout. It's great to have compilations like this for some of the GLR sublabels instead of tracking down all the singles individually.

I have both versions, IMO this one is not as good as the original version due to dropping the fabulous Invisible Man track for a more mediocre one. So with this you pay your money and take your chance!

This is a really nice LP, just on the cusp of the 2000s when the breaks started to get monotonous and formulaic.
Some stellar drum science all over this nice little package with Future Engineers getting the majority of tunes.
Kind of odd when Tayla himself isn’t even featured! Wtf?
Nothing against FE but Tayla should have had some music on this.
Invisible Man provides one of the highlights and as his tunes are generally very high quality and inventive, ‘time zone 1’ continues in that mode with a Detroit influenced palette of sound.
Rantoul provides another with the amen workout ‘testing’ and it’s zither like arps and plaintive chords. Smashing!
The Future Engineers tunes veer more towards lean and sinewy electro funk rippling with trancey synth lines and chromium stepping drums.
its also not that rare so don't pay stupid prices. They regularly turn on on the bay for 25 quid or so.
Keep em peeled.....

Gotta say that the CD version of this album has some seriously good tracks on it including Project 2, Tokyo Dawn, Jazz Lick, The Peshay Rework of Music, plus to seriously good jams by Tayla. Whats not to like. Plus if you managed to get the mispress version of the vinyl then you have 2 rare cuts never intended for release. Well worth the price paid 20 years ago for both versions.

Anyone know of a way to differentiate between the two versions of this?

I thought this release was misunderstood and unfairly overlooked at the moment. Maybe it's because in 2000 drum n bass followed other trends and the Good Looking sound was already wore out years ago, but anyway: this release, one disc a mix release and the other a compilation, is quality from Good... oh, sorry, Nexus Records. The first record is the most interesting, full of that futuristic, spacey and layered rhythms and jazzy synths we all know (a bit crisper this time): great opener by the Invisible Man, spectacular tracks from Future Engineers, some familiar names and ending with that unfairly unreleased (at least oficially) M33 track. The second disc is a more predictable affair, and for me the Music remix just doesn't work, but it's a nice retrospective, anyway, of many pivotal producers of the genre. So I recommend this compilation if you come across it in those second hand music stores: at least you can agree that the artwork is quite beautiful.

Two versions of this exist so be careful about what you're getting if you find a copy. Both versions have plate 2 (c/d) labeled as Timezone 1 and Testing but on some of the early versions the two tunes on plate 2 are actually "m33" by Atlantiq and "Timezone" by Total Science. All four tunes are amazing so I recommend putting in the legwork to find both versions if possible.