Goldie – Saturnz Return

I only liked Temper Temper and the track with Bowie and you can't get the latter on the vinyl releases unfortunately.

I am not a Drum 'n' Bass expert. In fact, there are very few tracks or artists from that genre that I actually know. So I might not be the most qualified person to rate this album.

However, I do remember that there was a certain hype surrounding SATURNZ RETURN back in 1998. But in 2023 there isn't really much on it that blows me away. Yeah, the hourlong MOTHER is ambitious, but also far from being high on my list of things that I wanna listen to over and over. It just sits there and achieves very little in a lot of time. It's cool that David Bowie sings on TRUTH, but even that one is more a bit of background noise than something actually worthy of Bowie's participation.

Long review short: The only real banger on it is TEMPER TEMPER. DRAGONFLY is another overlong track, but the 16 minutes feel actually worth it this time. And CRYSTAL CLEAR is a really cool song to blast through your window during a hot summer evening. But apart from that, most of it feels like filler material.

Again: I am not a DnB expert. I don't know if this album was some kind of innovative quantum leap for the genre by 1998 standards or even still uniquely stands out of the genre. But for me it doesn't do a lot. It's not bad. It's just okay.

Just a small point but I think the drummer on Temper Temper is actually Trevor MORAIS who played with Underworld, Bjork, The Peddlers AND Rory Storm & The Hurricanes. He should be properly credited. The man's a legend!

On first listening I was thinking hmmm this is going to be radical. But then Goldie is anyways, so I walked it on ever ready for a new journey in dnb to remind me of my old days of losing it in Bristol on many wonderful nights, days and whatever else. I was very pleasantly surprised (which is my favourite state!) so I enjoyed the full length mother tracks and embraced it. As things have moved on don’t expect another Timeless, expect the unexpected and roll with it. See what happens for you. But - it is another production which shows me the level at which Goldie operates which is genius level in my humble opinion. He is an all round talented and very funny guy to boot. Bravo!

The US CD version of Demonz has a longer runtine (6:03 vs 5:27). This is due to a pressing error that causes the track to break @ 2:55 and 3:06

one of the best albums i ever heard, this is great piece of art, its not about the listener it's just about what goldie is. not just dnb its exploring multiple musical styles and this is what an artist do. never care about what people will say just pure human expression. theres a lot of expression on the lirycs and the musical style. theres an evolution on every track and the use of the instruments and the variety of al of them all along the album its just amazing. some people say its boring but music its not about entertain. its about explore and expression and its easy to find this here.

Absolute shite in my opinion. Self absorbed, boring, and undanceable. you should be able to dance to dance music, or at the very least it take you on a journey. The only journey this took me on was to my local charity shop with the thing tightly sealed so nobody could see that I had bought it, because at £0.62 it's more ethical to give it away than to charge somebody for it. Fucking embarrasment to Jungle!

"Mother" is a magnificent. What Goldie did was to accept no compromise and out of it came a 60 minute epic of full orchestral movements into-woven with rhythmic drum patterns. I love it, I really do. I have no truck with those that say it's "bombastic"...I appluad Goldie for his bravery in attmepting something so ambitous and pulling it off. Those that say it's "boring" or "not D&B" are to narrow-minded and impatient to appreciate the track.
It the greatest piece of D&B I've ever heard.

In my opinion "Mother" is a masterpiece, I absolutely adore that track. But Saturnz Return doesn't work as an album overall because it's too "messy", the harder/faster tracks like "Temper Temper" and "Demonz" just doesn't sit well together with the downtempo stuff included. Goldie should have done what System 7 did, put out one "Fire" and one "Water" album.

Many people write this disc off, but I was amazed the first time I heard it. I don't pretend to understand it, but I listened to it until I knew it inside and out, down to how long the pause was between "Truth" and "Dream Within", and only then did I allow myself to make up my mind whether I like it -- and it turned into one of my very favorite records. Especially "Truth", "Dragonfly", and the 2nd movement of "Mother."