Goldie – Innercitylife (The Remixes)

This is the only CD single with the 'Rabbit In The Moon's Vocalic City' remix on it.

Inner City Life is possibly the most famous tune in Jungle/Drum & Bass history, so it's no suprise that it's had its fair share of remixes. The 'Original Edit' featured here is not actually the 'original' version. It has been trimmed down length-wise to fit on the disc. As for the other remixes, everything is excellent! With artists such as Photek, 4Hero, and Rabbit In The Moon, you'd expect them to be. While this album is not intended for front-to-back listening, "Rabbit In The Moon's Return To Vocalic City" is a must have; it's a near acapella (there's a few strings and fx in the background) of Inner City Life, an extreme rarity! If you're a diehard Timeless fan, then you need to have this in your collection. Anyone else, feel free to grab the remixes on other compilations.

I found this set of remixes fairly disappointing, overall. I'm a fan of most of the artists featured here, but most of these mixes are just plain boring, offering little in the way of new ideas or new directions for this "Timeless" classic (pun intended). The vocals really got on my nerves after awhile, and all of the remixes are spattered with them. My favorite remix of the ones featured here is the Peshay one, whose dissonant chords create a cold, dreamy atmosphere that doesn't feel like a mere rehashing of the original. The "Goes To Miami Edit" is good too; it's a well-produced hip hop version, which probably has the most original content of all the remixes. The Baby Boys remix doesn't really work; the vocals feel rushed, despite the lower tempo. It does have some really nice keys though; the sad part is, it would have been a really nice track if they had left out the vocals. Overall, a boring collection of sub-par remixes (of a ridiculously-overplayed and played-out tune) from otherwise talented artists.

This version of Goldie's inner city life had remixes from Rabbit In The Hole, who went for more of a dance remix than jungle. I felt their remixes were pretty good, but nothing compared to Doc Scott's and Peshay's.