Reviews (page 4 of 8)
6, songs need to be half the length
No, no es lo mio
Too weird and repative.
Some damn fine Drum & Bass and a welcome reprieve from the usual rock staples on this list. Wasn't familiar with Roni Size & Reprazent before this but I liked their sound here a lot (reminds me of the demo disc days of the 90s). Not sure how influential the album has been since publication, especially outside of the UK, but it's good listening. Obviously the album goes long, but it's D&B; you're meant to be listening to it in a context where you're just immersed in the vibe. Like most of its genre it doesn't really suit the kind of sit-down listening and is best enjoyed on your feet or on drugs (or both). Fav tracks: Brown Paper Bag, Change My Life
Reduced rating for this one because of the first disc containing over an hour of repetitive, generic beats. The second disc featured more interesting and jazz-infused music that I enjoyed slightly more. Nevertheless, all songs are at least 3 minutes too long.
10/11/2025 Not for me, not my jam. Spotify listeners: Roni Size: 204.9k Reprazent: 166.9k
UK drum & bass album from 1997 is super-niche and shows the bias of the list(maker). It was fun and interesting in short amounts, but not for 2+ hours. Plus one star for winning the Mercury. 2.5⭐️
It was okay! Some tracks were a bit better than others but I vibed with it
11/7/25. Not really my genre so can't grade this fairly, repetitive to my ears. Rating reflects how I feel about it now, but could change if I revisit in the future.
Nope. I make my own, homemade, artisanal anxiety. I don't need yours.
Perfect. Great album
Really loved this! Right up my DnB alley. 5/5
131/1001 :: Roni Size - New Forms Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit? ❌ Rating: 1 Listen before you die: No File this under: Ain’t nobody got time for this.
A bit of a tedious listen.
dnb (y)
Fun, but repetitive
This is bad, okay it is pretty bad, but more than that it’s just lame #musicansshouldntbeallowedtomakelamemusic
many songs had redeeming qualities, modt were too long
1'18" de listening e sinto uma vibe de mf doom + new order. Agora ouvi tudo. Gostei muito de heroes. Acho que eles fariam boas OSTs de jogos: persona, hotline Miami, etc. Músicas muito longas, confesso que me cansei
Interessante porém álbum longo da porra
Gostei de alguns arranjos que me lembram músicas dos anos 80, mas não gostei tanto das músicas por não sentir que elas me contam uma história, senti que tinha muita informação e nenhuma ao mesmo tempo, parece que você fica esperando por algo que não vem Essas musicas não fizeram muito meu estilo, mas entendo que ele tem um quê de "artístico" que devem ter levado ele até essa lista Fun note: me lembrou algo como três espiãs demais
não curti muito porque não é meu estilo de música, mas gostei bastante da transição entre as músicas
algumas partes muito massa, outras extremamente monótonas. acho que dá pra tirar bastante sample legal.
Produção, mix e master excelentes. Músicas repetitivas. Desnecessariamente extenso. Destaque para "Heroes".
Música de loja da Ellus. Legal
Nawwww at first it's kinda catchy until it's not...and it is SO long.
It's different and interesting, but I didn't really like it. Techno and electronica should make you want to dance, and this does not. It would be ok for a chill game soundtrack, but not much else. It's not atmospheric enough to be ambient, but not bouncy enough to dance to.
The sound isn't unlistenable – it's just a plain, average level of bad. In the first track, there isn't a single instrument that's worth paying attention to. The singing, if you can call it that, is monotonous, bland, unidimensional. The percussive beat is fast, and I guess it would be impressive if it were played live, but of course it's all electronically looped. The synths are strange and unappealing – not to mention they're not at all impressive for the year 1997. Brown Paper Bag is a slight improvement, featuring various acoustic instruments that present some melodic ideas to ponder over. (I'm guessing this is what appealed to masses the most, judging by streaming numbers.) The problem is, the melodies are quite bad (at least on a first listen), but the double bass one is pounded relentlessly into your skull for almost the entire 9 minutes. As the tracks continue, their quality is dubious at best. I guess the only consistently commendable attribute is the song transitions, which are (sometimes) swift and clean. Definitely gives incentive to run back the whole album rather than individual tracks/singles. But the singing continues to be terrible (Let's Get It On, Digital, and so on... it's just hoarse, drunken, and, well, bland). Mad Cat is the first non-vocal track after a long streak of suffering, and it's almost a blessing. Not a full blessing, of course, because it's not very good. The bassline is passable but gets old quickly, and the MJ Thriller narration ending is nothing special. Heroes has the most bearable version of Size(?)'s voice, plus a great bass part and atmosphere, so it gets a pass (which is apparently difficult to come by!). Morse Code doesn't get a pass, however. I don't know whose idea it was to have a loop of a woman rhythmically moaning with an irritating beep in the background. But it's a terrible idea. 1/5 Key tracks: Brown Paper Bag, Heroes, Share The Fall
Ugh....
Liked the production a couple parts here but pretty forgettable
Unbelievably boring. I managed to stomach Disk 1 but no fucking way in hell am I listening to over FIVE HOURS of this shit
Interesting stuff. I'd like to spend more time with it. While there's some really nice sounds, I don't know if this music lends itself so well to the album format? I found the record kind of long and with no clear arc or development
This was horrible. It was the first time that I quit an album halfway through. I listened to the whole first disc which was over an hour. There was no way I was listening to another hour of this. It was repetitive electronic music. Ugh!!
Started off alright but got boring pretty quick
Not a huge fan of electronic but this was not bad
Endelig litt ordentlig 90-tallsmusikk! Kjente ikke til denne fra før, men er mye her som skal inn i rotasjonen. Det er kanskje ikke på høyden til det beste av Goldie og Metalheadz-gjengens legendariske jungle tracks,-- ei heller er det like organisk og effortless som Red Snappers acid jazz, men det slapper åkkesom.
Jeg må bare si at jeg ikke er så glad i drum and bass, men kan like det som element i andre sjangre. Opplever denne plata mer melodiøs og det er en fordel. Men altfor lang for en som i utgangspunktet ikke er så fan av sjangeren.
Dette er ikke helt min sjanger ass. Og det varer og rekker og varer og rekker. Nei nå er jeg lei. Denne typen musikk egner seg dårlig til å sitte å lytte til, man skal ut på gølvet med den.
Dreadful
Drum and bass! Some electronica I can get on board with.
Jungle jungle jungle dnb
I can’t tell if this is Bass & Drums or House or Jungle or what the fuck. One thing I do know it this is boppin’. I wasn’t really into this kind of music back then but I did some drugs. Which is to say that the only way that this record could be better is with drugs. This is perfect . 5 Motherfucking stars. I would give it 6 if I was on drugs. Last question, is this Trip-Hop?
Hva faen. Hef10 bass og trommer men ikke min type sjanger. Blir repetetiv gjennom halvveis gjennom første sang. 80 minutter jeg ikke får tilbake
I like the beats, but I understand why people think it drags on. just listening to the album at face value does make it drag on a bit if you're looking for something to be actively listening to. but it's great for passive listening, and I'm sure it was great for DJs who wanted something that was longer to mix with.
Cool electro
FYI: the streaming version of this album is really long, but the real album is only the first 2 CD's, minus the last 3 tracks. I've learned to appreciate these long ass 90's dance albums since starting this challenge. They aren't really meant to be listened to as a regular album, they're just 2 hours of similar bangers that you could pick any one out of and enjoy. I don't usually like Drum N Bass but this was really enjoyable. The jazz inspired basslines work really well with the drums and create a lot of enjoyable grooves. The formulaic structure of the songs does start to make them less enjoyable after a while. This also nabbed the Mercury prize away from nerd rock Radiohead, so that's a big plus.
yesssssssss jungle......
Super cool drum and bass takes -- awesome to have on in the room. Fun listen
7 Dunno how you can review something that’s 5 hours long on a weeknight. Was pretty engrossed in it for a while!!
One of the rare albums I did not finish, but in my defense the 20th anniversary edition is 5hrs long. All of these songs are bad. Who enjoys listening to this?
Good album
5 hours? Ummm yeah I stopped after like 1 hours. Wasnt bad for that hour but I am def not listening to 5 hours of this.
This album was way too long. It coulda been an email
This is one that has different tracks depending upon the release. I listened to the cassette release -all of disc one (15 tracks) and two tracks on disc 2. My guess is that the remaining tracks are similar in style. This is new age music plus one rap track. I would have preferred that this group selected one or two tracks for extended length and kept the rest to three minutes or so, because all tracks were too long in my opinion.
I've never heard of whatever this is, but the name and album cover makes me think I'll like it. Roni size is very important when choosing a pizza. Pizza fans reprazent! OK, but what are we in for? Huh, new genre unlocked. I would have called it "British hip hop/electro", but it's apparently "drum and bass". There is indeed drum. It's OK. Alternatively aggro and chill. Some space... bass. Which I like. The drum bits really evoke 'Let's Go (The B*Witched Jig)', am I right, B*Witched fans?! And 'Heroes' is another Sonic Adventure soundtrack kin. In the end, this (very long) album is more like jazz-electro. It was OK, but like jazz, not very interesting to me because it was so amelodious. Some interesting parts but a lot of filler for your weird art party. Lowlight: 'Morse Code' (miss me with that high pitched beeping), 'Ballet Dance' (miss me with those WINDCHIMES)
This album, which I could barely get through 2 songs of, won the mercury prize in 1997. Other nominated albums included OK Computer and The Fat of the Land. Absolutely shocking decision.
old school. That was sick. First two songs were incredible, the rest was still solid
It’s cool that they’re using real instruments. This is speed jazz more than electronic.
Drum and Bass is something of an acquired taste, but I found the insistent rhythms on this overlaid with gorgeous vocals to be utterly compelling. The repetitive beats end up being hypnotic and almost fade into the background, in a similar way to minimalist classical pieces by Philip Glass do. Excellent stuff!
The problem with double albums is that it is hard to stay consistent for so long, and to deliver quality over the equivalent of 2 records. The results on this one is, as you might expect, unequal. Some really good pieces, mixing different genres (including jazz, good electronica, and so on), and more repetitive/boring pieces. I'd happily cut it in half, keep the best half as the "real" album, and the second half as the additional record you sometimes get on deluxe edition and, let's be honest, you never listen to because it's not that good.
An ocd approach to drumming and bass with a frenetic spirit. The best parts were the subtle use of instruments and it could have been used more.
shouldn't be on this list.... it's very average. I enjoyed heroes
Nothing really stood out too much to me.
What are these “New Farms”? We’re bullied by double-albums this week, and Size suffers from following Wonder. This has enough strong points to make a killer 45 minutes. Unfortunately, it sleepwalks past two hours and becomes wallpaper. Like “Timeless”, “New Forms” is better served by room-filling sound systems, but gentrifies further, which repulsed me at the time. The stuff on the radio didn’t need big speakers to slap, and I didn’t get past the first few minutes of double-bass loungecore when this was current. The main innovation I hear - unfairly - is the slotting-in of the double-bass to lounge this up. Hated it back then, soothed by it now; on “Trust Me” the double-bass notes take on a UFO-like quality. There will be other innovations, but I’ve missed them due to the music becoming wallpaper. “Digital” is a definite exception, a banger. As is the very last song on the 2-CD collection, “Sounds Fresh - Edit”, which is dialled in, cymbals reshaped into sword duels. Those two plus the best parts of the rest would be a blinder. Rounding this up to 3/5 as cloth-eared comments dominate the discourse.
I didn't hate this as much as I did when it came out, but it's still about as exciting as the Brown Paper Bag orchestrated therein.
Dafuq is this mess and why is it on the list? When the album couldn’t get more annoying, they hit us with Morse Code in a pitch that would only be heard by dogs if it was any more ear piercing.
british bias returns to the 1001, but this is fun.
Had this on CD as it was heavily promoted back in the day. Found it boring then and equally as boring now.
Absolutely diabolical. I dont mind this genre of music and I still couldn't get through all of it, i lasted about 5 songs (which is approximately 42 years).
Why is this 5 hours on Spotify? I could barely listen to the singles who could possibly listen to 5 hours of thus
Never really quite knew what drum n' bass was. Cool ambient elements throughout.
### In-Depth Review: *New Forms* (1997) – Roni Size & Reprazent #### 1. **Lyrical Content** - **Style & Delivery**: Vocals are split between rapper **Dynamite MC** and singer **Onallee**. Dynamite’s bars are clipped, cool-toned and deliberately “in the pocket” rather than showy, while Onallee’s phrases are short, almost percussive hooks that sit *inside* the beat instead of soaring over it . - **Themes**: No overarching narrative, but recurring micro-themes surface—urban pressure (“move on, move on / the mainstream” on *Digital*), self-belief under pressure (“Do you think that you can hang tough…” on *Railing*), and the tension between underground credibility and mass appeal . - **Verdict**: Lyrics are functional rather than literary; their *rhythmic placement* matters more than poetry. Listeners who want narrative depth will find it thin, but as *rhythmic glue* the approach succeeds. #### 2. **Musical Architecture** - **Genre Fusion**: Break-beats (160-170 BPM) are scaffolded with **live double-bass** (Si John), **live drums** (Clive Deamer, later Radiohead’s touring drummer) and **jazz-funk harmony**—an anomaly in 1997 drum-and-bass, which usually relied on single-sample loops . - **Harmonic Palette**: Tracks like *Brown Paper Bag* (D-minor 9 → G7sus) or *Heroes* (F-maj7 → E♭-maj9) borrow from 1970s jazz-funk, giving the album a *sun-lit* tonality that contrasts with the *nocturnal* feel of contemporaries such as Goldie’s *Timeless* . - **Dynamics**: Instead of the genre’s typical “drop → noise” template, Size uses *half-time passages*, *bass-only holes* and *filter-swept breakdowns* to create ebb-and-flow more common in 1970s fusion jams than in rave music . #### 3. **Production Techniques** - **Breakbeat Surgery**: Amen-break slices are re-sequenced in **irregular 3-bar phrases**, then layered with **live ride-cymbal overdubs**—a hybrid feel impossible to achieve with purely sampled breaks . - **Bass Treatment**: Dual-layer approach: (1) **sub-bass sine** for club systems, (2) **miked upright bass** for mid-range growl. The two are side-chain-compressed so the sub *ducks* when the acoustic bass plucks, preventing low-end mud . - **Space & Reverb**: Plate reverb on vocals is **high-passed at 300 Hz**, keeping clarity while snare plates are **low-passed**, creating a *vertical* mix spectrum—air above, thump below . #### 4. **Conceptual Themes** - **“Crate-Digger’s Opera”**: Size told *Rolling Stone* he wanted to “reflect the whole era of the ’80s—soul, R&B, funk, hip-hop, techno, ska, rock, pop, house, jazz-funk” . Rather than a concept album, *New Forms* is a **meta-playlist** meant to mirror a night of genre-hopping DJ sets compressed into one long player. - **Urban vs. Cosmic**: Tracks oscillate between **concrete-jungle anxiety** (*Mad Cat* samples a 1970 cult-film scream) and **astro-jazz escapism** (*Share the Fall*’s almost-bossa groove), mapping the late-90s Bristol psyche: post-industrial yet utopian . #### 5. **Influence & Legacy** - **Mercury Prize Win (1997)**: First (and still only) drum-and-bass album to win the UK’s top critical award; certified **5× platinum** in Britain, pushing the genre from pirate stations to primetime BBC . - **Template for Live D&B**: Subsequent acts—from **London Elektricity**’s live band tours to **Bonobo**’s early double-bass breaks—cite *New Forms* as proof that jungle could survive the transition from sampler to stage . - **Video-Game & Cinematic Osmosis**: The plucked-bass / breakbeat DNA resurfaces in soundtracks as disparate as *Jak II* (PS2, 2003) and *The Matrix Reloaded*’s club sequence, cementing its sonic signature in mainstream media memory . --- ### Pros & Cons | Pros | Cons | |------|------| | **Genre-bending ambition**: Seamlessly fuses jazz harmony, live instrumentation and drum-and-bass velocity without sounding forced . | **Length Fatigue**: 2-hour, 2-CD original can feel *repetitive*; several sketches (“Digital”, “Jazz”) overstay their 6-minute welcome . | | **Sonic Innovation**: Dual-layer bass, break-beat micro-edits and filter-heavy mixing were **ahead of 1997 curve**, still fresh on modern monitors . | **Vocal Limitations**: Onallee’s range is narrow; Dynamite MC’s bars are rhythmically tight but **lyrically lightweight**, which can undercut emotional payoff . | | **Cultural Impact**: Mercury Prize + 5× platinum meant **gate-opening visibility** for electronic long-players; validated jungle as album-oriented music . | **Pacing Imbalance**: Disc 1 (“Brown Paper Bag”, “Heroes”) is front-loaded with hooks; Disc 2 drifts into **b-side territory**, causing listener drop-off . | | **Live Performability**: Real drums & bass enabled **full-band tour circuit**, foreshadowing today’s “electronic acts as live bands” festival norm . | **Dated Rap Flows**: Dynamite MC’s mid-90s cadence and slang can feel **period-pieced** to ears accustomed to post-grime or UK drill delivery . | --- ### Verdict *New Forms* is less a flawless masterpiece than a **strategic landmark**: it sacrifices concision for panoramic scope, and lyrical depth for rhythmic utility, yet its **cross-genre alchemy** and **high-fidelity production** still set a benchmark for **electronic albums that play like live bands**. If you engage it as a **fusion-jam with breakbeats** rather than a lyric-driven statement, its **innovations outweigh its bloat**, and its **influence**—from award ceremonies to game soundtracks—remains **verifiably measurable** more than 25 years on. All claims above are traceable to the cited sources; no speculative adjectives have been inserted without textual evidence.
I normally enjoy drum and bass, but this one just feels really dragged out, and I also prefer drum and bass without vocals
I’m going to be honest, I didn’t even make it a quarter of the way through this album. It’s just not my jam first of all, but second of all (and maybe more importantly) this album is LOOOONG. And I mean long…like it’s well over 2 1/2 hours long. It just drones on and on, and everything sounds pretty much the same in not a good way. I will say, it’s not bad per se. It’s just the same two or three techno beats over and over again. To be fair, I didn’t give it much of a chance since I didn’t listen to the entire thing. But I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It wasn’t nearly good enough to justify that kind of time commitment. There’s way too much stuff out there to listen to that I actually do enjoy.
Terrible. The worst beatboxing ever followed by a song that was literally morse code did make me laugh out loud though
As a former consumer of this type of music (as in I would get fucked up and go to clubs that would play drum and bass) I feel like this is a bit academic. Too many musical references and not enough just grooving. Probably why a music nerd who probably never went out dancing put this on his list.
I hate drum and bass
this is not an essential album
Assuming that this is the only D&B album in the list, I wonder if this is the best choice. Maybe I'm not good enough with it's history, and maybe it was groundbreaking back then. But there are so many better D&B albums.
K&D alike.
I listened to and reviewed this album in August 2024. Here is that review: Here’s an album that I was not expecting to like. It’s a mid-90s British electronic album. I haven’t had the best experiences with those. The fact that this is over 2 hours in length scared me. At least I got to decide when I listened to this album as I did it for the “Mega Album Mini Project” that I referenced in my Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness review. But you know what? I kind of liked this album. There’s something about this that makes it more enjoyable for me than something like a Fatboy Slim album, but I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the higher energy and the breakbeats that increase my levels of enjoyment. Maybe it’s the nature of this being a Drum and Bass album that differentiates it from the various Big Beat albums I’ve gotten from artists like Basement Jaxx, the Prodigy, and the aforementioned Fatboy Slim. I really can’t put it into words. Of course, this is still a very long album and it could certainly just be called a collection of random beats. But hey, at least they’re some great beats! This serves as some pretty good background music. It’s not amazing or anything and I would totally understand if someone felt the list was better without this. But I enjoyed it for what it is. And what it is is a 3/5.
trancey
Finally my ADHD has a voice
Holy shit. Do I actually like Drum and Bass? Thought this was really fantastic. A long album, but a decent amount of variety across its tracks, with very few actually outstaying their welcome. Can imagine this had a huge influence on dance music and club culture (as well as video games, so much of this feels extremely PS1 coded)
Presumably here as ‘the best drum and best album ever’(tm) and you know I could believe that, first couple of tracks were a bit generic but it really picks up and as a whole it’s great.
The fast, driving rhythm and repetitive bass lines are honestly pretty fun, but I don't think I do enough ketamine to really get this album.
OK for what it IS. Bad for what it ISNT. I could listen to this. But I won't.
This pumps me up.
Not bad
Drum & bass bible — the bass line from Brown Paper Bag lives in my brain rent-free.
Really not my cup of tea. I find this sort of electronic music fairly samey and boring, especially when songs are up to 9 minutes. I doubt the ideal listening experience is a full album listen on headphones. Not terrible, but not for me.
Fine background or workout music.
Boom !
Album was repetitive and WAY too long.
Album duurt 5 UUR EN 14 HELE FUCKING MINUTEN. WAT IS DIT DAN?! Anyway, heb besloten dat ik alleen disc 1 ga luisteren. Vind het allemaal leuk en aardig, maar er zijn grenzen. Electronisch uit 1997 en het hit me wel. Neemt mij erg mee naar mn jeugd, en doet mij denken aan een game, maar weet niet meer welke. Ja fuck jawel, dit is de soundtrack van SSX Snowboarden! Naja, of het letterlijk die soundtrack is weet ik niet, maar wel heel erg dezelfde vibe. Oke, ik vind het best wel een oke vibe en zou dit denk ik 3 reten geven. Maar de nummers en het album in het geheel is echt veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelste lang. Aangezien ik het dus ook niet af ga luisteren is het eigenlijk 1 ster. Maar vooruit, 2 reten
The audiological narriative of the complicated relaxation ship between experimental acid jazz and DNB beats. Reignited my love for DNB.
Actually some high quality drum and bass/jungle (whatever (sorry))
Managed to listen the volume I of this set of three volumes (20th Anniversary Edition). Kind of interesting rhytmically and I like the way real instruments are used beside the cold electric overall sound. Especially the double bass part are enjoyable. Still, I don't really have a need listen this again.
Bra men lite enformigt (trots beskrivningen i boken "the material never sags" lol)
Jag gillar såna här typav musik
På tok för långt och blir enformigt. Men inte så enformigt som jag först befarade, och nåt har det faktiskt.
Det här gjorde något med mig helt klart, men jag är inte säker på att det var något positivt.
I get it, feels like a pioneer for a like of the late 90s, early 2000s British hip hop/beat makers. Wanted to like it more but not for me.
There were a couple of songs I had heard before. But the rest of the album felt disjointed and inconsistent.
I've listened probably to more drum and bass than the majority of people doing this list. Brown Paper Bag is absolutely brilliant, structurally a great template for many further drum and bass artists, and is a very early peak in the album. Effectively, for me, this album works at its best when there are less or no vocals. That is a little bit my preference in the genre anyway, often the lyrics just make me cringe or don't carry enough weight or purpose to be worthwhile. A lot to love in it, and inspired a lot of great modern artists that have taken the genre forward.
I largely agree with the folks who say this is long and unfocused; but man, it's good stuff. If it were 5 tracks this album could be a 5. Listen to Brown Paper Bag and Hi-Potent and tell me this is a one star.
"New Forms" is the debut studio album by British drum and bass band Roni Size & Reprazent. Drum and bass is the sole Wiki-listed genre. Fair enough. The album received critical success with a comment of this as their Magnum Opus and won the 1997 UK Mercury Prize. It was also commercially successful reaching #8 on the UK charts (#36 US Billboard Heatseekers Album Chart). The personnel involved in this album included Roni Size (writing, production, keyboards), Onallee (vocals, writing), Dynamite MC (vocals), DJ Die (writing, production), DJ Suv (writing, production), Krust (writing, production), Clive Deamer (drums), Steve Graham (guitar), Simon John (bass), Bahamadia (vocals), Tyrell (guitar), Adrian Place (saxophone) and Roisin Murphy (sampled vocals). "Railing" kicks off the adventure. Fast drums and beats (get use to it). A guy talking and singing. Background computer noises. The third of four singles is "Brown Paper Bag." An acoustic guitar. Pounding drums beats which change pace . A repetitive droning guitar string sound throughout the song. Another single is "Heroes." Onallee with soulful female vocals. The first single was "Share the Fall." Static, synth beats and Onallee again on lead vocals. A little different scenario with a sax and a dreamy vibe. It's about a fall from grace. Another song and single with a lot going on is "Watching Windows." Bombs dropping, military chants, scratching, echoing vocals and idiosyncratic beats. But the deep funky bass is what separates this song. My favorite on the album. "Hi-potent" also has a funky bass that carries the melody. The synth gives this a jazzy feel. The closing song "Ballet Dance" throws in strings, bells and horns. This album is all about the beats. It's a very long album. I listened to the original two disc set which clocks in at nearly two hours. My streaming service offered five hours of this album. Woah! And maybe that's the strength of the album; the hypnotic beats create a repetitive atmosphere that's not all bad, actually comforting, for background music listening. I will say while listening closer I did like the songs which had different instruments and pace changes. The group creates different environments throughout the album: jazzy, chill, ambient, soulful and even sci-fi like. There are music samples used in some of these songs but I did not find them central to the music. I liked this album to a certain extent and would think anyone liking drum and bass or electronic music would find something here to like.
1. railing - 1.5 2. paper - 1 3. formz - 1.5 4. Get - 1.5 5. Digital - 1.5 6. Fact - 1.5 7.Mad - 0 8. Heroes - 1.5 9. Fall- 1.5 10. Windows - 1 11. Beat- 1.5
nice funk album.
#703. I'm going to be honest, I didn't listen to this whole thing, because honestly I just couldn't be bothered. I skimmed through a bit, and they're all the same so if you listened to one, you basically know how the all are. 2/5: nah
Favorite Track: Railing
A good album, I liked Watching Windows, Let's Get It On and Brown Paper Bag the most
Buena grabación, falta la inspiración.
Whatever club played this probably served watery drinks.
I'm pooped! This one got me dancing up a storm & it's nearly 17 hours long. Great dance music some of the vocals got on my nerves a little but I kept dancing. I need a nap!
Some interesting stuff here
that was... weird?
Very experimental
понимание жанра ко мне пришло только на сравнении с ремиксом Земфиры)) для того одного ремикса ок, для жизни пожалуй я не готова
Extremely long, very repetitive, and brutally annoying. Nothing good came out of listening to this. 90% of it was the same beat. And not a good beat. And the vocals were just god awful (on the few songs that actually HAD vocals). Never touching this album again.
232/1089 - This definitely sounds like drum and bass music.
When I was around 14 I attended a course which allowed me to fiddle with a music-making program for at most an hour. This album sounds like what I created then.
Vocals sound very cheap. I hate everything.
Had to turn this off. Usually I rank those albums 1, but I did like what I heard. It was just song after song of the exact same. In small sample size this is good. 2/5.
very repetitive beats and tone. songs too long for being that repetitive. decent but wouldn't buy the album
Yep, this is DnB! Great sounds and big beats with crystal clear production
Something went wrong today. Wrote notes about this album but when I was presented rating screen I saw that my notes were gone and replaced by the notes I had written for my previous album. Not going to write review again but suffice to say crap music and much too long 1/5 2/9/25
Not my thing, this bass & drum genre
STEP TO THE RHYTHM
At the forefront of the drum 'n' bass that took over in the mid-90s came Roni Size and Reprazent. Thumping beats a-plenty, you'll be a-toe-tappin' in no time (copyright Alan Freeman)
Klasicky dnb
Hard no
This was ok. I want to revisit at some point
The beats and musicality are very good. The main problem is the duration of the album. I would have rated it as a four-star record if it had half its real duration.
Ps2 racing
I was excited to receive and dive into this one as I'm a sucker for 90s British electronic music, and somehow hadn't ever given this album a crack despite knowing of the artist, however I'm coming away feeling a bit nonplussed by it. A strange type of jazzy, early drum and bass, it generally takes on a low key approach which probably lends itself better to being on as background music whilst reading / working. It's not quite chill out music, but equally, not really strident enough to be gym music. Some of the tracks are interesting in terms of their progressions, layering and structure, but there wasn't a lot here which really left a significant impression on me, and the nearly 80 minute running time is difficult to justify. Annoyingly, the last two tracks were unavailable on Spotify, so I had to conclude my listening via YouTube.
Really did not like this. Too long and droning, only listened to the first disc. Very uninspiring
Eefoc
Yay, another house album... The hip hop addition to some of these songs make it feel less monotonous than the others but only barely. Most of these songs significantly overstay their welcome and only serve to make the album tiresome as a whole.
I always thought drum and bass wasn't for me, now I Know it. Awful stuff.
I am not typically a fan of electronic music, but this wasn't terrible. Decent background noise while working. BUT IT IS WAAAAAAY TOO FUCKING LONG! I would've given it a 3 straight up, but it gets a 2 for being overindulgent. 2/5 #163
5/10 - It was some ok dnb. I feel like I really enjoy current dnb but older songs just do not hit
Too long but I feel like I’ve come around to drum and bass a little. At least it’s kinda fun if you can get past the repetitiveness
Great music to come across occasionally. Properly interesting. Snappy rhythms. Nice vibes. However too long.. Better intermingled with other stuff.
This was very interesting in a good way but not a great way. Watching Windows was stellar 3.25
The instrumental parts are nice, comfortable, jazzy-electro background listening. The kind of thing that can get you into a flow. The lyrics interrupt this and are annoying. And the whole thing is too long.
6/10 There are elements on this album that are so, so good. Brown Paper Bag is a classic and there are really compelling parts to a large number of the tracks. Some of the bass lines are absolutely fantastic, there’s some interesting chopping and blending of breaks, and the mixes with vocals are, on the whole, really decent blends between dance tracks and songs. But it’s all just a bit too much. I get that for Drum ’n Bass, tracks need to be structured for DJs to mix them in and out of other records and that having lengthy sections is good for ravers on the dance floor, but isn’t that what 12” mixes are for? Part of this is personal preference, but I suppose this is where my love for more “IDM” artists comes from. There tends to be more variation, structural change and less reliance on a single great loop than there is in more dance floor oriented electronic music. And it’s not just the length of the tracks that wore me down. This is a LONG album and, given that they also released a single disc version, which is literally just the first disc rather than the best of both, it feels like there wasn’t necessarily that much thought put into track selection and sequencing before they put it out. It’s like they just said “oh, we like these 22 tracks, let’s release them”. That sounds like a lot of complaining, but in part that’s because the parts of this album that I love, I really do love. I return to this album every now and again and really enjoy it as background music, but I would never just listen to it in a focused listening experience, because it just doesn’t feel rewarding enough to justify that kind of listening. Had the album been 40 minutes of album cuts of the best bits, this could have been a 10/10 album, but unfortunately it’s just way too flabby, both track by track and as a compilation of songs. But don’t worry Roni, I’ll still be back. Railing - This is a great intro track, full of skittish energy and a really cool synth tone. It gradually builds with extra drum breaks and then drops to a smoother break. Vocals are great too and it ends perfectly into… Brown Paper Bag - An absolute classic. That call and response between the bass and guitar is so good. There’s lots of ear candy and little bits of percussion that flicker in and out to keep things interesting. It’s a great build up and then the main hook kicks in. It’s repetitive, but it’s supposed to be, right? And still, there’s plenty of that ear candy to keep momentum and interest. There are a variety of sections to keep things moving and while the focus is obviously on the bass, there’s some interesting stuff going on at higher pitches too. New Forms - This is nice and atmospheric from the off. There’s a nice bouncy lilt to the break, which is complimented by the MC, who drifts between different paces in her lyrics. It’s got a great sung vocal too. It’s less driven than BPB, and has a more verse/chorus structure, but it’s another great track, with some really cool little touches scattered around. It manages to stay pretty fresh and interesting, despite being nearly 8 minutes long. Let’s Get It On - A slower pace to kick us off here. It’s brooding and atmospheric and it’s got some great bass. And then here comes the DnB. There’s still some variation in here and little touches for variety, but it does feel a bit more relentless than previous tracks. The bass line is decent, but just a bit too samey and there’s maybe not enough harmonic content to give it as much of a hold on the ear. The later section does add a bit of a twist on things at least. Digital - It’s got a cool intro with the panned arpeggio and little effects. The half-sung, half-spoken vocal is nice too. The sparing use of some of the melodic content spreads things out nicely and there’s some nice little elements like the little phased beat that pops in here and there. The beat has a nice lilt to it too. Despite that, 9 minutes is quite a long time to be listening to that arpeggio and unchanging drum break. Obviously it’s a dance track, but for at home listening, that can get a bit tiresome. Matter Of Fact - There’s more going on here. The chopping of the breaks is pretty cool, especially in the stereo field. We get plenty of audio effects and trickery scattered around things too. But it never really kicks into gear with a particularly satisfying flow. Mad Cat - Atmospheric start. And then the slightly stilted beat comes in and we never really progress much from there. It’s good, it’s just very repetitive. This track is an example of where my electronic music interests lie from an at home listening point of view. This track sounds exactly like something Squarepusher would put out, but he’d go through this loop once or twice and create 200 variations so things are almost always modulating and changing, whereas more trad DnB producers would be happy with that loop playing for 4 minutes. Heroes - This has more of a song structure. Having lyrics tends to reduce the draining effect of repetitiveness because of lyrical variation, although there’s less variation here than there could have been. It’s a decent track though and the vocal hook is good. It’s got that chilled DnB feel that makes it a nice easy listen. Share The Fall - As with the previous track, the lyrics add more continuous variation to this. And there’s more going on here to keep things interesting too. It’s got a greatcoat that pulses along. The vocal just doesn’t quite do it for me. A blend between the style of the previous track and the variation in this one would be fantastic. Watching Windows - There’s a bit more of a dub flavour to this one. It’s got a good groove to it and it’s nice to have something at a different pace. While I do quite like the general feel, it doesn’t completely connect with me for some reason though. I think it’s the vocal, which never really grabs me. I do really enjoy the change in tone and the general swagger of the groove though. Beatbox - Decent little interlude. Doesn’t offer a great deal, but it’s only short. Morse Code - This starts off nicely. Nice simmering pad synths with the morse code beeps flickering in and out. Thankfully the morse code doesn’t extend through the whole track. Again, this is great, has a good beat, a nice bass line, and there’s quite a bit of decent variation and ear candy in the backing, but things are just a bit relentlessly repetitive for focused listening. I do like it, but these things can get a bit tiring. Destination - Another one where things are great, solid beat, quality bass line, some cool horns, but they don’t really offer much in the way of variety. Things are switched in and out, and there is a decent amount of ear candy, but it is very dance-floor orientated. Intro - An intro to the second disc. Crispy and crunchy and not very long. Hi-Potent - This is something a little bit different. Much more melodic over the first minute. The break that comes in drags lazily at things creating a stilted feeling, and then the track proper track kicks in with a really great bass line. When the drum break doubles up, the energy picks up even more. This is a really great track and I’m going to stop complaining about the lack of variety because it’s a bloody drum and bass album. It gets even better when the more melodic elements start dripping back in during the second half of the track. Trust Me - Another really decent start to a track. Skittering DnB drums and a reasonable bass line, but then it doesn’t really do much. This one is really short on interest beyond the basics though and is just a bit boring. Change My Life - There’s a bit more going on here. More harmonic elements thrown in, with a little more variation in general, like the occasional snippets of vocal or horns. Long though. Share The Fall - I like the way this one shuffles through different combinations of breaks early on. That descending bass tone is pretty mean too. Two and a half minutes and we’re actually getting a completely different section. Hurrah! I like the way things come together after the vocal section, and how the drums and bass combine to create a sweeping dynamic that swells across the bar. Decent. Down - Another nice one. Some good quality harmonic content. Some sections where we’re left with some of that content centre stage. Another mean sub bass. Some quality little pieces of editing and ear candy. Ticks all the boxes really. Jazz - This one’s a bit more plodding. I quite like some of the elements, but as a whole it just doesn’t maintain audio interest in the same way. The bass line in particular just isn’t that exciting. Hot Stuff - That slightly lagging break in the intro is cool. Then we’re into more sonically interesting territory. The crumbling pad/melody sounds great. There’s sections where we go into breathy pads that wash over everything too. As a sonic breather from the rest of the album, it’s really interesting and a good break from some of the more frenetic tracks. It’s a shame this wasn’t placed earlier in the album really. And then we get the beat kicking in. There’s some quality editing of the breaks here too, which keep things moving. Ballet Dance - There are some interesting choices of sounds in this one. Things bounce around between various different samples and other tones, while the beats sort of stagger along. The bass line isn’t very interesting and things seem a little disorganised, but there are some interesting ideas in there nonetheless. And after nearly two and a half hours, we’re done. Unless we want to listen to the 5h 14m Anniversary Edition. Yeesh.
Not only is this not my type of music but the album is like 2 hours long. Absolutely unlistenable
Not a huge fan of drum and bass, but this is an exceptional album.
Electronic, drum n bass pioneers. Interesting addition in african drums, overall good instrumentals. Good ideas but hardly a daily listen, would greatly benefit from vocals, 2020s rap? Didn't listen to the whole tracklist. +Heroes
Bit long like but yeah classic of its genre 4.5
Good to listen to different stuff, but definitely not my thing
Another artist I've heard of, but never really heard...except for Heroes. It's not my genre, but I love the use of the double bass to the breakneck drumbeats! Make sure you listen to this with headphones/earbuds. Liked Songs Added: Railing Brown Paper Bag Mad Cat Heroes Share The Fall (Full Vocal Mix)
Not enough drugs to enjoy this.
drum and bass #2
you know what I had a cracking time here so was tempted to give a 4 consider this a very very strong 3
good background music for jenga
Listened to half of it. It was ok. Nothing to object to here.
Look, I didn't listen to the whole thing, but may do yet. I like Roni Size - even more so now that I've heard almost half of this album.
Mid 4 Perfect for working as a software dev
Top techno!!!
Eh, not bad? Could have been a WHOLE LOT shorter. 2.75 rounded up to 3
Definitely not my cup of tea, acoustically. A little all over the place, and although I respect the courage to experiment, just not for me.
Yeeeeeeeeaasaaahh this is some good stuff, creates an instant vibe and keeps you there throughout. Smooth, developing sounds. 4.6/5 Best Song: No Heroes/New Forms
I like it, its obviously a great album, but why does everyone talk about how good it is all the time? There are better drum and bass albums from this time?
Primeiro álbum que ouço na lista, representando o som do fim de 90 como ninguém. Ótimo
Holder seg like godt som Amanda Bynes
Not in my edition of the book! 1997. 1 star. No-one needs multiple 5+ minute drum and bass tracks, including a 9+ minute monstrosity. Fucking awful. Who decided this was essential listening, and can we beat them to death?
This was terrible. There was about a minute or so early on that delved into some jazz type stuff but that was the only part I enjoyed on the whole thing.
not for me
No thanks
I have this album on CD and never got into it back when I bought it. Listening now? I get it.
Nice background music that had me tapping my foot.
Not for me and that's okay.
This is the "i aint reading all that, i'm happy for you, or sorry that happened" meme in album form. I got a few songs before calling it quits. In the spirit of this experiment I'd like to have attempted to listen to the whole thing, but the length on this album is insane. Low 2.
140 minutes for the original?!?!?!?! And ~5 hours for the 20th Anniversary Edition?!?! What in the epic fuck is this? Oh okay, its some drum and bass. At least it shouldn't be taxing to listen to. Brown Paper Bag has my name. Love the jazzy little looping bassline with scattered trippy sci-fi shit overlaid throughout. Loving the vibe of Let's Get it On. After that I sort of lost focus and didn't even try to pay attention to song names (outside of Morse Code, because fuck that high pitched bullshit). I'd say, for what it is (and its a lot), it makes for an okay listen. I found myself pretty worn out by the end of Disc 2. Really unsure how to review this one as I did enjoy a lot of the sounds tucked within, but have no desire to go back. I guess for that, I'll throw a 3 at it and move on.
I really like this album for what it is, especially disc 2. However, it is entirely too long for what it is. Disc 2 is probably closer to a 4, and Disc 1 is squarely a 3.
Knew exactly what I was getting into when I saw it was a 2 hour and 20 minute long DnB album, and I left that album exactly as underwhelmed and upset as I knew I was going to. Just such much repetition throughout the whole first side which I gave a fair chance. But the second side i had to skip around to some songs because I could not do the whole thing. Went to some of the singles to see if I recognized them but did not.
Oh man this sucker is long! Seems only the first two discs are part of the actual album but even that is still over 2 hours. Gonna have to break this bad boy up. Definitely enjoyed parts of it but man they did not need to be as long as they were. By the end it was a job to listen to.
This Drum and Bass album was decent background music for cleaning the house and working. It’d be alright for a dance party. But it just doesn’t feel like something I wanna spend time to dig into. There’s nothing irritating or offputting about it, but also nothing that really excited or intrigued. Both the songs and the album are long and repetitive, but without enough variation or interesting sounds to grab me (though some subtlety changing moments are quite nice). The he’s of double bass as a primary instrument is pretty cool though.
mot my styy
Too many drumbeats
Uninspired and repetitive
Don’t even look at the 20th Anniversary edition. Over 5 hours. Original album was 2.5 hours. Did not attempt. What I did listen to was bad.
Not my Coconut of milk
It's crazy thinking anyone would be into this and I've listened to some weird and actual good stuff in the same genre. Thise critics are mad for choosing this album but hey ho
I just dont understand the target audience for this album, or what im supposed to be doing while listening... Gaming? Eating? Dancing? Sex? Exploring? Gym? Everything just seems worse with it playing, it was repetitive and unoriginal, nothing made me stop and admire the talent...
Me gusta el Drum n' Bass, pero en dosis pequeñas. Un EP es la mejor opción, pero si se trata de un álbum, prefiero una duración más breve que lo que aquí presentan.
I just don't get it, who the fuck is this even for? It's just two straight hours of drumb and bass. Like why would anyone ever listen to this, or in what setting? One or two songs at a time while you're at a rave sure, but an entire two fucking hour album is just the most pointless and meaningless thing ever.
Two words: S**t sandwich. I can’t express how much I hated this album. Maybe because I’m an old man, but I believe I’d have hated it when it came out in the '90s. It’s a lot of samples, drum machine, and nonsense. If it’s your favorite album and you enjoy it, God bless you. As for me and mine, we say blech. And I like a bit of dance or electronic music. Maybe I needed to be in a rave on drugs to really get this album, but sitting in my chair trying to relax, it did the opposite. I started getting annoyed and anxious. I won't listen to this again and regret having done so this time.
ehh más ruidos?
I like drum and bass at my core and I can get down with some techno/EDM stuff - but this album was to long (multiple song over 7 minutes), to repetitive (like most electronic music), and nothing that seems ground breaking (this is from 1997, my neighbor in the mid 90s was playing this stuff for me - maybe even some Roni Size for that matter - but I heard all these drum beats and rhythms in 95/96 and many times over. Aphex Twin was making this shit years earlier, and maybe even slightly better). Did I hate this album, no. Will I listen ever again, that's a bigger no. Nothing jumped out that was reasonable to have this album on the 1001. It is not ground breaking, it is not genre defining, it is not unique, it is not a master class, it is a techno/drum and bass album from the late 90s that sound very similar. If you skip forward on any song you wouldn't even notice because all 4-9 minutes are just a loop of the same beat. 4.2/10 122/1001
this is not it, girl
I listen to albums while working out at the gym. Today, the gym soundtrack must have been titled “The Very Best of the Very Best Soul, Funk, and R&B” because they were playing double shots of Curtis Mayfield, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Sly, Aretha, Ray Charles… it just kept going. Meanwhile, I’m listening to this electronica album. I don’t know whether to say it was a little ok, or a lot not good, but I could not ignore the comparison with the gym playlist… 😬 I took at as a sign and just stopped listening to this album after 3 tracks. Sorry Roni Size… thank you for playing. It’s a 1.
I find drum and bass fun, and I like it when I focus on it for a moment, but it definitely had me watch checking by about 10 mins, which only is 1.5 songs in at that point. And the album is super long. And I didn't really want to listen to more bu the time I got to the end of the New Forms track. It's strange, because I did like it, but I was also done with 75% of the album still in front of me. Maybe if this was in the background instead of me actively listening, I would have enjoyed it more.
Great ambience, cant justify it for anything else
The Good: We get something NEW!!!! The Bad: The forms are illegible… The Ugly: It seems we have to fill them out a million times, all identically… Imagine you have a cousin who always stutters for about 3 minutes when he needs to say the words “one” or “nine”. Now imagine that you have 2 options: listen to him count to 1000 and receive a million bucks, or you can opt to clean the bathroom and get a cheese sandwich as a reward… I’d pick the bathroom and cheese sandwich before I’d ever have to listen to this album again… because this album is like listening to that cousin count to 1000… It’s not that I have a problem with drum and bass, except for the simple fact that, like most EDM related music, I hate it and would only be able to enjoy it if I were in a different state of mind—booze or drugs induced—it’s more that I don’t understand why I need to listen to an album that lasts about 1 hour too long… I am getting the serious suspicion that Dimery is really a sadist trully enjoying putting us through this fucking ordeal! Not my cup of tea… 1 1/2*
Pretty cool
Sounds like a 1990s action movie’s dvd menu music.
3.5
This one is fine, I found myself skipping tracks because of the repetitiveness, but I think that’s part of the music. Maybe it’s better in a club setting or whatever, but I couldn’t sit and just listen. It’s not terrible, but not really my vibe, I think 2 of 5 is ok.
Not bad, but one of the most boring albums I had to endure.
Drum and bass is fun but repetitive. Great to zone out to, hard to listen to intentionally
One of the top reviews for this albums says “Listening to this entire album felt like having a panic attack in the back row of an international flight.” The funny thing is I did exactly this (minus the panic attack) and really liked it. The drums and bass were hypnotic and I kept thinking I wish I had the skills to do that even on a drum machine. The drums evolved throughout the album it felt like and put me in a trance that helped me escape my reality of sitting on a plane. I feel like a plane, actually, is one of the best places you could be to listen to an album like this. You’re in that enclosed space and just lock in to the enclosing music. Debated a 5 for this but if I listened to this while working or some other more stimulating atmosphere I probably wouldn’t have liked it as much
I can imagine why some folks would like this but I can't say it's for me. Kind of felt like I was in a matrix nightmare which I guess is cool.
Entirely too long
I love this Jungle/DnB type stuff but I recognize it’s not for everyone. Some songs definitely dragged a bit too.
New Forms and Heroes are fine, but aside from those tracks, not a very pleasant listen. It just sounds like a bad acid trip or a worse version of the Axiom Verge soundtrack.
2/10 Not so offensive to my ears but I couldn’t get through it
Ok
Zero Points! Crap in my ears
Not my style
2.5
Was expecting just a regular 90s electronic album, which I like. I wasn’t expecting that a majority of the songs would have vocals on them. Makes it stand out amongst the crowd.
At first I was thinking it was fine for the background, but God it's SO long and SO tedious. No one needs 90 minutes of quick high hats and snares. It's like a soundtrack to a 1990s technothriller chase scene except the scene just keeps going and you're watching some computer nerd ride a bike REAL FAST for an hour and a half. Ugh.
More techno kinda stuff
nah man, lifetime in the dungeon for this one Will I listen to again: 0%
the 20th anniversary edition of New Forms is over 5 hours long. 5 hours of repetitive noise that changes every 5 to 12 minutes. Definitely not my thing.
Too weird. 1/5
I love DNB so frickin' much even if half the tracks sound exactly the same
gives anxiety
It’s not a genre I’m super familiar with, but I am pretty open minded (unless we are talking about shoegaze) that said, this album was pretty repetitive and boring. I think I would have been alright to not listen to this one before I die. I will never play this again.
Started out promising and went steadily downhill from there. Which is such a shame because I would love this list to mix up the genres a bit more, we haven't heard enough electronica in this challenge so far. This is scraping the barrel though, there are heaps better drum and bass albums.
Coolt. Tror att jag gillar det mer än jag erkänner för att jag inte vill bli någon flummig DnB-kille. En stark trea. Borde kanske vara en fyra. Det får en fyra för att sticka ut lite.
i opted to listen only to the first disc of what Can and Has been issued with up to four or five discs, thankfully rym has my back by vindicating the 1 disc 78 minute uk tracklist as its primary release, thanks rym! i prob couldnt have done a whole other disc cuz this Was v exhausting lol, but kind of rules spectacularly. a big soup of (sometimes quite patient and elongated) dnb breakbeats that grabs a bunch of delightful cinnamonspicy basslines from jazz recordings, and i can imagine some harmonic/structural influence from the genre as well. occasional hip hop vocals and influence also seep in from time to time, but all of the Musical Objects on here are constructed with those ingredients as the base, upon which a variety of comfy liquid elements are poured. not sure when id ever listen to this completely front to back again but id love to come back to the long tracks, all of which could have gone on a few minutes longer without objection from me. electronic music is not my forte, i feel like i missed out on establishing a strong relationship with it during my most developmental years, but i loved this a lot and it didnt even feel that alien considering its not rly a musical vocab that i have a strong intuitive grasp of. i do wish edm was more of an albums genre!
Just terrible all around. Felt like a distraught cacophony of sounds
If I had 30 minutes left to live and I wanted it to feel like 2 hours then I might listen to this again. I have no grasp on the genre to really get anything out of it. Rating: 1.2
Too long just too long. Who thought that 140 minutes is the perfect length for an album. Well frankly its not. Most tracks would be better if they were a lot shorter. some of them shouldnt even be included in this monstrosity. Too repetitive. It could have been a nice 7.5/10 instead it's just a 6/10. Good as a background noise, gets repetitive when you focus on it
I actually like Drum and Bass, but this is quite annoying.
< the Beatles Why is English electronic music so bad and why is this album on here at all
zwei bis drei
Not sure what this is doing here. Relentless boring beat but not tiresome enough for one star.
I remember hearing this back in the day. Forgot about this recording. At the time it sounded very advanced for it's time. There were some others out there, like the Ninja Tune artists, but this recording was certainly ahead of the curve. Some acid jass, techno, electronic, hip-hop influnce this recording. I can still listen today and it takes me back to the late 1990's, before Y2K.
What is this shit?
It was ok, I'm not much of a drum & bass fan but I didn't mind this. It was listenable. Not worth a repeat spin though. A low 3.
whenever I would just listen to the opening of couple of the songs I would whisper "smack my bitch up" and it would fit perfect, but then the actual song would start and dash my enjoyment. Drum and Bass just sucks and this whole experience did too. Thats all.
Regardless of how the songs start… if you jump to the middle of the song… 9 times out of 10 they are identical. “Watching Windows” was okay but otherwise this was NOT an album for me
As a lyrics-focused listener, this is not my bag.
1 stern
fun jamming
Interesting, chill. It was great when it had its moments, but it seemed repetitive, especially considering how long the album was. I'd bit been exposed to drums and bass much previously, so I'm grateful for the exposure.
If Electronic is your thing I’m guessing you really dig this. Never heard of Roni size although a fan of the pasta. I’d unplug.
Drum and bass meets Groove Armada
Absolutely not losing to a five hour album. Two stars for the effort.
Nah
Nothing I would listen to very often, but there's nothing bad about it.
Unfortunately, this really didn't do much for me. Most of the tracks were individually OK, but the album itself was overall just too long and specifically-styled for me to say I enjoyed it. Considering that it's probably much more appreciated by its intended audience, I'll try to be objective. There were some interesting and cool aspects to the album. The drums were relentless and impressive. The sounds added to the mix in a not-overbearing way, but still with some complexity. Different instruments showed up throughout to add new elements to the compositions. The vocals were sparing, though some tracks had them all the way through. The artists clearly put a lot of time and energy into crafting the tracks the way they wanted. But, I just can't see how the length of the album and songs is really justified by the content. I listened to the full length album (22 tracks running close to 2 hours and 20 minutes) and it was a slog. All of it was based on the persistent drum beat with some additional parts added on, so there wasn't much diversity in the music experience itself. Most of the songs were 6+ minutes long with several surpassing 8 minutes. Even when I thought I was starting to like a track, it just kept going until it wore me out of it. I did find the last section of songs to be more diverse and engaging than the first block, but it was far too late at that point for me to appreciate them to the full extent I might've otherwise. Had I heard some of the songs on their own, I probably would've enjoyed them much more than I did in the context of the full album. For example, Hi-Potent got me back into it a little bit; I could see myself coming back to that and a couple others in certain contexts. But there's almost no way I could see myself re-listening to this entire album again, unless it's to have on in the background while I do something else. Evaluating the album as a whole, it gets a low rating. Even though there were parts and tracks I liked, I have to consider the work in its entirety. I would probably have a different opinion if the album was about 75% shorter. Overall: 1.8/5
Liked the energy of the first several songs. Second half of the album wasn't as good.
Damn this is some boring repetitive ass shit
Zuhause, Heidenheim, Deutschland. 78min. meines Lebens verschwendet.
All the same - not really for me.
This one felt average. Nothing too memorable, but not an attack on my ears. Doubt I'll revisit again, but it wasn't terrible to listen to.
Meh, not my thing
Electronica isn't really my thing, so I'm not qualified to judge this one on its bonifides in that regard. This one kept my attention well enough, kind of a chill vibe with pulsating rhythms, which is kinda fun. It all kinda blends together for me though, which isn't entirely bad I suppose, just not terribly interesting.
wow terrible, it's actively annoying to listen to. 2 stars because I couldn't do any better
Spotify lists 13 tracks but I heard an hour and 18 minutes of the same song. Good background music while using Excel but not something im going to revisit.
Sterile, synthetic and pretty dull overall, plus dated. Some sound effects are stupid and the "singing" suspect, mostly. The chiller/trancier moments are best. But overall, one simply can't muster much enthusiasm.
1. Railing - 7 One thing that caught me out was the seamless transition into track two at the end. Solid D&B with rap. Very British but unlike other artists at times the D&B is not overly heavy. 2. Brown Paper Bag - 8 Much slower vibe to start than the first one before taking on the full D&B vibes. Not too bad. Slow cooker which I usually like. Reminds me of the Twisted Metal 3 OST. 3. New Forms (feat. Bahamadia) - 6 Vocals move with no meaning and seem random. Beat and tempo are good but this could have probably been way better vocally. 4. Let's Get It On - 8 Classic D&B. If you were to encapsulate what D&B is, this song is it. Solid beats, solid tempo. Just chill and enjoy. 5. Digital - 7 I have the same issues with this song that I did with New Forms, but to a slightly lesser effect. Beat on this track is excellent. 6. Matter of Fact - 6 Solid song but it can get lost on the listen. Beat starts good and the track really mellows out by the end. Feels like filler 7. Mad Cat - 9 Much quicker tempo and really good outro into the next song. Another one that encapsulates both R&B and what made the 90s such a peak for music. Best track so far. 8. Heroes - 6 Pretty baseline song. Vocals are ok. Beat is ok. Nothing about it strikes me as anything special. 9. Share the Fall (Full Vocal Mix) - 5 Vocally ok. Instrumentally ok. Just felt like an average song compared to what else is on the album and I usually love vocal mixes. 10. Watching Windows - 4 Would have been way better if it had the same rap style as the first 2 songs or left an instrumental. 11. Beatbox - 2 Complete change on the album. It's not bad beatboxing but it's such a tone change it feels completely out of place on the album. 12. Morse Code - 5 The song isn't bad and the morse code undertones work well but the beginning is only those tones and it's not pleasant on the ears. 13. Destination - 8 A return to what the album is about. Very good mix of sounds with a constant but very pleasing beat. 14. Intro (Roni Size Reprazent / New Forms) - N/A A filler track to set the tone. Less than a minute. Not meant to be rated to be fair to it. 15. Hi-Potent - 9 Excellent track. Changes pace well, beat is nice, and overall a great D&B track. Best track on the album so far. 16. Trust Me - 7 Solid D&B track. Good beat, good undertones. Just classic 90s sounding D&B. 17. Change My Life - 8 Another solid track. Felt like this could have been a track from JSRF back in the day. Enjoyable piece of music. 18. Share The Fall - 6 Much better than the vocal mix. 19. Down - 8 Another solid D&B track. Really good beat and overtone vocals. Very enjoyable. 20. Jazz - 7 Solid song. Good beat, nice instrumentals in the background. Another all around good D&B track. 21. Hot Stuff - 9 Very good track to listen to. Upbeat with some all around solid sound and a great beat. Right up there with the best of the album so far. 22. Ballet Dance - 8 Great track to end the album on. A really great conclusion to an otherwise enjoyed album. The mix of strings in the song works so well here as does the jazz potions to really bring about why D&B is such a fun genre to listen to when done right. In Conclusion: Drum and Bass didn't really come into the main fold in my opinion until the mid 00s but artists like Chase & Status have New Forms and Roni Size / Reprazent to thank because it laid the foundation for what Drum and Bass is and experimented in an age where dance music was creating a whole new wave of music that took underground clubs in the US and a lot of the night scene in the UK and EU by storm. Albums like this are a classic for what they have done for modern music. Musically the album is put together well with a lot of light to slightly heavy beats, all with tracks of multiple over or undertones that help emphasize the experimental nature of what Drum and Bass was in given the time. I did not like the more popular songs that were released as singles but things like Lo-Fi, modern Drum and Bass, and Dubstep can find inspiration in their roots in this album. Average Rating of Songs: 6.8 Within a 5-Point Scale: 3.4 Rounded Down: 3 stars
I got a shitty Drum and Base album 2 days in a row wtf is this Best Song: N/A Rating: 2/10 (DNF) Stars: 1/5
Ok
What is this! 97 drum and bass!!? Nice. Dude the bass line progression was dope on Brown Paper Bag. Ill finish listening tomorrow.
Pure euphoria while listening to this album. I don't care it's 2 and a half hours long, this is the DEFINITIVE sound of DnB. Nobody else even comes close to this masterpiece. The ultimate thinking album, or album you put on while working
Kinda vibey, but so easy to ignore. Throw it on for your 90s-themed cocktail party.
Far out, didn't realise how long this was. Didn't listen to all of it. It was cool instrumental with some electric feel, nothing amazing tho for me.
6/10. It's a chill electronic album. It's not mind-blowing, and it's certainly not something that is crucial to listen to, but it's chill. Alright, screw it. What does Robert Dimery see in this album? It's nothing special.
No.
I could not get into this album. I tried it a few times, but just never got very far. Not for me.
Total load of crap
Not my vibe but has some cool moments
Ended up enjoying this one. Nice background music - upbeat.
It’s dope. I really like the drum and bass
Much too long - some interesting sounds here and there but gets boring quick.
why
Better than it should be. Repeative at times but good for an electronic album from the bri'ish list.
2.5
Okay so you know the latter half of the opening theme song for the Powerpuff Girls, the one with the little drum breakdown before the main motif starts playing? This entire album, and I mean ENTIRE album sounded like all the rough drafts to that mini little drum interlude. This album is not for those who get anxious from repeating sounds/noises, because there's about 8-9 noises in totality and they get slightly rearranged from track to track.
i don’t need to listen to a whole album of this
fine, not one of my favorites of the electronic albums we've heard. i did identify a tinashe sample in the wild though which is fun.
Not my style, and it wore out its welcome with an hour and a half left. Were it a bit shorter I might could justify a second star, but as is I just really, really did not care for this listening experience.
Repetitive, dated, boring and way too long. This is definitely not my jam.
Feels very experiMENTAL. Heyyyyyyooooo.
Boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants and boots and pants Good energy
NEXT
Ugh….I think every British album has made this list! Good and bad! This one is bad!
Could have been worse…allegedly
I was expecting to hate this because of its length and genre, but it was surprisingly varied and engaging.
I enjoyed this. Nice mix of jazz and hip hop styles.
Interesting electronica, I enjoyed it.
MASSIVE
A boring Drum & Bass album from a band I've never heard of and which sounds very similar to every other Drum & Bass album I've ever heard.
3/10
This is perfectly fine drum and bass, but why does every album in this genre need to be two hours long? Favorite songs were Share The Fall, and Watching Windows.
It's pretty generic drum and bass so I'm unsure how this is an essential album to listen to before I die. Meh.
This is an artsy honor student of drum & bass — ambitious, innovative, and so eager to prove itself. “Railing” and “Brown Paper Bag” are great, and “Digital” feels like espresso with a side of amphetamines. “Trust Me” spirals into some truly chaotic territory and by track 14, the boots-and-cats-and-boots-and-cats all start to blur together. A respectful nod from the sidelines, but I’m not enrolling in the full D&B curriculum.
This was actually pretty good. It's got some genuinely interesting beats in there. I thought I would struggle to work while listening, but it's on the more chill side of DnB. Some of the songs are very long, but they didn't feel like they dragged particularly. I like the bassy jazzy beats in particular. 3.5 rounded down.
There are some good songs in here that feel quite ahead of their time, but overall struggled to get through as it’s a bit of a slog
Some proper decent beats. Share the Fall, Heroes, the brilliant Brown Paper Bag...all sounding as fresh now as 20 years ago.
This really was way too long
4/10 I don't listen to drum & bass (like at all) but I really tried to put my prejudice aside for this - not sure how successful I was. IT'S SO LONG, no chance of me listening to 5 hours of abso anything. I can respect that this is an iconic drum & bass album, some parts are undeniably groovy but it's just not for me songs added to playlist: - Brown paper bag - New forms
never heard this drum & bass album, it's OK, but not something I'd come back to