*Artist: Goldie
*Album: Timeless
*Year: 1995
*Genre: Drum & Bass/Jungle
*Country: United Kingdom
*Format: mp3@CBR320kbps
*Size: 260MB

Tracklist:
1-1 Timeless (I. Inner City Life, II. Pressure, III. Jah) (21:01)
1-2 Saint Angel (7:14)
1-3 State Of Mind (7:05)
1-4 This Is A Bad (5:56)
1-5 Sea Of Tears (12:03)
1-6 Jah The Seventh Seal (6:36)
2-1 A Sense Of Rage (Sensual V.I.P. Mix) (7:05)
2-2 Still Life (10:50)
2-3 Angel (4:56)
2-4 Adrift (8:29)
2-5 Kemistry (6:48)
2-6 You & Me (7:04)
2-7 Inner City Life (Baby Boy's Edit) (3:34)
Remix - Photek
2-8 Inner City Life (Rabbit's Short Attention Span Edit) (4:20)
Remix - Rabbit In The Moon
******************************
Total playing time: 1:53:01

LastFM

Extended info
Review by monkeyboy2

This is the debut album from dance music pioneer Goldie and released in 1995 when he was 30 years old. Previous to the release of the album, Goldie had been a graffiti artist and DJ, among other things. Upon its release, Timeless became a hugely influential album and cemented Goldie's reputation in the music scene. In fact, despite never releasing anything half as good ever since, this is a reputation he maintains - solely on the basis of this one album.

The reason for its success is its original combination of breakbeats, prominent basslines, soul music-style female vocals, and orchestral keyboards. All these are fused in a way that is common today but was new and fresh way, way back in '95. As well as the attempt to create something original, the execution of the album is superb. The brilliant song-writing of Goldie and the other producers (most notably Rob Playford) meant that this album had a wider appeal than just the dance-music scene and went into the UK album charts at number 7 upon its release. In contrast to many other dance music albums, this is very much what one would consider a 'proper' album, an intelligent, literary album, and an album that is designed to be listened to, and not necessarily to be danced to (in fact, you'd be hard pressed to in many place).

For many, this album is all about the eponymous opening track, Timeless. This is a 21- minute epic in three movements that, as I understand it, attempts to recreate the feelings on living in the inner city (the first movement is called Inner City Life, also released as a single). You'd be forgiven for thinking that sounds like a concept that could only produce some truly horrible sounds but you'd be almost entirely wrong, as there is a whole array of emotions portrayed here, and while there are long moments of tension, there is also release. Yes, this is an astonishing piece of music. I mentioned that the keyboards on this album are orchestral and in fact this whole piece I would describe as orchestral - and I don't use that term lightly. This is very much a fluid and complex musical journey, where repeated themes emerge, diverge and reform throughout, linking different phases of light and dark emotion through technical brilliance. If you get into this, you'll be totally surrounded by the sounds of it. It completely fills all the spaces in the room and in your head, oftentimes with the spaces between the sounds themselves. The first time I heard this, the drum beats sounded like water droplets and the fracturing effects were like giant crystals shattering in a void. I'll say it again; this is an astonishing piece of music.

The rest of the album is also excellent, but I will refrain from boring you with a pointless track-by-track run-through. Suffice to say, there are plenty of awesome beats and basslines, sound effects and female vocals throughout (by Diane Charlemagne and Lorna Harris). Some of the tracks are proper old school drum and bass (check out track 7 - Kemistry - and try to not move like a raver, I dare you) and others are really chilled out mood pieces. I still love them all and if I listen to the album at all, I'll listen to it in its entirety.

This album, appropriately enough, has aged exceptionally well and, apart from a couple of moments on some tracks (I'm talking to you, intro to and vocals on track 8), remains a brilliant listen for something that was once so very cutting edge (the bleeding-edge of music usually ages as well as a cheap cheese).

As you can get copies of this for next to nothing now, I'd recommend this masterful album to anyone who likes electronic or dance music. For any one else, I'd probably give it a miss unless you're someone who enjoys good music no matter what form it takes. So I'd say if you're into something like mental-era Miles Davis, or complex metal like Lightning Bolt then there's a chance you'd also appreciate it. Something just struck me - I would describe this album as Brian Eno with some fat beats.


Классика drum & bass музыки.


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