Goldie

Timeless

London

Released: Monday 20 December 1999

Goldie was deservedly the first crossover star to emerge from the jungle/drum & bass underground scene, although credit for this astonishing debut album must also go to his collaborator and engineer, Rob Playford. This music is almost three-dimensional--the soundtrack to some undreamt of, heavenly computer game--and the cavernous dub breaks, rapid-fire rhythms and morphing twists and turns of "Jah The Seventh Seal" and "This Is A Bad" is intoxicating. Its centrepiece, however, is the epic, three-part title track featuring Diane Charlemagne's vocals; its all-enveloping rhythms and shadowy synths take the listener on a palpable musical descent into the darkest horrors of inner city life. Drum & bass was quickly subsumed to become the lingua franca of TV adverts before dropping from fashion, yet Timeless stands the test, genuinely living up to its name. --David Stubbs

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