Right on this position here. Straight ahead, in between the trees – there it is again. Watch – straight ahead, off my flashlight there, sir. There it is.
A tune of the day I think everyone will know.
Released in 1995, U.F.O. / Rings Around Saturn must surely be one of the greatest double A-sides in drum and bass history.
From around the time Photek really started to come in to his own; moving away from the choppy, amen fueled jungle sound, and producing a more clinical, refined drum and bass style. This was the style he would eventually be known for, and go on to perfect on releases such as The Hidden Camera and the incredible Ni-Ten-Ichi-Ryu.
One of the most recognisable aspects of U.F.O. is the recording sampled for the intro and throughout. The sample was taken from a real life U.F.O. sighting known as the Rendlesham Forest incident, which took place in 1980 in Suffolk just near RAF Woodbridge.
At the time, RAF Woodbridge was being used by the US Air Force. The apparent U.F.O. was spotted by several members of the air base, but it wasn’t until a recording from that night known as The Halt Tape was leaked to the public, that the incident made front page news across UK, with it being described in the nations tabloids as the ‘UK’s Roswell’. You can hear the full version of the tape here – samples that Photek used are at 00:32, 00:59, 02:24.
Every bit as eerie as the tape recording it samples, it remains to this day one of Photek’s most popular and enduring tracks. The B side isn’t too shabby either…
About Law
Main author and creator of Drumtrip. I have been listening to and mixing drum and bass in its various forms since 1998. Drumtrip was designed to celebrate the glory years between 1991 and 1997.
