We may well have been drunk when it was mixed together but most of the set is very passable.
What I love about this selection is nearly all of these tunes were purchased on Christmas eve for a pittance.
Around 2002 (we were 16/17 years old) on our travels around the local estate in the county town of Hertford we came across an individual desperate for some immediate cash in exchange for about 50 old hardcore and jungle tracks

Back then I wasn’t quite as clued up on my jungle history as today but Wheeler duly obliged and relieved the guy of his tunes, if I remember it was all for about £30.00 or so, a paltry sum of money for any batch of 50 records.

It was only a couple of years later we realised that value of some of these tracks, as well as over half the tunes featured in this mix, we also found the black press of Foul Play – Finest Illusion (for some reason I played the legal mix here) which I have seen fetch three figures.
One of my since personal favourites too; the Nookie produced Man Like Pennywise – Mystery, which is also worth a few quid, as well as the original press of Bukem – Atlantis and a fair few Moving Shadow bits.

One of the records had a logo on it we were already well familiar with, and it was that of local record shop Parliament Music which had been opened by Omni Trio around a decade earlier. Unbeknownst to me at the time Parliament ran their own label in the early 90s with Omni Trio heading it up and releasing several pre Moving Shadow tracks. The track in question was the excellent piano led slice of hardcore Pianism, under his Splice alias.

With eBay and online retailers you don’t get too many of these stories anymore, with people often far more enlightened about the value of their black plastic discs but I will always remember the day we came across that guy.

To the mix…

Law b2b Wheeler – Hardcore and Jungle Classics Mix by The Law on Mixcloud

1.) Splice (Omni Trio) – Pianism – Parliament Records
2.) Urban Takeover – Some Justice – Urban Shakedown
3.) Liquid – Sweet Harmony – XL
4.) 2 Bad Mice – Bomb Scare – Moving Shadow
5.) Sonz Of A Loop Da Loop Era – Peace & Loveism (4 Hero Remix) – Surburban Base?
6.) Blame – The Music Takes You (2 Bad Mice Remix) – Shadow
7.) Pennywise – Mystery – Symphony Sounds
8.) LTJ Bukem – Atlantis (I Need You) – Good Looking
9.) Omni Trio – Rollin’ Heights (Foul Play Remix) – Shadow
10.) Foul Play – Finest Illusion (Legal Mix) – Moving Shadow
11.) Nookie – Give A Little Love (N.H.S Remix) – Absolute Records
12.) Norty But Nice – Give It To Me Baby – Norty But Nice
13.) LTJ Bukem – A Couple Of Beats – Good Looking
14.) Goldie – Terminator 2 – Reinforced
15.) Doc Scott – Drumz VIP – Metalheads

We would love to hear your stories of cheap and bargainous jungle purchases….

The post Law & Wheeler – Jungle Hardcore Mix – November 2006 appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.

Urban Takeover, one of Drum and Bass’s biggest borderline commercial labels of the mid 90’s, had its biggest success with Mickey Finn and Aphrodite’s ‘Bad Ass’ which featured on not only every top earning DJ’s sets during 1995 but has sinced graced many top 40 chart compilations. The label paved a way for the now commonly known term ‘Jump Up’ and made Aphrodite’s track mark production techniques a familiar sound with DJ’s and ravers alike. His style was mimicked by others but it was clear that Aphrodite was the only real master of his own sound. Clever sampling combined with the trademark bassline of the mid 90’s was a winning formula for the label but as Drum & Bass continued to evolve the longevity of the label was potentially being compromised.

The DJ Slip remix of Man of Steal by Vinyl Syndicate was a firm favourite worldwide and features the commonly sampled Superman theme. This obtained commercial success to a degree and still features on compilations to this day. Various attempts to rekindle the success were attempted by way of remixes although the only worthwhile attempt featured on the G.L.O.B.A.L Takeover LP.

Although Urban Takeover continue to release records, the real golden era for this label was between 1995 and 1999 – after the year 2000, in my opinion, the label lost its identity. Due to the rapidly changing styles of Drum & Bass and the demise of jump up as it was once known, previously unheard of producers joined the label in order to attempt to bring new ideas and styles to the masses.

With the History of Urban Takeover series reaching local record stores and chain giants alike in 2005 this was a sign that the label was either recouping losses or simply trying to reach the new generation. Was this a little too late? Who knows, but whatever is said about Urban Takeover you cannot argue that 16 or so releases from the label played a massive part in roots of Drum and Bass as we know it.

If your into this kind of Drum & Bass then please do check out my Soundcloud at http://soundcloud.com/section23
Jamie

The post Tune of the day: Mickey Finn & Aphrodite – Drop Top Caddy appeared first on Drumtrip - Hardcore / Oldskool Jungle Blog.