Tune Of The Day – Foul Play – Finest Illusion (Illegal Mix)
We try to stay clear of making huge anthems such as this one a ‘TOTD’ but it’s Friday, I’m in a good mood and cannot get these vocals out of my head.
Foul Play were a trio consisting of John Morrow, Steve Bradshaw (who sadly passed away in 1998) and the highly influential Steve Gurley.
They started life releasing two very sought after EP’s on their own label Oblivion and were quickly picked up by Moving Shadow boss Rob Playford.
As remix masters they were responsible for edits of Omni Trio’s anthemic Renegade Snares and Feel Better, as well as Hyper On Experience’s ‘Lord Of The Null Lines’. Arguably the popularity of these three remixes surpassed that of the originals.
But they also created amazing tracks of their own, none bigger than the likes of Open Your Mind and the Mary J Blige sampling ‘Being With You‘, as well as the ever-elusive and ridiculously expensive ‘Drowning In Her‘ under their 4 Horseman alias.
Today’s track though was a bit of a gamble in two ways.
Finest Illusion, released in 1993, like many tracks of that era bridged the gap between jungle and all out hardcore.
But whilst everyone else was welcoming the ‘darkcore’ styles littered with gangsta hip hop or ragga samples, Foul Play went in the opposite direction and went for happy vibes with uplifting synths and that hardcore trademark the chipmunk vocal.
This is where the problem began, the vocals used were taken from an excellent funk / rare groove act called The SOS Band, the track sampled was the equally great ‘The Finest‘.
As quickly as Moving Shadow sister label and shop Section 5 released the 12″, it appears someone from The SOS Band camp may have caught wind of it and it was quickly withdrawn from record shops the country over.
It then reappeared, using the same metalwork master, as a black label release with no label or reference to any of the material on the wax. You will now be hard pressed to find a copy of either release for less than 60-70 pound!
The original mix was well received and got a lot of air play across the London pirates and as such Foul Play re-created the track, without the vocal and Moving Shadow did the rest; releasing it as the as a B-side known as the ‘Legal Mix‘.
Enough chat, enjoy some vintage hardcore…
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.
