A Guy Called Gerald - Black Secret Technology vs. Goldie - Timeless

Timeless (always the double LP version for me) would get my vote quickly but am quite interested in which version of BST stands above (presumably the one on bandcamp?). Can confirm that my CD copy is very tinny and bass lacking.

I've probably listened to LTJ Bukem's Producer 01 the most, come to think of it.

I've never managed to crack Black Secret Technology despite having had it in my collection for years. Will give it another go.

btw i would like to make it clear that anyone who would dare diss "you & me" itt is dead to me

tuomas debunked this a few years ago i guess, but i have the 2008 version of bst and i have never thought "oh this lacks bass." it is still a really weird-sounding record though

(feature not flaw imo)

The only version of BST that sounds worse than the others is the second mid-90s CD version with the weird pink-ish cover. All the versions with the original purple-ish artwork are fine, though the arrangements have always sounded a bit quiet compared to most D&B even from that era, so a lot of people keep waiting/looking for a louder version that does not and will never exist.

"You and Me" is lovely.

I think there's really no filler on the single-disc version of Timeless. I would have once put "State of Mind" and "Sea of Tears" in that category, but i'm older and wiser now.

Thinking about the D&B rankings on that Fact 90s list again. Remove the surrounding noise and it's:

BTS > Icons' 'Emotions with Intellect' > Timeless > DJ Krust's 'Genetic Manipulation' EP > Photek's 'Modus Operandi' > T-Power's 'Self-Evident Truth of an Intuitive Mind' > Source Direct's 'Exorcise the Demons.

I mean this is Fact, so go figure, but I think this ranking says a lot about weird retrospective views of 90s D&B.

Like, that Icons album is fine, but just feels really surplus-to-requirements for me, and elevating it feels like a sop to a 'real heads know' notion of the genre that gets things entirely the wrong-way-about - like, yes, the album was unavailable for ages, but arguably that's more because no one particularly needed a pretty and intricate but personality-free mid-90s jungle album at a time when the music was already pivoting to head in another direction. It's actually very much the ambition and risk of 'bad taste' that infects albums like Timeless and New Forms that makes them so valuable in the context of a genre that was primarily dancefloor/singles/DJ-mix focused.

I've come around to liking 'You and Me' and the other tracks I dismissed back in 2012 (apart from 'Adrift'), would definitely vote for Timeless today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FR0thRsgMY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7w-grvkXtQ

The only version of BST that sounds worse than the others is the second mid-90s CD version with the weird pink-ish cover. All the versions with the original purple-ish artwork are fine, though the arrangements have always sounded a bit quiet compared to most D&B even from that era, so a lot of people keep waiting/looking for a louder version that does not and will never exist.

I dunno, as I mentioned upthread, to me the 2008 remaster sounds pretty much exactly like he added some loudness to earlier version.

Also, if you have both the 1995 version (purple cover) and the 1996 version (pinkish cover), does the latter one really sound different? I only own the pinkish 1996 disc and 2008 remastered disc, but I've always thought the pink 1996 version is simply a reissue of the 1995 version with a tweaked tracklist, not a remaster?

Manchester store takes a side.

https://boomkat.com/products/timeless-25-year-anniversary-edition

(last paragraph of the product description is what I refer to btw.)

These are the VIPs and mixes on the third disc.

Timeless (Instrumental)
Kemistry (VIP Mix)
Angel (Grooverider Re-edit)
State Of Mind (VIP Mix)
Still Life (VIP Mix)(The Latino Dego In Me)
Saint Darkie
Inner City Life (4 Hero's Part 2 'Leave the planet mix')
[re:jazz] - Inner City Life
Sensual

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimelesssssssssssssssssss