I think the tricky thing about a thread like this is that for me, it's not always about individual tracks. I've heard sets in the past, got hold of the vinyl, and found it's nothing without the mix. That's always been the great thing about D&B - the fact you could fade something in, cut it, layer it...
As I was saying earlier on, you need a mix to fully appreciate some of these tunes.
My best friend gave me a Bukem mixtape back in '98 that simply had 'LTJ Bukem' on it on a low budget sticky label. For the past ten years I've searched high and low to find out just what it was - and have become increasingly reluctant to play the tape as it's started to degrade from my playing it so much.
The internet wasn't what it was back then, but I decided to go on a mission today to find it again. It started with a lyric "Brothers of the 70’s we love to get down. And if you do come on and join us", which put me onto this page: http://www.discogs.com/Alex-Reece-Als-Records-Volume-2/release/178155 so I finally found that one of my favourite tracks from this mixtape was Alex Reece's 'Street Player', and it was only because some helpful type had posted that the commercial release didn't include this vocal sample that Google linked to it - which was lucky, as there was literally only one Google result for it.
This may not mean much to some, but I've spent the past eleven years looking for this mixtape - it pretty much defined the era for me. I can't believe I've finally tracked it down... You know when you hear the first few bars of a song and you know you've found it - shit the bed that's a great feeling...
As I was saying earlier on, you need a mix to fully appreciate some of these tunes.
My best friend gave me a Bukem mixtape back in '98 that simply had 'LTJ Bukem' on it on a low budget sticky label. For the past ten years I've searched high and low to find out just what it was - and have become increasingly reluctant to play the tape as it's started to degrade from my playing it so much.
The internet wasn't what it was back then, but I decided to go on a mission today to find it again. It started with a lyric "Brothers of the 70’s we love to get down. And if you do come on and join us", which put me onto this page: http://www.discogs.com/Alex-Reece-Als-Records-Volume-2/release/178155
so I finally found that one of my favourite tracks from this mixtape was Alex Reece's 'Street Player', and it was only because some helpful type had posted that the commercial release didn't include this vocal sample that Google linked to it - which was lucky, as there was literally only one Google result for it.
Bit more searching for "LTJ Bukem mixtape Alex Reece Street Player" and eventually found out this was a Love of Life mixtape from 1996, and tracked down a low quality MP3 here:
http://www.drumandbass.ru/mix/Phlorid/LTJ%20Bukem%20-%20Studio%20Mix%20@%20Love%20Of%20Life%20(Side%20A)%201996.mp3 (let me know if the link doesn't work, because I needed to enter a 3-digit code to be able to download it).
And here's side 2:
http://www.drumandbass.ru/mix/Phlorid/LTJ%20Bukem%20-%20Studio%20Mix%20@%20Love%20Of%20Life%20(Side%20B)%201996.mp3
This may not mean much to some, but I've spent the past eleven years looking for this mixtape - it pretty much defined the era for me. I can't believe I've finally tracked it down... You know when you hear the first few bars of a song and you know you've found it - shit the bed that's a great feeling...