History Part 2: 93-96 The Rough And The Smooth

By 1996, when this DJ DB-mixed compilation came out, drum & bass was in transition. L.T.J. Bukem and his crowd had smoothed jungle out to something mellow and oceanic; Grooverider and the crew at the No U-Turn label were turning it into something harsher and more martial. DB's first great achievement on this record is to represent the mellow style of drum & bass (as well as ragga and jump-up flavors) while still hinting at where the music was going. Alex Reece's loping "Pulp Fiction" is here, as is Bukem's woozy "Horizons." But so is Rufige Kru's (a.k.a. Goldie) proto-techstep "Fury" and Renegade's self-explanatory "The Terrorist." DB's second great achievement is to make these opposites attract, somehow turning this into a narrative rather than a jumble. Pretty soon after, jungle dance floors went their separate ways, and no one had to take this kind of risk again. --Jeff Salamon