PFM – Producer 02

Going to point to the System-J review about my frustration about the edits here, the frustration on how GLR are managing their old tracks (the full versions barely available anywhere) but also that I have a pet hate with the edit of Love & Happiness here, pitched down just a bit to make the original sample sound like polystyrene scratching just beside my ears. It's a track that I always loved, probably my favourite GLR release, so I find it really frustrating.

PFM (AKA: "Progressive Future Music") made some of the most radically beautiful music to emerge from the heyday of atmospheric drum 'n bass in the mid '90s, and the majority of their highlights are collected here in one form or another. There's a depth and serenity to these productions that makes a nonsense of the supposed opposition between club music and ambient, but it's PFM's knack for plucking achingly pretty melodies out of the meditative ether that really raises these nine tunes to a tier far above the avalanche of interchangeable "ambient jungle" from this era.

The only disappointment is how few of these tracks are included complete and untampered with. The two biggest club hits - The Western and One & Only - were given 2002 remixes to bring them up to playable tempos for modern DJs, and while both remixes are absolutely fine, I can't help but miss the originals. Elsewhere, the likes of For All Of Us, The Mystics and the sublime Aphex Twin-sampling Danny's Song are cruelly curtailed from their full vinyl running time by up to 3 or 4 minutes, which feels especially unfair given there's a whole 16 minutes of unused running time on the CD.

Most of these tracks have since been re-released digitally on the likes of Beatport in their full forms, but Danny Bukem's protectiveness over the digital rights for his label's catalogue means it's still an almighty faff compiling them into a handy playlist - most still aren't even on Youtube! - and so this compilation is still as convenient a way of any of getting your transcendental mid '90s breakbeat hit in one easy sitting.

By 2001 DnB took a horrible downward spiral for me, personally I think it was certain samples that started creeping into tunes that made them unbearable for me, or maybe age caught up with me and I got to the stage which we all never think will happen to us!!!

This however is a slice of gold that managed to get through, definitely has an older intelligent ambience about it and deserves it's place amongst some of the greats.

Highly Recommended (no pun intended).

Musical genius and good looking stablemate, this CD chronicals the amazing contribution that PFM has made to the drum and bass sound since Mike Bolton and Jamie Sakar set up their studio in 1995.

Highlights on this CD are the remixes of "one and only" and "the western".

Old school brand-new.