Customer Reviews

Drum & Bass Arena

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the follow up to the brilliant cd of the same title mixed by Andy C, Fabio and Grooverider are next to step into the Drum & Bass Arena. While Fabio holds his own on disc one, Grooverider falls flat on disc two. Disc one has everything any good mix cd should have, great track selection and great mixing. While I personally am not a fan of the jazzy side of drum 'n bass, this cd will still find itself in my player many times in the future. Fabio does a great job of keeping the pace and momentum through his mix. Never making you really feel bored like some other drum 'n bass cds have a tendancy to do. Track one is a great way to start the mix up. With the lounge intro that drops right into the beat. While other "jazz 'n bass" cd's tend to be rather slow beat wise, Fabio keeps them nice and quick. Throughout the mix, there are some well placed vocal tracks which do a good job of breaking things up. Tracks 6. 9, and 11 are my personal favorites. Now where cd one shines, disc two does the exact opposite. This is by far some of the worst mixing I have ever heard in a cd, and I have heard alot. The only way I can really explain disc two...imagine that a DJ who has never mixed drum 'n bass before in life behind the decks on this one. Picture that and you have an idea of how Grooverider's mix sounds. While he does have a fairly decent track selection, the mixing is just horrid. None of the tracks go together, and when they are being mixed, it just sounds like noise. The only positive I can say about them is that they are beatmatched. It's a shame to hear something like this when he always has such amazing sets on his Radio 1 show. So if you're into the jazzy side of drum 'n bass, I highly recommend Fabio's mix, but even if you're the most die-hard DnB fan, steer clear of disc 2 at all costs. I would have liked to given this set more stars, but disc two just wouldn't allow it.

I think its surprising to see amateur DJ's in their review of this compilation criticizing the mixing skills of two masters who have been around for years. Mixing is a subjective thing, there are lots of ways to do it, and the only rule is that the beats match up. Personally I think the mixing is fine.
I bought this cd because I have lots of cd's of artists that are more on the fringe of d'n'b and I wanted a mix of music that is broadly accepted as straight d'n'b, no qualms. That's exactly what I got, and its great. The cool thing too is that you get the hard-hitting dancefloor tracks on the Grooverider cd and the more evolved stuff on Fabio's. Both are fun to listen too, and there are big hits on both cd's. I only skip a few tracks on each cd. Some of my big fav's are "Give me your love" and "chinese silk" on Fabio, and "Time Crisis" and "Lockdown" on Grooverider.
It should be noted that this cd may not strike you as amazing right off the bat but after hearing the tracks a couple times they really grow on you and you want to hear them again and again. Both DJ's keep the bpm nice and fast at around 180. One small criticism I have on the Fabio cd is that I wish he would've mixed in a different track from the new High Contast cd than the one that every one knows, (Racing Green) plus it kind of sticks out of this mix like a sore thumb. I think "Yesterday's Colours" or "Twilights last Gleaming" would have fit better in this mix. But still the Fabio mix is great, it definitely has a unique sound, blending "patina'd" vocals with very tight beats but keeping and all-around analog sound.
The grooverider cd has some weak spots like the first track, and some very repetetive tracks stuck in there but more than half are sweet hard hitting d'n'b tracks. They are definitely unique, and I also especially love the "Tomb Raider" track with the sample after the horse whiney, "Easy boy, that bassline ain't even dropped!"
Enjoy!

I found it at a record exchange, ha ha, man I was amped, Grooverider brings on some good high energy mixing, $hit to really jam to. Fabio, brings a highly groovy, good feeling mix to the plate. Its a good deal all around. Well worth it....

Please disregard everything you've read below this comment! These two mixes have really solid drum & bass tracks on it which I feel outwiegh the somewhat bland mixing. Definitely an album that any junglist should have in their collection.

Fabio and Grooverider and the reason I got into drum and bass, the reason I started DJin and the reason I love drum and bass so much. When I saw this in a local shop out here in Japan, I had no second thought in buying it. These 2 are the so well known for their passion of DnB, and I was convinced I was spending my hard earned cash on something great.
Boy was I wrong!
So many of the tracks either I already have on vinyl or had heard many time before on the radio or in clubs (I guess my fault for nor checking the tracvk listing thoroughly enough), but what I did see I thought it would just be nice to have all on 2 tidy discs.
The mixing is so sub standard it's not even funny. There are beats clashing all over the place and tracks that are dropped when you least expect them to be, and they really shouldn't be. Sometimes the element of surprise is good - but not when it's done so badly here.
I've given the CD 2stars because I'm overly critical perhaps and because me ears are trained to hearing tiny mistakes through my own DJing. Some of the tracks are excellently mixed, and there are some excellent (albeit slightly dated) tunes that will be classics.
I guess that overall I just felt slightly cheated and gutted that my idols have produced something that is not as good as I know they could do. I'm sure we all know when someone we respect does something that we feel lets us down - that's a difficult feeling to shake.

Some great selection of a wide variety of tunes here. CD 1 esspecially hits you with track after track of quality. CD2 is not quite up to par with it's counterpart, but it still has a nice selection and progressive mix that takes you on an emotional rollercoaster the way a mix is supposed to.

A great Album to get a broad sampling of the genre. Fabio and Grooverider are capable of a mix much deeper than this, but I doubt that that was their intention on this D&B Arena mix. A great album.