You want beats? How about two CDs' worth? Platinum Breakz II, the latest compilation from Goldie's Metalheadz crew out of England, hits the drum & bass spot--again and again and again. Disc 1 boasts a few subtleties: H... more »idden Agenda's two tracks have jazz-noir overtones, the flute samples on Peshay's "On the Nile" venture into acidic territory, and Dillinja's coda, "Promise," takes a chill pill. The second platter gets things down to business, however, with noteworthy tracks like the spacey "Swift Glide" from Optical (a.k.a. Matt Quinn) and the trippy "Melt" by Sci-Clone. For fanatics of breakbeat, these discs should be a quick fix. For the rest of us, things get a bit blurry, and there's a danger of OD'ing. --Jason Verlinde« less
You want beats? How about two CDs' worth? Platinum Breakz II, the latest compilation from Goldie's Metalheadz crew out of England, hits the drum & bass spot--again and again and again. Disc 1 boasts a few subtleties: Hidden Agenda's two tracks have jazz-noir overtones, the flute samples on Peshay's "On the Nile" venture into acidic territory, and Dillinja's coda, "Promise," takes a chill pill. The second platter gets things down to business, however, with noteworthy tracks like the spacey "Swift Glide" from Optical (a.k.a. Matt Quinn) and the trippy "Melt" by Sci-Clone. For fanatics of breakbeat, these discs should be a quick fix. For the rest of us, things get a bit blurry, and there's a danger of OD'ing. --Jason Verlinde
"Drum and Bass doesn't get much better than this - Most of the tracks here are a delicious blend of dark but uplifting basslines and tearing beats - i'm no connossieur of Drum and Bass or Jungle but this is the best i've heard - The Bassline to Ed Rush's "The Raven" is at once chilling and exhilirating and the menace of "The Warning" has to be heard to be believed - in contrast other tunes such as "Reportoire" and "The Nile Song" are light, jazzy and melodic. Do yourself a favour and buy it!"
Good but still not quite the first
clevelandjunglist | 10/13/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I don't know how many of you bought and were hooked on the original 1996 Platinum Breakz but I was and while I did like this cd it had a lot of tracks that didn't quite meet the sophistication and creative intellect level that the first did. They did play with a much darker sound and it worked out pretty well on tracks like Arabian Nights, Raven, and a few others but some of the tracks seemed very cheesy and sloppily thrown together (ie disc 1 track 5). It also had a Your Sound remix which I think J Majik would have been better off either adding a bit of melody & subtle sickbass or just leaving alone and not remixing it. It's still cool to listen to, stilla part of Metalheadz history if you wanna stake your claim to it but I'd still recommend the original Platinum Breakz or the other 2 post 2000 ones first (just got Metalheadz 03' today and it wasn't all that bad)."
Innovation
The Djeli | Ile Ife, Nigeria | 03/31/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"1997, possibly the best year for drum and bass, was the year of this fantastic compilation featuring the brightest producers of the day via Goldie, including J Magik, Adam F, Optical, Peshay, and Dillinja.
Is this better than volume one? It's a little darker for sure, but I think they are similar in many ways, extensions of each other. Both are prime examples of a maturing sound in it's prime."
My first drum n bass set!!!
Daniel | 11/17/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is a nice set it has some nice clean beats with some special drum n bass djs I still listen to it up till today some of my favorites are J-Majik, Peshay, Sci-clone, Chainsaw, Dillinja, Source Direct, Codename John, and Adam F. They do a nice job with there talent. Well if I was to say anything else about this set, is DON'T LET PEEPS BORROW IT. Cause I did and only got one disc back and now I can't find this set in stores but its all good I guess I still enjoy the second disc! Well anyways this is my very first set I ever had that had to deal with drum n bass, and after this I started to listen to trance then house music now I am back to this kind of stuff drum n bass I just love it!"
Phatty Beatz
Daniel | 07/08/1998
(4 out of 5 stars)
"If you like the darker jungle beatz, I think you'll like this compilation even more than the original. I find that I'm listening to Disk 1 more than Disk 2 - mebbe cuz I like Ed Rush's "Raven" so much. I think Disk 2 is more chill as well. So forget Goldie's disasterous Saturnz Return and get yerself some mo'Breakz.I gave it 4/5 stars only cuz I was hoping for more ragga.Peace"