High Contrast - Global Love / Return of Forever - Hospital

[Arrow Jay]

After buying the original of Return of Forever, and after not being too impressed by the latest John B offerings, I was sceptical. But no more.

I tried out Global Love first, and was pleasantly surprised. Links has got a good sound going here, with a cross between what I would call the intelligent and jump up sounds. It has got a really good flow to it, even though the vocal snippet does get slightly annoying after a while. Global Love does have a passing resemblence to ROF, but definetly has it's own sound laid down perfectly. Check it out.

Then, I swallowed my pride to go to John B's take on Return of Forever. Now, before I say this, the news that he is thinking of a concept album with 80's artists like Gary Numan is of no surprise after his recent "Epic D&B" tunes. And this one more than borrows something from that era.

The drums seem vaguely familiar of the 80's sound, but that is easily passed when John's use of the strings from the original kick in. The drop surprised me, with not having the bassline prominent like the original, but after the two vocal samples welcoming it back in (including a bizzare whispered-vecoda of the title) the bassline blew me away! Taking the original bassline and not changing it was brave, and a genius thing to do, but to run it through his own synths to get a more "electro" sound was even better!

I played this in The Disc in Bradford when I first saw a copy, and I have to say that even the breaks, garage and house heads looked up when the bass kicked in. It is an awesome tune, and a brilliant take on the original. I've gone back to the first track since, and it doesn't sound half as energetic as the John B remix. This is going to be huge. Get it now while you have chance.

Five of Five Afro's:

(A word on the other vinyl - Calibre's mix of Global Love absolutely rocks, but I still prefer the original as it sounds crisper, and the bassline flows better. And for those who like their breaks, the funkiness of the Landslide bassline of ROF is a good breaks filler, but has been known to annoy the d&b heads as the re-arrangment into 2-Step - Breaks doesn't stay faithful to the original - Three of Five Afro's)

[EDinATL]

wow great review! (not to pun but) I contrast with your review in that I think ROF is a supremely wonderful track that I put above the John B remix. But I do think that as far as remixes go it is phat. This is especially good if it attracts (distracts) the people who are still stuck in trance. :P