Goldie

Along with Roni Size's New Forms, Timeless is a seminal drum 'n' bass album. As the music skitters into dark corners and lingers there, Goldie creates a magnificent tension -- the perfect foil for lyrics about "inner city life and pressure." Moments of recovery ("State of Mind") lighten the weight that urban decay so clearly stamps on this album.

If Goldie is to jungle what Tricky is to trip hop--the "accessible" name brand for strangers in wonderland--then Martin Denny was Dr. Livingston. Occasionally some diva takes up a tune, but mainly this pleasant, far from arrhythmic soundspace posits an impressionistic respite from hardcore techno, with warm links to fusion, movie music, and the tragically neglected legacy of Rick Wakeman. (Grade - C+)