Dread Zone* – 360°

The Release YEAR FOR THIS CD DREAD ZONE 360 IS 25 october 1993 there abouts

Sounds amazing to my ears and superb coloured vinyl in packaging.

Excellent release, the double speed reggae mixed well with the fledging jungle scene at the time.

A blueprint for Leftfields' Leftism

Easily the Best Dreadzone album. If there's such a thing as Progressive Dub/Reggae, then this is it. I frequently used this for Dj'ing, but also listened to it for weeks and weeks when it first came out. The only downer is the quiet production compared to modern releases. This could really do with a re-mastered, re-issue - otherwise i'd give it 10/10.

I'm glad to see that this album is collectible now because it was and still is an extremely solid piece of electronic music. I bought the record back in 1993, though I wouldn't recommend tracking the vinyl version down. It seems to change for a lot of money now, but the sound quality on the vinyl is horrible. I used to play it in some of my mix sets back when it was new, but there is so much music crammed on to one side of vinyl that it just sounded bad. That aside, the music still stands up today. The reason I bought this was because of Greg Roberts (I was a Big Audio Dynamite fan), and I was truly surprised at the deepness and professionalism of the album. Strong beats, great samples, meaty bass lines, and haunting melodies. It was their only good album, and definitely worth seeking out.

This is what the Dreadzone sound is about, at least that's how I think it's intended : very organic, trippy & trancy, with a slightly sweaty vibe, heavy on the bass, dreamy on the synths. There are more bands that match these characteristics, but far too often, there’s a critical point of difference : Dreadzone never gets lost into soundscapes that go nowhere at all. It still remain songs with a body - and Lord, what goodies they are. This is a boiling meltpot that embraces multiple continents and skin colors, spaghetti westerns, spliffs, sci-fi, nachos, dub and tequila. If you like this, be sure to check out the Performance album, which is nearly entirely based on this album, and even outstands this, because of the massive vibe it creates that no studio can achieve. I’d still give my left nut for a flashback to those concerts.