Bentley Rhythm Ace – FSUK3

This 1998 mix from Bentley Rhythm Ace is the high point of the four breakbeat-oriented compilations that Ministry Of Sound put out under the "Bentley Rhythm Ace" (some of the samples for which, e.g., "Harpsichord Shuffle", can be found in this mix).

The mix is mostly big beat (Wax Assassins, Resident Filters) and funky breaks (Ballistic Brothers, Cut Chemist), but there's also techno (Hardfloor, Humanoid), drum & bass (The Ganja Kru), reggae (U-Roy, Mad Cobra), jazz (John Barry, Wynder K. Frog), funk (Pucho & The Latin Soul Brothers), funky soul (Bar Kays, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Billy Paul), comedy soul (Pigmeat Markham), soulful pop (Georgie Fame), dance-pop (Betty Boo), psychedelic rock (Kim Fowley), folk-rock (Jefferson Airplane, Buffalo Springfield) and orchestral pieces (Chari Chari, Button Down Brass).

Despite this diversity, the mix hangs together well, the tracks all sharing the same sense of light-heartedness and melody. This coherence is also helped by Bentley's use of recurring wacky sounds that float around the mix: bicycle horns, rumbling groans, twittering bleeps, and there's even the sound of a steam train setting off to add momentum to a couple of big beat build-ups.

When BRA mix, they mix well, but it's often one song ending and another starting, like a stylish pause-button cassette mix. What they spurn in turntablism, they make up for in of innovation, be it playing the same record twice at different speeds ("Got Myself A Good Man"), turning up the volume during a banger ("Mahogany Roots"), mixing in snippets from previous tracks ("Soul Finger" makes a brief return on "Rola"), or throwing in advance teasers of tracks (e.g., "Super Sharp Shooter"). Whilst they tend to alternate between contrasting speeds and genres, they're also capable of building up a dancefloor set, e.g., the block-rocking eight-track sequence from Hardfloor to Resident Filters.

Such combination of musical imagination, production skills, good taste and mischievousness is a rarity, and it's a shame that BRA called it quits after their second album. For a bit more Bentley, their BBC radio "Breezeblock" show is well worth hunting down. (10)

I have underestimated this double album. It's impossible to not smile at the first notes of "Embryonic Journey". This guitar brings you the chill-out feeling, like being under the big bright yellow sun.
The diversity of this third FSUK is amazing. You have soul, funk, hip-hop, rock and acid combined with this famous big beat touch, or how to blend the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's together.

I discovered BRA with their eponymous record, and enjoyed it pretty much. But I've found their best work in my opinion.
Play it wherever you are.