Gus Till - Best of the Rhino Years Vol.1

[abasio]

Gus Till

Best of the Rhino Years Vol.1

Sonic Dragon

2007

 

Tracklist

 

1 Slinky Wizard - Beautiful People (Bus Remix) (8:24)

2 Bus - Bullett (Correct Mix) (8:51)

3 Bus vs. Venom - Bugged (8:34)

4 Slinky Wizard - Fistful Of Mutants (8:53)

5 Stoop & Fidget - Mefisto (8:51)

6 Bus - N By NW6 (Correct Unreleased Mix) (9:11)

7 Bus - Something's Always Out There (8:50)

8 Busted - Uncontrollable Substance (9:28)

9 Bus - Finissimo (7:55)

 

The Rhino Years! We all must remember Flying Rhino Records, they continued to push the boat releasing different, interesting & quality music up until the time they closed there doors. Gus Till had a lot of tracks under the name Bus as well as with Slinky Wizard (w/ George Barker), Bugged (w/ Theo Butt) Stoop & Fidget (w/ James Munro). For the 1st time these tracks have been released together on this disc as well as vol.2 (released later in the year). As you'd expect it's quality stuff. Let's take a look.

 

1. Slinky Wizard - Beautiful People (Bus Remix)

This starts with the unmistakable sample Please Hold Me & It's beautiful, You're Beautiful! which echo, well beautifully. This track really needs no introduction. A classic from a golden era of trance remixed by the man who's style the original track was most like anyway. From the samples to the long dropping sounds to the beat that adds an extra one at seemingly sporadic intervals, it all twists my brain in nice psychedelic ways. The main difference I can tell from the original I remember is the ending though.

 

2. Bus - Bullet (Correct Mix)

Brilliant orchestral sounds mixed with a soft beat in the intro. The beat kicks off with really lush ambient sounds floating around. What could be described as ethereal lost souls come out of the sky. The sounds slowly get added with some synth layers giving a more metallic edge & the orchestral sounds coming back in along with the lost souls give a darker feel.

 

3. Bus vs Venom - Bugged

The beat builds up with a few crazy sounds but all in all a very minimal intro. Not atmosphere until the squelchy bassline comes in adding an extra 3 dimensions with just the one sound. Without noticing they manage to add more & more layers & I get lost until the sample They Sucked His Brains Out comes in & I suddenly notice where I am. A very atmospheric track in the end. Dark & subtle yet dreamy & it has a lot of whacked out sounds in there for good measure.

 

4. Slinky Wizard - Fistfull of Mutants

You must have heard this one before. I first heard it on Black Rhino, a compilation of Flying Rhino's darker more twisted trance. This fit very well with that theme, it's hard dark an full on (in the true classic sense of the word). The beats are really driving and the sounds manage to come out of everywhere at once menacing & comfortable. The track manages to build even more energy throughout & ends with a crescendo of dark sounds assaulting the aural gateways.

 

5. Stoop & Fidget - Mefisto

A steady driving track with a lot of atmosphere. It's a tricky one to describe. It's not a great track but it is bloody fantastic. A bit paradoxical but there you are. On the surface it seems like a bog standard driving dancefloor track but given time it opens itself up & shows you it's inner beauty but given more time it seems to get bored of your attention & clams up again. Each time I hear the track it sounds different & I can never remember anything about the track. When it clams up it's nice enough but those times when it's open to me it's really damn good. Maybe there are just things in there that appeal to a certain kind of mood & not others.

6. Bus - N by NWG (Correct Unreleased Mix)

Originally on the TIP compilation Halluci-Nations but that mix was apparently unfinished. Here we have the finished article, polished up nicely too. Produced with Raja Ran, the beat & pace are very similar to the last track but there is more melodious sounds that wouldn't be out of place in a 1960's suspense movie when something unfortunate is about to happen. Some samples sound like RR but the synth work is definitely our man here. It's a nice track, a few over the top sounds/samples but nothing that ruins it.

 

7. Bus - Something's Always Out there

A strange mid range reverberating sound runs through this track, scything it's way through the brain, opening it up for the subtle attack from the synths which change from acidy sounding to squelchy to metallic acid again once they are inside the brain. Everything here seems more subtle. The beats are more reserved the sounds plop a little more casually & it creates an atmosphere of isolation in a cabin in the forest but knowing that outside the door are all manner of plants & animals awaiting you.

 

8. Busted - Uncontrollable Substance

We pick up the pace slightly here with a more forceful track. There is still the subtlety that I've come to expect from all of Gus's work but the beats are stronger & nearer the front & the sounds are on different levels. Those in the foreground covering those in the back but you can still make out the foundations of the track nicely. There is a sound that almost sounds like an elephant before the breakdown. The breakdown shows off it's atmospheric side with light little drips of sound & that elephant noise again over some dark ambience. The beauty of this track though is when it kicks back in, the acidic line that traces the beat is fantastic as are all the different forms it takes there on. These sounds take a good track & make it great

 

9. Bus - Finissimo

Possibly the most atmospheric on the album. the drones in the background the noises the decelerated beat all build a nice sleek feeling of flying around the above or among the clouds on a nice bright day. The metallic sounds remind me of flying machines & there are a lot of other really trippy sounds that seem to be coming from the cosmos. Very nice track, a lush way to finish off this collection.

 

 

So there are a lot of Great Gus Till tracks here people. If you don't know who Gus Till is or have never heard his music then this will be a great place for you to start enjoying his music. For those that are already familiar with his music & maybe even own a lot of it, there is still enough on this to make it worth while. Just having them all together is nice but they also seem to have an extra shine when they were remastered. Definitely worth the cash

[yerg]

So Flying Rhino is back (if i could say that).

This is great collection of some fantastic tracks. UK trance is really different.

Below is just a slight description of my personal feelings, don't consider it as a real review, cause Abasio's is unbeatable.

 

1/Slinky Wizard - Beautiful People (Bus Remix) - nice first track, really groovy, and very different from anything i've been listening recently.

 

2/Bus - Bullett (Correct Mix) - this track is also very good, reaveals all its beauty on the last two minutes (i noticed that many tracks here have same progression, they become more intense by the very end)

 

3/Bus vs. Venom - Bugged - this is the weakest track here (but it's my opinion), i am not very fond of darkish-technoish sounds.

 

4/Slinky Wizard - Fistful Of Mutants - very creative samples used here, and again climax comes by the end, love this track a lot.

 

5/Stoop & Fidget - Mefisto - progressive from head to toes, straightforward and busy all the way, love it love it love it :posford:

 

6/Bus - N By NW6 (Correct Unreleased Mix) - the beginning is interesting with its mysterious atmosphere but then it goes nowhere or maybe i just didn't get where it should go, not my cup of track

 

7/Bus - Something's Always Out There - ahhhh, beautiful, impressive, deep sounds, driving beats, two words for it-COOL DEEP

 

8/Busted - Uncontrollable Substance - i wish i could hear this on the dancefloor, my feet are very pleased, they became Uncontrollable.)

 

9/Bus - Finissimo (7:55) - the last track and it's a perfect finish of a great journey.

[Cielspacing]

Well, I did waited to post here about this one, not as much as I'm still waiting for someone (some DJ, please) to appreciate, err to LISTEN to this music... but now its 3:13 AM, I'm at almost 3000 meters altitude, Southern hemisphere and I'm fearing other 10 years will need to past for it to happen...

Hence my typing here: reaaally wish someone nods soon.

 

Can't help to remember that Armin Van Buren is coming to do the "White Sensation party" tomorrow at the capital of these far lands. Saw one of those travelling parties on vid and imho whatever effort all the people involved placed on making it a slick production... musically it cannot even touch the space some of the atmospheres present on this Album do.

Wrong metaphor? Possibly, but falling on the short side. Take for example the mix of space and jazz in such a subtle way as "Finissimo" does.

 

I heard one reputed Electroacustic music teacher to signal out one of the reasons why this music has not been fully appreciated as it -eventually- could: "If you monitor your mixes with headphones you may pinpoint plenty of details, whereas if you want to appreciate the atmospheres, you need to use stand speakers, something you miss even with the best hphones".

And tracks like "Something is Always Outhere" are built with plenty of detail AND incredible atmospheres which seem to hide the musical content. If you listen it with Ipods, Mp3s,etc. you'll lose half of the story, if otherwise you play it at stadium sized line arrays/Discos/Parties you'll either miss the detail(cause the bad fidelity) or lose the Loudness war, because the music in this CD is recorded in such way that retains its dynamics and spatial cues and thus cannot compit on the Omptha war in which full on has grown up...

 

The Solution to this aspect would be to play this music in audiophile grade High Fidelity BIG sound systems which so far are a rarity to find... or in the sound systems of the future where average loudness will pbbly not be dictated by the masterization process, but by some clever algorytm coupled with capable powerful hifi amps and speakers.

Somewhen the sound systems will allow the nowadays obviously hidden chords of "Something is always outhere" ending(carefully listen to its last minute) to shine as it... somewhen had .

...uhmm... Before we reach that technological stage, a good advise could be to gather music like this, play/mix it far from full-on DJ sets and enjoy the journey... That is why to have Best of Gus 1 & Best of Gus 2 releaseed seems as a great idea. Finally Djs will have a somewhat easier way to place some of this gems in a DJ set without fearing to be sound-lost or not understood. This sound is so unique, that is almost unmixable with much else from other musicians/producers... Ok, Ok there are a few compatible tracks out there, but sure you agree with me the search is hard, really hard.

 

The good news is that there's really plenty more excellent GUS tracks outhere... the bad new is that still is very hard to locate them. From fast memory: "Speechless" is an absolute must, Gus FR "Slick Witch remix" is a masterpiece, as "Cheesecake", "Section 8", "People like us","Swipe At The Big Blue", "Hit & Run correct version" and a long list that will easily make a couple of extra CDs to complete the picture.

And I have not yet even mentioned or touched here Gus' remaining unique *other* sounds iex: harder, deeper psychedelic journey from "Sweetness", or his colaborations with Pete Martin of which just "Everyday" blowed my mind to new heights back then. Who knows what else could/has come from there?...

The Top of most everything? apart from "Something", the timbral, melodic progression of Loop Digit's idem is like nothing I've witnessed before. It sets out fire from sound colors in a much more overt way than H&Run which took me instead years of carefull listening to be able to see Merlin at its back blazing his fire igniting fingers... Straaaange music indeed.

 

Then... why to do the effort of collecting and releasing together these other sparsely GUS released tracks, when people seem not to be able to appreciate even the now accesible ones???

Take Mephisto 'geny for example... dont stop at the infectious funky drumming, dont listen to the clever bass mixed with the unobstrusive and still pumping beat, but focus on the totally rich and vibrant sound of brass of the keybord work.

This track could have sprayed a pletora of remixes with variations of timbres varying from trumpets, trombones, tubas and all in the psychedelic expansion of their timbre as the track already shows and acomplishes... It is just a dream... I just feel the same as Yerg up here

progressive from head to toes, straightforward and busy all the way, love it love it love it dance4.gif

Sure somebody noticed this one already... but then how to mix this one? Not with Goa, not with full-on, not even with most progressive out there, but then it still is totally psy...

...OK, if we Djs care, then we do the gathering of the rest of those masterpieces... That is the underlaying thread, right?

At any case, thank you for the music already and my words here are party to see if I(or ideally plenty of people) get caught with the dancin' shoes on at some party with these vibbs I totally and we just :posford: :drama: :clapping:

 

 

//////I am begining to notice this is getting far from a review, and Ok I may have a far out focus regularly haha

But seriously, the scope of this music is such I sense needs introduction. Best 1 & Best 2 is an excellent one, but Djs on vinyl or just getting this two CDs are still at a loss at trying to consistenly DJ with them and imho will appreciate some extra help.

C'mon this is a new style in itself!!!

 

As a DJ in a dreamworld I would ask for a companion release of *instrumental* versions of most of these tracks, notaby the addictive Bugged beat, but in this case: No Gus, nop... I might be too bland here but as a DJ I wont play a tune with the sample "suck your brains out" to the dancers in my audience. Or repeat again the "hold me, Beautiful" message regardless the incredible rhythms it is sorrounded by...

Nothing wrong with the last sample, the truth is most dancers -even good ones- wont remember the track if the lyrics and some of the principal melodic lines, are removed and this alone will allow DJs to mix it in new inventive ways.

Some Djs could be proficient enough to use the digital editors so we could do some adaption to the tunes to ease that intermixing, but considering what its been said above, why not help us from the multitrack and really help this music lift off???

 

This DUB versions concept and the release of close-but-different versions to the same tracks is to some extent a lost art (from Reggae, Disco and 90s House) that -particularly, when the rhythm section is good enough- helps LOTs to us Djs to vary our sets from one event to the other...

Imagine remixing live (with or without Ableton) our favorite tunes: skip that intro, load again that mid section, etc all in response to the feel. Niiice :drama:

 

Ok, Again thank you, thank you, thanks for this release. It'll open some ears, hearts and eyes for sure.

 

MASTERpieces in it/10

 

 

PD: Imho do not mistake any of what is said in this post with Bus "Link you there" album. Sound-wise that CD is another unconnected chapter and it is pbbly better dealt with, at its specific review thread.

[rino]

I like this one a whole lot! Though I find myself less intrigued by it than the second part of the series, I reckon that is mainly because most of these tracks have been floating around my stereo during the years. Some very loved classics such as Bugged, Fistful Of Mutants, Mefisto and Something's Always Out There have all been re-polished and sound wonderful. It's great to have them all in one place. Needless to focus on them in a more in depth fashion, as they should be known to everybody.

 

However, unlike its sequel which was killer material front to back, there are tracks here which don't really do it for me that much. Namely N By NW6, Finissimo and Uncontrollabe Substance, but that should be a matter of taste really. My opinion is that, if this is supposed to be a Flying Rhino Records Gus Till retrospective, tracks like Chai Machine and/or Slick Witch should have been here no matter what. Not to miss my point here: there are no bad tracks here, very far from it, I just feel some of Gus' more tweaked out, daring and magnificent output has been left out, like the two tracks I listed above. I cannot run away from the feeling they deserve to be in the company of these other classics.

 

That said, Best of the Rhino years vol. 1 should get all around nods of approval. Despite the fact it's a compilation, I dig its flow, it rolls along nicely, making stops at some of the key productions by this great producer. I guess old schoolers will be satisfied as well as fans of groovy, juicy and slick progressive tracks. As stated by one of the above reviewers, it's nice to have so many fantastic tracks assembled on one CD, plus they'we all been remastered and give a new, thoroughly enjoyable sound. It won't ignite riots, but it wasn't meant to either. What it should do though, is bring back sweet memories and urge people to dig deeper into Gus Till's extensive body of work. Some well loved and known tunes, a few reworked and sorely missed numbers with a few fantastic collabs thrown in the mix, and there you have it- the finest selections of Gus Till's Flying Rhino Records years. Nuff said. 4/5.