Been playing the hell out of of "Survival" recently, on account of digging out  this compilation

What a line-up! What a track list!

Released March 93, contents late 1992 mostly - dawn of darkcore

Bought it in this one store in Greenwich Village that, while not a dance store per se, through its being Anglophile and therefore imports oriented, was just about the only place you could get rave and hardcore comps on CD in New York at that time *

(Much later in 1993 I found Liquid Sky, this record store / rave-clothes boutique, Soul Slinger's I believe, but in which DB had some involvement, and it stocked actual vinyl -- Reinforced, Moving Shadow, Suburban Base  - 12 inch ardkore junglizm manna for this famished exile).

But yeah, for a period, this store in the West Village was the only way I could get hold of the latest tunes (and by the time they reached comp they weren't the latest, the pirates had moved on), through a whole series of darkside CDs that React and Kickin' did...

 

Now this was during a long period from about mid-Feb 93 until the end of August when I was stuck in NYC (finishing the Sex Revolts) and itching, burning,  to be where the music was, i.e. London. Where the future was happening. Wore out the stockpile of pirate tapes I had and played those CDs to death. 

I reviewed that first The Dark Side comp on React for MM but  the reviews ed. never ran it, bastard!

Not sure what the lines across the text are -- looks like faded yellow or pink highlighter pen, so possibly bits that several years later I thought about recycling (and probably did recycle) into Energy Flash.

Another killer tune (so many) on The Dark Side is "String of Darkness" by Darkman aka DJ SS, which is basically a mash up of Rufige Cru's "Believe" and Derrick May's "Strings of Life". I remember the first interview I did with Goldie he referenced some kind of amiable rivalry thing he had with SS, I wonder if this was part of the back-and-forth

Goldie himself is on the comp properly with "Terminator"

Goldie, incidentally, has much of his early classic Rufige Cru/Metalheads stuff reissued very soon -- well, what do you know, I check, and it's out tomorrow in fact -  in a double-CD career retrospective called The Alchemist.


Tracklist for The Alchemist: The Best Of Goldie 1992-2012
 
CD1
01. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Malice In Wonderland
02. Goldie & Metalheadz - Terminator
03. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Menace
04. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Monkey Boy
05. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Dark Rider
06. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Sometime Sad Day
07. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Shanghai Dub
08. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Rhythm Killa
09. Goldie - Special Request
10. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Babylon 2012
11. Goldie - I'll Be There For You
12. Goldie - Saint Angel
13. Goldie - I Know Who I Am

CD2
01. Goldie - Single Petal Of A Rose
02. Goldie - Angel
03. Goldie feat. Natalie Duncan - Freedom (Radio Edit)
04. Goldie - State Of Mind
05. Goldie feat. Natalie Williams - Latin Skin
06. Goldie feat. Diane Charlemagne - What You Won't Do For Love
07. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Beachdrifta
08. Goldie & J Majik - Runway
09. Goldie & 4 Hero - (Internal Affairs) In My Soul
10. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Is This Real VIP
11. Goldie - VIP Riders Ghost
12. Goldie - Sea Of Tears

CD3
01. Goldie & Metalheadz - Inner City Life (Baby Boy's Edit)
02. Goldie - Kemistry (Doc Scott Remix)
03. Goldie feat. KRS-One - Digital (Armand Van Helden Remix)
04. Garbage - Milk (Goldie's Completely Trashed Remix)
05. Björk - Isobel (Isobel's Lonely Heart) (Goldie Remix)
06. Ed Sheeran - Lego House (Goldie Remix - Sticklebrick Edit)
07. Bush - Swallowed (Toasted Both Sides Please Goldie Remix)
08. Goldie - Temper Temper (Grooverider Remix)
09. Roni Size & DJ Die - The Calling (Goldie Remix)
10. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Chances (Alix Perez & Sabre Remix)
11. Goldie presents Rufige Kru - Something About You (D-Bridge Remix)

I might buy this actually, for sentimentality's sake, and curiosity about how the later post-Saturnz drum 'n ' bass measures up to the earlier classic Reinforced (I know "Beachdrifta" and don't quite understand why Burial rates it so highly).

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Much much later I found some CD singles that Reinforced and Shut Up and Dance had put out in 92 at rave's UK crossover height -- CD singles would you believe -- that had slipped into Tower's giant imports branch, the one that used to be on 4th and Lafayette, directly opposite where Other Music is now.