Goldie explodes in simple beats

The first disc of Goldie's new "Saturnz Return" does that to you. The just-more-than-an-hour "Mother" meanders around in a daze, seemingly trying to punish you and your attention span by slowly changing emotional shades from ulcerous to creepy to oppressive to suddenly upbeat to ... well, you get the picture.

The length of the track and the lack of chapters within it (likely intended to make people listen to the whole damn song) make the track an ordeal.

This is unfortunate, because buried in the center are some pretty good sections of rhythm. The piece ends instrumentally strung out again. But at least it's more centered than at the beginning.

Now that you've slogged through (or maybe skipped) the first CD, you can listen to something better, namely the second CD, which blasts off with a counterpoint to "Mother," the amicably violent "Temper Temper." With some mean but lean vocals consisting of around nine words and an "ohhhhh," the track is like the external expression of the excruciating guts of the previous CD, complete with some wicked metal guitar-like sounds. It's also the shortest song on this release, clocking in at a brief five minutes and 12 seconds.

Goldie
	"Saturnz Return" 3 stars FFRR/Polygram Reviewed by Ted Watts, Daily Arts Writer

That's followed by the separate but equal hardness of "Digital," with pipes provided by KRS-1. The music is almost completely beats, with minimal synth accents at regular intervals.

Less can be more, especially when you've got a tool like KRS-1 at your disposal. Other selections have a similar bare bones approach and will conquer you. Just listen to "Chico-Death of a Rockstar" and try not to like it.

There are some big ugly portions of Goldie's creative soul spread out on this platter. For some inexplicable reason, there are multiple songs included with a wretched electronic jazz base. (I'm talking about the kind of stuff that sounds like a mix between Kenny G and the Blade Runner soundtrack.)

From the ugly sax on "Believe" to the nauseating crooning on "Crystal Clear," it's like the very worst fluff from urban radio.

Goldie is best when he keeps his beats simple and his tracks relativistically short. When he fails in this, though, it's time to reach for the remote and skip to his next nugget of joy.

02-03-98