A few months ago I started to rip most of tape packs to mp3. I’ve been doing my vinyl for several years now, but had yet to really spend any time sorting through the many (read hundreds) of tapes I still have. Dreamscape, Dance Planet, Helter Skelter, AWOL, Yaman studio, Quest, The Edge, Vibealite, Obsession, United Dance, Temptation …. the lot …. all getting dusty sat in a corner. I’d spent time ripping a few back in 2003 when I used Soulseek a lot. Just the best ones, Bukem & Top Buzz at Universe, DJ Hype’s ‘Ruff Stuff’ and a few other choice sets that had remained resident in my walkman for years.

It was around this time I started to seriously buy vinyl again, and some of the first tunes I wanted were the ones on these tapes. Hype’s ‘Ruff Stuff Volume 5′ was my starting point, and after a bit of searching, I found an almost complete tracklisting on breakizm. Not sure who put it together, as breakizm is now closed for business, and the only existing reference available is a cached Google page which is missing any credit.

Is credit important? As I hastily copied that list back in 2003 and added each tune into my favourite searches on Ebay, I probably didn’t give it much thought. Why should I? It takes a lot of time and hard work, that’s why.

A couple of months ago I started the tracklistings for Dance Planet Detonator III. An event that took place early in 1994 … the time when I was going weekly to events & clubs and buying the most vinyl. I’m an authority on this period, so how hard could it be to remember the tunes? Reality check. Just 5 minutes into the first tape and I’m stuck … that’s just two tunes in and the first one was ‘Dark Stranger’! Not letting this put me off, I persevere and end up with a 50% complete listing for Slipmatt’s set. 2 hours to do half of one tape from an 8 tape pack. Words like frustrating & irritating sum up the process nicely. You know the tune … it’s on the tip of your tongue … but it escapes you. Time to trawel through the mp3’s to see if you can find it.

Eventually I get through all 8 tapes and I end up with an 80% complete set of listings (I had a little help from Paul Waight). I admit I’m not the expert I thought I was, and look upon the tracklistings others have done with much greater respect.

There are currently 735 Jungle & 378 Drum n Bass releases listed on discogs for 1994. Take into account those that aren’t yet listed, the tunes mixed in from previous years or from other genres, and you’ve got an incredible amount to remember.

The tracklisting for Detonator III is now complete all except for one tune … maximum respect to JJ for filling in the gaps. Next stop for me, the United Dance & Temptation six pack.

Pay homage to :

• ~cts 1991-94 Tracklistings
• hardcorewillneverdie.com
• Yaman & AWOL on hardscore
• Oldskool Madness
• oldtapes.com
• DustyStylus

These guys provide some of the most valuable resources you could ever wish for.