Goldie goes into orbit

Goldie: "Saturnz Return" Fierce music for fierce times, Goldie's second album is a remarkable kaleidescope of sound. Where Timeless ducked and dived with gay abandon through the high notes, Saturnz Return is deeper, darker and harder. Goldie may be Jungle's first superstar, but no one could have predicted that he would have produced anything quite as remarkable as this. Much of this has to do with Mother, the hour-long fusion of classical, operatic and experimental arrangements and movements which takes over one whole CD. A symphony for Goldie's traumatic childhood, it is a compelling piece of music, like Gorecki scoring a collaboration between Keith Jarrett and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago. But that's not the only unexpected poke in the ear. Temper Temper is bursting at the sides with a cacophonous squall of guitars from Noel Gallagher and Goldie hollering "temper, temper" on top, like Setting Sun after another rinse in the washing machine. KRS-One produces some fine old-school lines for Digital, while Dragonfly simply boggles with possibilities given the mix of inputs. Letter Of Fate is perhaps the most disturbing turn on this trip: Goldie's teenage suicide note set to minimal electronic blues, it's soulful and shocking by turns, all the more so given the minimal setting. It's the scale of Saturnz Return which is most impressive: Goldie has not so much produced a new way of talking drum 'n'bass as torn up the rulebook and moved to a different pitch. Extreme and utterly compelling, Saturnz Return may well be the most challenging album you will encounter all year.