Check it, Drum and bass on cassette was a thing. Who knew?

Ed Rush – Live In ’98
Side 1
Side 2
This tape suffers a bit from wear and tear, and from the sounds of things the original source recording wasn’t the greatest either. The opening dips out a bit, and the MC’s vocals can get muddled up at times. Thankfully the audio quality gets better as it goes on. I know there are a few Ed Rush sets from this era that have made it onto music-sharing sites like Soundcloud and such, but I don’t think this one has. At least, I couldn’t find it. If someone does have a better recording of this set please let me know. I’d love a high-quality copy.

Nicky Blackmarket & Ed Rush – Live At The Edge
Side 1
Side 2
Nicky Blackmarket is another early drum and bass DJ, going all the way back to the 1980s. I assume his set is on side one, and it’s pretty good. It starts and stops suddenly a few times early on, probably because of technical difficulties. The second side is the Ed Rush set, and it sounds much more like the Ed Rush I know and love than the stuff on the first tape. It’s still high-energy and intense, but it also has that menacing neurofunk vibe that I fell in with when I first heard Wormhole and had my mind properly blown.

The quality of this tape is a little bit better than the first, but remember that a high-quality tape is still going to sound worse than a low-quality CD. So go in with a bit of lowered expectations. And once more, if anyone out there has better quality rips of either of these sets let me know and I’ll replace the links with those.