The CD is broken down into seven sections As Phil Gould explains in his notes, the collection was created over an extended period of time, as far back as 1984, with other parts recorded for different projects and specifically for this sample CD project at various studios.

Although throughout this is unmistakably a live drum loops CD there is a wide range of styles and sounds throughout the collection - some are highlighted in the section titles they are in which relates to the studio that they were recorded in, others jump from style to style, sound to sound. This is good or bad depending on your viewpoint, if you work in a tight style and are only looking for specific types of loop then you may find the material in your area limiting, if on the other hand your work is more diverse then this may be exactly what you like.

Aside from the regular percussive elements you'd expect there is also some further percussive and fill elements in places, there is a fair smattering of congas, bongos, tambourine, triangles, shakers and even odd vocal fill effect in a place or two. In these areas Phil was assisted by Miles Bould and Rupert Brown. Generally though the main percussive elements are dominant and the fill effects just adding a splash of interest here and there.

Section 1 - The first 22 tracks of the CD don't have a title and I would suspect that this is the part specifically recorded for this project. Each of the tracks contain a groove or grooves and usually a whole range of variations, fills, parts added or taken away and the like. Up to 12 parts per loop, though some do have just one or two variations. The BPM's are on the slow side - from 75-120 with most being in the 80-90 BPM speed.

Very much the CD starts as it means to carry on clean, tight, solid sounds, with some infectiously catchy rhythms. With numerous variations supplied it does make the transition from a loop to a complete track a whole lot easier. The loops themselves are reasonably straightforward, sounding nice and open, without too much in the way of processing being involved. Where there is some more noticeable effecting, mostly fairly harsh compression, this is usually a variation so can be left or used as desired, depending on the drum sound you want.

Certainly get the impression that they would work well with other elements in a track without being overly dominant, especially more laid back styles, but still having a enough punch in the sounds to cut though a mix. Had me nodding my head along which is always a good sign. Excellent.

Studio 99 - 8 tracks - Each loop in the first part of this section is presented in three ways - mono, kick drum panned hard left and the rest panned hard right and everything altogether. There are none of the multiple variations of the previous section, though some of the loops come in a couple of variations. Slightly more up beat, from 92-120 BPM and sounding a little fuller and busier, if a little flatter and more muted perhaps.

The second part of three tracks is back to the groove and lots of variations format, at 135, 165 & 160 BPM, as fast as this CD gets. I liked the Groove 2 of "Area 51 Revisited" especially, very catchy.

1984 (True Colours) - 7 tracks - No doubt culled from the sessions of the Level 42 album of the same name - one of their least successful albums actually just before they became really popular. Running from 92-122 BPM we have a bit of a mixture here, several tracks with the "loop and variations" and several tracks of assorted loops. They've certainly aged well and there is no degrading of the quality of the loops, one or two you can certainly imagine being straight out of a Level 42 track, others like "Trash Madness" continue the variations that the whole collection features.

'Keep Calm' Drums - 2 tracks - Allegedly ambient grooves - though sound a bit upfront and punchy for what I would think as an ambient groove. 28 loops on each track, the second version is shorter with more effects. Quite straightforward loops with little in the way of added percussive interest. Not bad at all.

SNAFU - 12 tracts - Back again to the "Loop and variation" presentation here the producers have allowed some more offbeat grooves and heavier processing to produce some more radical loops from the regular percussive sounds so far. BPM's are 70-103 and like the first section, despite more aggressive sounds still sound fairly laid-back. Each track starts with the regular sounding groove and then variations appear to get more and more extreme ! Healthy doses of distortion and other effects much in evidence in parts, not totally over the top, but enough to make the loops sound very different from the original.

Odds & Sods - 14 tracks - Just a single loop per track from 88-124 BPM and as the name suggests a bit here, there and everywhere, liked the Comp Chor one in particular.

Raw Meat and Leggo - 10 tracks - Here we are given the individual hits, divided up into Live, World Machine, Air and 1984, the info section says that this is "all the hits grouped together". But I'd think this is more of a selection, I would think that there are more sounds dotted through the CD than collected here...not to worry, in any event you get a whole spectrum of kicks, snares, hats and toms.

Summary & Overall...