Collecting
Foul Play's first three vinyl releases, including two self-released EPs and an especially sought-after 12" on Moving Shadow sublabel Section 5,
Origins documents U.K. dance music's evolution from breakbeat hardcore into jungle. Taking the tough, danceable breakbeats of
Shut Up & Dance and
the Ragga Twins and matching the uplifting vibes of the rave era, the music was fast, complex, and bursting with emotion, expressing the absolute joy of dancing and being in love with life, while hinting at the dark side. The tracks on this compilation don't go as far into drug-induced terror as the darkcore nightmares of
4hero circa "Mr. Kirk's Nightmare," but there's an unmistakable sense of loss and emptiness to the likes of "Dubbing You," with its momentarily subdued chords and "Loving you was my mistake/'cause losing you I know I just can't take" sample. Still, there's unabashed ecstasy to be found in tracks like "Feel the Vibe," presented in two killer mixes, or especially one of rave music's holy grails, "Finest Illusion." An instant classic when it arrived in 1993, the euphoric track plundered an entire verse from
the S.O.S. Band's 1986 hit "The Finest," which resulted in the record being withdrawn due to the unlicensed sample (the scrubbed track was subsequently issued in its "Legal Mix"). While the official release of such an elusive track is a major cause for celebration, the other nine cuts on
Origins are every bit as essential. The sheer creativity of these tracks remains astounding several decades after the fact, with the group's tripped-out synths and time-defying breakbeat manipulations never failing to provoke a sense of pure elation. While other dance producers were topping the charts with more cartoonish tracks filled with overt drug innuendo,
Foul Play were pushing breakbeat music forward along with fellow innovators like
Acen and
Hyper On Experience, and
Origins perfectly captures the inventive spirit of the era.