Tags: Breakbeat Techno

Review: A quarter of a century on, Chemical Brothers' second studio album returns to stores in expanded form. The original album remains the high watermark of the (now often derided) big beat movement - a bolshy, thrill-a-minute ride that races between funk-fuelled, break-heavy hits ('Block-Rockin' Beats'), rock-tinged heaviness (the title track), fuzz-fuelled post-techno hedonism ('Electrobank'), La Funk Mob-influenced trip-hop ('Piku'), heady ambience ('Loft in the K-Hole') and riffs on the Beatles' 'Tomorrow Never Knows' ('Setting Sun' with Noel Gallagher and the incredible 'My Private Psychedelic Reel'). The second disc on this bonus edition boasts a quintet of previously unreleased tracks and alternate versions, with our highlights including the opioid pulse of 'Cylinders' and the slamming techno breathlessness of 'It Doesn't Matter (alternate mix)'.