The Ragga Twins - Illegal Gunshot / Spliffhead download mp3 flac

Side B as others mention is the one, the sound of Pirate Radio from the early early nineties. A track that just stood out with its deep deep reggae subs, snappy break and simple but superb acid lines and eerie atmosphere. Not forgetting the perfect Ragga chat from the 'Twins' A track clearly of its time, but so so relevant still. Simple and so effective. Superb

All about the B side on this... Spliffhead - fiery but catchy. Very much like Steve J's review below (from 2007!) - this was a fusion mix of different styles... A speeded up hip hop loop, a few acid synths, ragga style b line and vocals all combine to make something heavy which tore up dancefloors in the early 90's.Great production... the bass, vocals and the smooth breaks minus the drum loop work really well. Played on a loud sound system - the bass will shake the room/club... think PFM 'Western'.As a little side bonus... Spliffhead has pretty much been untouched by all the old skool mixes from Ministry, Moondance etc. It's not the easiest track to mix but if you're playing to a knowledgeable crowd and want to shake things up... this will go down a storm.

'Illegal Gunshot' is not only a damn good tune but the subject matter is as relevant now as it was then. The track managed to approach the menace of gun culture with humour and clever imagery. Flinty Badman talks about hearing people in the street talking about guns, he hears 'gun talk' lyrics in the songs in the dance and finally 'then me ere a man bawl/eh, me bredren get shot' where Flinty manages to convey the danger and panic of a gun fight in a packed club but still uses rhymes that make you smile.

Whilst the A side "Illegal Gunshot" is a fairly solid piece of conscious ragga set on top of a breakbeat, its the flip that has secured Ragga Twins deserved place in dance music history. Although the routes of hardcore were seeded a bit earlier, Shut Up and Dance were one of the pioneers to really push the sped-up hip-hop breakbeats, with acid and house influences, but also add a touch of reggae/sound system culture too, and hardcore emerged. The first time I heard this dropped in amongst a mix of predominantly Belgian techno (which was king at that time on rave dancefloors), it was absolutely devastating. Certainly some of the purists weren't having it, but for many there, the b-line and that drop signalled something very special to come.

I couldn't agree more. They had a special place within the rave scene, and a great influence, yet it was rather ironic that they weren't really ravers at all - they came from a dancehall sound system background, and it showed: which is a good thing, by the way!Not everything on the SUAD label was a classic, but I don't think they put out anything really bad. It's also a bit of a shame that probably their best-known record, "Raving I'm Raving" was one of their weakest, in my opinion at least. I bought it of course, but it never really grew on me that much. That hasn't changed, 25 years later.It's sad that copies of this 12" go for so little, while lesser but much more "fashionable" tunes go for much more. I've just replaced my old battered copy with a near-mint copy, which I bought at a record fair for £1.00. £1.00 ffs!!! Certain people need to learn a bit more about music history, in my opinion!

Obviously hardcore where it says gardcore (!) in my comment above

Couldn't agree more very informative and true review. Especially true about Shut Up And Dance's special place in hardcore history. Although there were earlier tunes which can be looked on as hardcore in various ways they were usually from Belgian/USA so they didn't have the breakbeat uniquely English vibe of what we now know as gardcore. If we are talking 90-92 style hardcore I don't think you can get much earlier than some of Shut Up and Dance's early stuff. It came out in 1989 and some may have been recorded in 1988 right at the beginning of Acid House.

Lovely and insightful review. Thanks for that special knowledge.