DJ Biggs, a name you may not have come across mainly because as far as I can see, he only produced one tune. What’s more surprising is that he doesn’t even have an alias which is extremely uncommon for 90’s Jungle producers. The question is with ‘The Hunter’ being such a groundbreaking tune at the time, why didn’t he produce anything else? It was also a big thing for Back 2 Basics as it was not only sold on standard black vinyl but a special sky blue coloured plate was also released.
Some virtual digging brought up Jason Ball (also known as JB, Dred Bass etc) as the co-producer of ‘The Hunter’. Quite what his involvement was though is anyone’s guess although with a name like this on the track it was obviously something important.
So where did ‘The Hunter’ come from? Well for a start it featured on the legendary album ‘AWOL Live’ which, believe it or not was released by Ministry of Sound!
For those that remember the AWOL album, it was ‘The Hunter’ that kicked off proceedings, it’s also the start of GQ’s impeccable hosting on the set – if you remember the words “some noise” then you already know what’s to come.
This album wasn’t a one hit wonder type of compilation either, it also featured Pascal’s ‘P Funk Era’, ‘Babylon’ by Splash and Sound Control by Randall and Andy C. Most of the tunes were also special mixes and previously unavailable to the record buying public. Those interested in these tunes will be pleased to know that the double 12” pack is still for sale via Discogs and is unmixed.
Although I never want to believe that the crowd noise and MCs from the CD version were added in after the ‘live’ recording it’s apparently true. Kind of spoils things a little bit maybe? Moving on…