When you think of classic Jungle tunes featuring legendary piano scores, it’s almost certain that the majority will instantly think of ‘The Lighter’ but did you know that SS previously released a monster of a tune under the name ‘The Intro’ beforehand?
I discovered this tune in 1994 on Telstar’s ‘Jungle Mania 2’ and immediately tracked it down at Planet Boom records in Cambridge. Released as part of ‘The Rollers Convention EP Part 1’ and featuring the classic sleeping baby photograph on the sleeve, it was an instant crowd pleasing track. ‘Untitled’ showcased a ton of reverse vocals throughout and I remember winding the tune back countless times to work out where the vocal was sampled from and what it said. Needless to say, I can’t remember what the outcome was.
‘The Intro’ had everything you could want from a jungle tune in 1994, a memorable sample, big crashing breaks and a thumping ‘dum dum dum’ bassline that would make any home hi-fi explode shortly after the initial drop. Heavily supported by everyone in the jungle scene, this really was the start of Formation Records at the top of their game. If you witnessed this era first hand you were exceptionally lucky to see real UK music developing at such a rate nobody really knew how to control it.
When you look at the track listing on ‘Jungle Mania 2’ it certainly was a who’s who of jungle, if you don’t own this on CD I suggest picking it up. The tracks are all unmixed and although probably not at full length, you can quite easily get away with using any in the mix unless you’re a DJ that likes to play everything to the 7-8 minute mark before sliding in the next tune.
Surprisingly, this tune escaped millions of remixes unlike ‘The Lighter’ which, in turn was probably a good thing. It’s worth noting that Tango remixed ‘The Intro’ in 1993.
Anyone interested in some useless information may be keen to know that apparently Aphrodite and Mickey Finn originally attempted to obtain sample rights to the piano score from Richard Clayderman’s ‘Love Story’ but were turned down. SS then went on to sample the exact same score but without any attempt at copyright. How true this is I have no idea but it’s a story I have heard many a time.
