**1/2 Goldie

INCREDIBLE SOUND OF DRUM 'N' BASS

(INCredible/Sony)

The British label INCredible has hit upon a bankable concept for a compilation series: commission English tastemakers to provide coffee-table chronicles of their respective musical scenes. Label chief/DJ/huckster Goldie has been tapped to trawl through his 12-inch collection to provide INCredible's quasi-definitive history of drum 'n' bass -- which makes sense because the artist formerly known as Clifford Price was the brand name of this dance subgenre in the period after his 1995 debut, Timeless, brought hyper-breakbeats to the masses, and before dozens of other studio recluses got into the game. In this two-CD survey of jungle's fall and rise, Goldie's selections are sturdy, if slightly innocuous. Ostensibly to remind you that he's underground and old-skool, he ignores obvious hits like his own smash "Inner City Life" and Innerzone Orchestra's influential "Bug in the Bassbin" in favor of two of his own lesser-known pre-'95 cuts ("Manslaughter" and "Terminator").

The compilation gets by with a little help from familiar friends like Roni Size, Grooverider, and various members of Goldie's Metalheadz posse. Unfortunately, the gold-toothed mixer pointedly ignores the genre's experimental fringe, including jazz-jungler LTJ Bukem and whacked-out fusionists like DJ Wally and Squarepusher. Ultimately, INCredible Sound of Drum 'n' Bass is less a study in drum 'n' bass and more a demonstration of what Goldie does best: repackage the work of other artists under his own name.

-- Patrick Bryant