This week, I thought I'd do some flashbacks to records which profoundly influenced my own music career. Especially looking at the late '90's, immediately prior to forming Fidgital in 1999.

It's early 1998. I've become a big Coldcut fan, immensely turned on by the "Fuck dance, let's art!" esthetic of their 1997 album, Let Us Play (which should have its own flashback review). I know they run Ninja Tune but I haven't delved too deeply yet. Enter Funkungfusion, a stlyishly packaged double disc set for the irresistible price of $11.

So even before listening, I ponder the title. Is it "Funk & Fusion"? Is it "Fun Kung-Fu"? Is it "Fun Confusion"? Yes, yes, yes, all these things. The liner calls it "a phasechange at the edges of hip hop, techno, jazz and outrock."

So I put it on. Immediately I'm hit with Chocolate Weasel's wild 5/4 electro Music for Body Lockers. Then a double hit of Amon Tobin, showing off both his dark spastic cinematic drum & bass, plus his sinister velvet downtempo jazz-hop. Only 15 minutes in and I know this may be the best compilation record I've ever heard.

The end of the '90's was a rich time for the Ninjas. They were transitioning from the later-copied-by-everybody trip hop sounds of their early releases, but not quite into dichotemy they fell into in the very early 2000's, where everything seemed to be either deep modal jazz or underground hip hop. In 1998, Ma Ninja was playing with every sound and doing things no other label had done before (at least not with the semi-commercial success enjoyed by the Ninjas). We weren't quite to the stage where their tunes were on half the car ads on TV. Actually, I believe Mr. Scruff makes his Ninja debut on this compilation.

So who do we have? Kid Koala with Money Mark, Luke Vibert, Roots Manuva, DJ Vadim, Up, Bustle & Out, Cabbageboy (AKA Si Begg), Neotropic, J. Swinscoe (soon to found The Cinematic Orchestra), DJ Food, The Irresistible Force, Burnt Friedman, and the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto. Plus double hits from The Herbaliser, Funki Porcini and The Clifford Gilberto Rhythm Combination. And even more.

High points include Mr. Scruff's hilarious Ninja debut Fish and The Prunes epic (if you can do epic in under 5 minutes) symphonic hip hop remix of Theme From Conquest of the Irrational. Goateee (Part 1) clearly shows the path to The Cinematic Orchestra, even featuring Tom chant on sax. The original version of The Crow contained here is superior to the version on Kaleidoscope, again foreshadowing how PC would eventually become part of The Cinematic Orchestra. I Wish I Was A Motown Star might be considered "smooth jazz" were it not for its Squarepusher-influenced nu-jazz drill & bass production.

A seeming one hit wonder, PAC 3 is some of the best drum & bass I have in my collection - positive and atmospheric, but driving and danceable without being too esoterically fragmented. Why didn't this project yield anything else? Can anybody tell me more about Override?

So, how to rate this? On an average song rating basis, I'd say four stars. But the sheer volume and "bang for buck" of this compilation cannot be ignored. 30 tracks, most of which have dated extremely well. Whatever your Ninja tastes, you could pick your favourite dozen on here (actually, that could be difficult, given so many great tracks) and make your own iTunes album. Or pick the many tracks not available anywhere else.

The bottom line is that this one of the best compilations you'll ever find. Certainly my favourite of all the many good Ninja Tune compilations. And definitely one of the albums which most influenced my music career. Thank you, Ma Ninja!

Four and a half stars.