''Colours'' is the debut studio album by English drum and bass producer

Adam F Adam Fenton (born 8 February 1972) is an English record producer and DJ who has worked across various genres. He is also the co-founder of the drum and bass label Breakbeat Kaos along with DJ Fresh. He found initial success with the 1990s drum ...

. It was released on 3 November 1997 through Positiva Records. The album features collaborations with

Tracey Thorn Tracey Anne Thorn (born 26 September 1962) is a British singer. She is best known as being one half of the duo Everything but the Girl from 1982 to 1999. She was a member of the band Marine Girls between 1980 and 1983 and since 2007 has bee ...

(from

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Wat ...

), Grooverider, MC Conrad and

Ronny Jordan Robert Laurence Albert Simpson, known professionally as Ronny Jordan (29 November 1962 – 13 January 2014) was a British guitarist and part of the acid jazz movement at the end of the twentieth century. Jordan described his music as "urban jaz ...

. The first single from the album, "Circles", was initially released in 1995, but did not chart until its re-release in 1997, when it entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and peaked at number 20. Other singles from the album included "Metropolis" / "Mother Earth", "F-Jam", and "Music In My Mind". Upon release, the album reached number 47 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Composition

The album comprises drum and bass music, taking inspiration from

LTJ Bukem Daniel Williamson (born 20 September 1967), better known as LTJ Bukem (), is a British drum and bass musician, producer and DJ. He and his record label Good Looking are most associated with the jazzy, atmospheric side of drum and bass music. ...

, Lalo Schifrin and

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is a British music producer and DJ. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musician in t ...

's album '' Timeless''. Adam Fenton (Adam F) produced the album with equipment including the

Akai S1000 The Akai S1000 is a 16- bit, 44.1 kHz professional stereo digital sampler, released by Akai in 1988. The S1000 was among the first professional-quality 16-bit stereo samplers.Russ, Martin (2004). ''Sound Synthesis and Sampling''. Elsevier. p ...

, Yamaha SPX90, Kurzwell K2000, and the Atari 1040STE. The Roland VP-330

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

was additionally used for the vocals of "Music In My Mind". English musician and album inspiration

's voice appears briefly in the intro for "Mother Earth" in the form of a voice message sent to Adam F. "The Tree Knows Everything" features vocals from

, but was originally written as a guitar song by Fenton in his teenage years. "Circles" samples the opening of "Physical Thing" by

Blackstreet Blackstreet (often stylized as BLACKstreet) is an American R&B group founded in 1991 by record producers Chauncey "Black" Hannibal, and Teddy "Street" Riley. The group has released four albums with Interscope Records until 2003. They achieved ...

, vocals from " Going in Circles" by Tameka Starr, and melody from "Westchester Lady" by Bob James. The title track, "Colours", features British acid jazz guitarist

. ''7243 8 21725 1 2''

Release

The album's first single, "Circles", was first released in 1995 through Section 5, but did not chart until its re-release in 1997 with remixes from

Roni Size Ryan Owen Granville Williams (born 29 October 1969), better known by his stage name Roni Size, is an English DJ and record producer. He came to prominence in 1997 as the founder and frontman of Roni Size & Reprazent, a drum and bass collective. ...

and

Andy C Andrew John Clarke (born 7 April 1976) is a British DJ and record producer and is co-founder of RAM Records, a pioneering label in the drum and bass genre. Music career Early years Andy C was a DJ in his own right but gained a strong reputa ...

. This release reached number 20 on the national

, and number one on the

UK Dance Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record s ...

. "Aromatherapy" was a single released in 1996, with a seven-minute edit included as a bonus track on most editions of the album. "Metropolis" / "Mother Earth" and "F-Jam" (featuring MC Conrad) were also released in 1996 as singles, with the latter reaching 100 on the UK Singles Chart and 18 on the Dance Chart. The final single, released after the album in 1998, was "Music In My Mind". The album was released on 3 November 1997 and reached number 47 in the

. It was released with differing covers: the vinyl version has a greyscale variant, the original CD and cassette versions have a blue cover, and other CD releases of the album have a cyan cover. Bonus tracks for the album included "Aromatherapy", "Circles" (

mix) and "Metropolis" (Doc Scott mix). "Colours" is omitted from the US release, both "Colours" and "The Tree Knows Everything" are omitted from the vinyl version.

Track listing

Notes * "The Tree Knows Everything" vocals by

. * "Dirty Harry" remix by Grooverider.

Personnel

Adapted from liner notes *

enton – writing, production, synthesisers, percussion, vocals, piano, keyboard, bass guitar *

– vocals on "The Tree Knows Everything" * Bob James – writing (sampled) in "Circles" * Grooverider – remix, additional production in "Dirty Harry" *

– guitar in "Colours" * MC Conrad – vocals on "F-Jam" *

– answerphone vocals on "Mother Earth" * Tim Philbert – writing, bass guitar *

Jeremy Stacey Jeremy Stacey (born 27 September 1963) is a British drummer and keyboard player. His early works included the 1990s band The Lemon Trees (with twin brother Paul Stacey on guitars, Guy Chambers and others) and Denzil. He has also played with ...

– drums * Spry – percussion * Pete Shrubshall – saxophone, flute * Dave Ital - guitar *

Julian Joseph Julian Raphael Nathaniel Joseph (born 11 May 1966) is a British jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and broadcaster. Biography Joseph was born in London and attended Allfarthing Primary School and Spencer Park Secondary School in Wan ...

– electric piano * Damon Brown – trumpet *

James McMillan James (or Jim or Jimmy) McMillan or MacMillan may refer to: Sportspeople * James McMillan (footballer, born c. 1866) (c. 1866–?), played for Sunderland * James McMillan (footballer, born 1869) (1869–1937), played for Scotland,Everton and St ...

– trumpet *

Ben Watt Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt (born 6 December 1962) is a British musician, singer, songwriter, author, DJ and radio presenter, best known as one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Early life Watt was born in Marylebone, London, and grew ...

– additional production * Grey Lester – guitar * Andros – percussion * Nick Cohen – bass guitar * Nick Moss – saxophone

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1997 debut albums Drum and bass albums