After two highly rated and billion-selling instalments (well, highly rated anyway) from DJ Food/DK and Hexstatic, it was time for The Herbaliser to step up to the plate with their 'Herbal Blend'. The series is inspired by the long running 'Solid Steel' radio show which has good claim to be the first show to throw just about every genre of music into the continuous mix. There's quite a few eclectic mix CDs out there now - but as our homegirl Carly Simon once sang 'nobody does it better, baby, you're the best'

The Herbaliser are ace production duo Jake Wherry & Ollie Teeba and they have two distinct sides to their story. There's the many headed funk machine that is The Herbaliser live band that has rocked sweaty crowds worldwide and then there's the rootsier turntable set with head honchos Jake & Ollie just mashing things up old skool DJ style. On this CD you get them in DJ mode showcasing their influences and favourites and, hell, just tracks that sounded good with the other tracks. The chaps take us on a whirlwind tour dropping everything from spooky film soundtracks, classic hip hop, greasy funk, go-go and even party monsters like 'Groove Is In The Heart'. All beautifully mixed with the Solid Steel extras you've come to expect like custom made tracks, edits, special intros and plenty of scratchy biznizz.

The mix kicks off with the deep and spooky 'Laying The Trap' from the rare 'Gator' soundtrack - a film starring our favourite moustachioed slaphead Burt (not Bert) Reynolds. Rather than just play the track, Jake & Ollie experty lay an acapella from their last album over it and suddenly we have a whole new flavour. Other highlights include a fantastic blend of 'Fuck The Police' by Jay Dee with 'Sucka MCs' AND 'The Number Song' by Shadow, political beatmongering from Steinski, exotic funk by legendary female bassist Carole Kaye (just Google her) and strange and wonderful soundtrack histrionics from Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra.

The icing on this extemely tasty (hash) cake is provided by the custom made intro, featuring a mini mash-up of Herbaliser career highlights and a fantastic set-closing bootleg of 'World Destruction' by Timezone married to the boys' own 'Missing Suitcase'. As we said, everyone can do an eclectic mix, but not many people can do a 'Solid Steel' mix - The Herbaliser officially joined the club.

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