The Solid Steel soul train keeps on rolling - but this time Mr Scruff takes control and promptly steers us down his own branch line marked 'horse costumes, real ale and pies ahead'.

In a slight departure from the current 'one night stand' mind set of the series this mix will be the first in a ongoing collection from the Scruffy one intended to reflect the vastly varied music and all round good vibes of his own 'Keep It Unreal' club nights.

After delighting dancefloors worldwide with his marathon DJ sets (5 or 6 hours being the norm) we decided that we just couldn't limit the chap to a solitary 74 minutes, so we've given him his own mini series (a bit like Joey from Friends, only much better).
Look out for a Faberge designed jewel-encrusted box set (or similar) to put them all in when he's done. Oh, and by the way, this is Mr Scruff's first ever commercially available mix CD. Hard to believe isn't it?

A lot of things have happened since a young Andy Carthy started answering to the name Mr Scruff - making a name for himself under the shadow Manchester's mid 90s club scene. Not only has he released three critically acclaimed albums, including 2002's monstrous 'Keep It Unreal', but with countless tours and club events he has cemented his 'legendary' DJ status (an accolade thrust upon our self depreciating hero by his adoring public, rather than media based analysts).

Just this year he has toured Australia, New Zealand, Japan (twice), North America (twice), and the UK, as well as his residencies in Manchester and Brighton. This is a DJ that can sell out the 1600 capacity London Forum armed only with his records, some turntables and a few spare packets of teabags.
The 'Keep It Unreal' nights undoubtedly form the attitude of this mini-series, as like the night itself, it will cover a large range of genres and moods, all tied together with Mr Scruff's sheer love of great music and supreme but unflashy DJ skills.

Although there is no specific musical plan for the series, this first CD is a rock solid foundation for the others to build on and covers in it's 74 minutes bouncy reggae, classic hip hop, deep soul, rare funk, dancefloor jazz, heavy beats and leftfield electronic nuggets.

The set kicks off with some Scottish reggae from Mungo's Hifi in the form of 'Ing' before moving on to a sensational 'Back In the Day' section where Andy not only finds four records built around a 'going way back' theme but makes them sound like they were born to be mixed together. The whole CD is peppered with hard to find but brilliant cuts like the classic hip hop of UTD, Showbiz and AG and The Demon Boyz to the UK street soul gem 'Tell Me How' by Sarah Winton. There's rare orchestral funk by the Peddlars and Luis Enrique and handpicked selections plucked from the archives of micro independent labels like Omniverse and Orange Egg – none selected for their oneupmanship qualities, but more because they 'frimble' and 'make you go wibbly', as Scruff would put it.

In typical Mr Scruff style this mix is one that would entertain anyone from the most hardened of trainspotters to the most newly initiated Scruff fan. Once again it's Mr Scruff's skill as a selector, programmer and presenter of music that enables him to transport one and all on his musical rollercoaster with him. The crust on this particularly hot and tasty pie is the triple unmixed vinyl version. We've begged the copyright holders to send us clean original master tapes of the tracks used in the mix and we are delighted to present you with the biggest slice (thanks to the tireless work of the Ninja licensing department).

This enterprise is all about the music and Scruff wants you to own these tracks in their original, pristine showroom condition too.Unfortunately Scruff's DJ skills come a little less easy to package, so you'll just have to get practising on the ones and twos yourself. Can't wait for part two? Neither can we.
------------------------------------------------------------------------