After he started making house under his main Photek moniker, Rupert Parkes continued to make drum & bass under the name Special Forces.
Special Forces tracks are typically darker and more dancefloor orientated than Photek's complex beatsmithery, best demonstrated on his classic 'Modus Operandi' LP.
I missed 'Sidewinder' when it came out, but it's up there in quality terms with classics like 'Exocet' and 'Something Else (The Bleeps Tune)', with taut beats and a simply booming bottom end.
The flip features a fairly straightforward remix of 'The End' (which revisits/samples Parkes' own 'Can't Come Down' house track, from the 'Solaris' LP, which featured the legendary Robert Owens on vocals). All that's different from the original is a slight re-imagining and re-modulation of the bassline. (I once read a review of the original describing it as being akin to, "someone boinging the world's biggest elastic band". Have a listen here (bassline starts at 02.10). I don't think that's far off).Saying it's straightforward isn't a criticism in this case as 'The End' is one of my favourite ever drum & bass tunes.
As you can see from my much taped copy, I absolutely hammered the original (and it's B-Side 'Babylon') when it originally came out.
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