After reading so many neutral and negative reviews of Saturnzreturn, you might be a little hesitant to pick the disc up. And I don't blame you. I was a bit nervous about listening to the record myself. Now I know where the problem lies.

In the fast-paced and crazy times of 1998, most folks aren't interested in anything long and drawn out unless it's a blockbuster film with multi- million- dollar special effects to keep them interested. Musically, 98% of the population has grown retarded (rock critics included), letting their short attention spans decide for them what's good and what isn't. Ultimately, it's led to the question most of us subconsiously ask ourselves before we drop our hard- earned cash on a CD. "How commercial is it?"

Goldie's sophomore release doesn't come anywhere close to fitting the guidelines of a commercial release, hence the bad rap. There are certainly moments here that we all could do without. The KRS-1- fronted "Digital" is more than a little irritating (speaking of 'bad rap...'), but again, that's a matter of taste.

See, Goldie may as well not have recorded anything but first track, the epic "Mother" 'cause people don't seem to be listening beyond it. It's so easy to just write off a 60- minute- long ambient journey as self- indulgent. But it's not self- indulgent; it's just long. And the track's length only adds to its incredible depth. In fact, the longer you immerse yourself in "Mother"'s glow, the more you can relate Goldie's fetal character singing "I can feel my mother... Surrounds me..."

Even if you can't get into it-- and it's gonna be that short attention span ruining the moment if you can't-- there's plenty of greatness to go around. "Temper Temper" is the soundtrack to those moments of sheer, unrelenting anger that we face on a daily basis; the beautiful "Letter of Fate," an open letter from Goldie to his mom, is like floating up to the sun and being able to touch it; the R+B/D+B jazz spaz of "Crystal Clear" is more than just a great dance track, and the transluscent imagery of "Truth" (in which David Bowie guests on vocals) is nothing short of fantastic.

Now comes the challenge: can you seperate yourself from your attention deficit disorder to soak in the spiritual mist of an album that speaks the way you dream? Yeah, it's asking a lot, but just so you know, it's worth it.

-Ryan Schreiber