richard norris was a big part of the acid/ambient scene.
through his further alias he released a wonderful ambient album, 5 further journeys that has been a regular playlister @ ireallylovemusic hq for many years. however, it was alongside fellow electro-pop maestro, dave ball of soft cell fame and fortune that he formed the grid. the duo found a route into the pop world, combining techno infused pop-dance moods and all manner of weirdness in the mix, they even hit the charts with swamp thing and obviously had a great time.
i never got any of the records as they had a slightly cheesy vibe about them, and for me there was only room in my collection for one post-acid house cheesy pop band, the shamen, but i cannot deny the sheer brilliance of this remix by the global communication team. ambient to the extreme and downright gorgeous bearing no relation at all to the source material.
interestingly, richard has recently resurfaced with hipster-with-all-the-right-connections, erol alkan, under the excellently named beyond the wizards sleeve alias (more detail : here), and seems to be making beautifully atmospheric styled music once again, even remixing the latest midlake single, roscoe, into a sublime piece of throbbing ambient pop.
but that is now, and this was then.