Various Artists - 'You Don't Know: Ninja Cuts' (Ninja Tune) Released 10/03/2008

Stick the candles to the cake and wrap those pressies. Ninja Tune are eighteen years young. To mark the occasion, here comes the fifth instalment in the revered UK label’s compilation series. And an appropriately named tour through the label’s (and affiliates Big Dada and Counter) wares it is, too, as few listeners can possibly be intimate with the many, many sides of Ninja Tune, from no-nonsense bangers to sedate crooners and all points in between, unveiled here, especially considering the abundant rate of rarities the comp contains.
 
Perhaps to showcase how much the imprint’s archives have ballooned with each passing year, ‘You Don’t Know’ is served in a portion so heroically generous – 4 and a half hours on three stuffed-to-the-gills disc – few labels could dream of filling all the abundant space without dipping into also-rans folder. Sadly, ‘You Don’t Know’ does on occasion arrest its critical faculties, parade as it does the badly aged, the downright disposable and the frustratingly baffling choices from otherwise superior combos alongside the genuine gems with the beaming pride of a relative who subjects long-suffering visitors to an extended flick through even the snottiest, most embarrassing childhood pics packed in a musty old photo-album.

But the occasional stumbles are easy to overlook whenever ‘You Don’t Know’ hits the fifth gear. The pretty strict quality control means you’re never further than a few tracks away from another killer, making ‘You Don’t Know’ for the most part a face-stuffing feast for the ears. Roots Manuva, Ty, DJ Shadow, Spank Rock, Wiley – we’re talking of an all-star line-up here, whilst the less obviously Ninja Tune-friendly choices (Pop Levi’s ace ice-cool Prince-isms on ‘Dita Dimone’, Fink’s John Martyn-flavoured horizontal tech-folk and the Heavy’s Curtis Mayfield-referencing electro-soul) prove the label can flourish miles outside its dance and hip hop comfort zones.

There’s promising hints of future greatness here also, boding well for comp number six: a previously unreleased, pulsating live track from the Cinematic Orchestra suggests that the stilted MOR melodrama of collective’s lifeless ‘Ma Fleur’ album was an unfortunate one-off, whilst the Bug’s ominous ‘Poison Dart’ (featuring new dancehall champion Warrior Queen) provides Ninja Tune’s dubstep baptism with startling results.