Various Artists - Dance Mixes Volume 1

Show

Full Frequency,

Published

Wednesday 12th December

Label: Seamless Recordings/Stomp

The Seamless label in the UK has decided to employ the services of the man who compiled the awesome Mastercuts series in the 1990s and put out its own compilations in the same vein, drawing together genre-defining tunes from various styles. Ian Dewhirst’s taste and knowledge has already provided Full Frequency with a 2007 feature album through the Classic Hip Hop release and now we get two CDs of tracks that helped create the modern phenomenon we can broadly call ‘dance music’.

Quite plainly, the dancefloor influence of these tunes from the early 1980s (such as Class Action’s Weekend – famously remixed by Todd Terry, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life that was covered by King Britt, and offerings from the likes of Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, D Train and Jocelyn Brown) ushered in the heyday of clubbing at places like The Paradise Garage and gave birth to house music and, in turn, most of what has followed.

Yes, there’s a little cheese here but it wasn’t so cheesy in its day and if you let go and enjoy the sense of fun and abandon of the tunes, you’re bound to have fun. And, if you’re not too familiar with the origins of house and similar genres, this would be a fun way to get something of a history lesson. Essential listening either way.

*This was Full Frequency feature album for the week Monday 10 December to Friday 14 December