Compilation Albums

Everyone has a favourite. Everyone has a compilation album that they played to death, which they listened to all the time and had to buy an extra copy because they listened to it so much. If you’re old enough you will have bought it on cassette, vinyl (possibly), cd and now have the download. They are a reflection of what a certain club, DJ or record label sounded like at that very moment in time.

Released in 1995 on the Hard Times label and mixed Roger Sanchez.

Mine is the above – Hard Times – The Album. I’ve listened to it so many times that I’ve gone through 2 double cassettes and 3 double cd’s since it came out. The mix is a true reflection of the music played at Hard Times. Very US House – deep grooves, vocals, gospel house, dubs and exactly what the club sounded like on a Saturday night.

CD1 kicks off with MAW – I Can’t Get No Sleep. It doesn’t get much better when it comes to a vocal track or indeed a Masters At Work track. This tune sets the standard for the rest of the mix. India’s vocal to start the mix is sublime before being mixed into Ashley Beedle’s superb Jumpin at the Factory. For some there are tracks on the first mix that may have become overplayed or sound slightly dated now like Love Tribe – Stand Up, Bucketheads – The Bomb and S Man – Time 2 Stop or became a commercial hit like Delacy’s Hideaway but for me they are proper Hard Times tunes. Tunes that were played in the club and became Hard Times anthems and will still get played at the semi annual nights that Hard Times do.

Another tune on the first mix Sound Design – Bounce to the Beat which is a classic Hard Times tune. Sound Design is Todd Terry and was released on the Hard Times label as a double pack. It’s without doubt a Hard Times tune, it’s probably one of the most played tracks that I heard in the club and it still gets played and has also recently been remixed. 

The 2nd mix features so many fantastic tunes from Nu-Solution, Jasper St, Black Science Orchestra, the brilliant S Man got you in a trance mix of Tribal Infusion – Sumba Lumba, Frankie Knuckles, Incognito, Voices in my Mind, Michael Watford and like on the first mix finishes with Kathy Sledge.

In my opinion this is the best compilation album ever but I loved the club and Roger Sanchez so I am a bit biased.

After this album Hard Times released 3 more mix albums – A Night In The Life of Todd Terry which was a live recording of Todd Terry playing at the club with mostly tracks from his back catalogue of his productions and The Seasons albums (Green and Yellow) which were 2 really good albums from the residents.

Another absolutely monster of a mix is Sasha & Digweed – Renaissance – The Mix Collection. Even if you’re not into that Progressive House sound its still one of the best compilation albums ever. The whole mix builds and builds, it blends so well and its so well put together from start to finish. 2 or 3 versions of certain tracks blended effortlessly together like the start of the 1st mix which builds and builds over about 10 minutes from Leftfield – Song Of Life into Bedrock – For What You Dream Of.

Over the 3 cds there are so many stand out tracks. Sunscream – Perfect Motion, Remake – Bladerunner, Fluke – Slide, Virtualmismo – Mismoplastico as well as driving progressive tunes there are sublime vocal tracks like Kym Mazzelle – Was That All It Was, Shawn Christopher – Another Sleepless Night and of course M People – How Can I Love You More. 

The mix isn’t just full of upfront tracks, they throw in the odd classic track from previous years such as Moby – Go, 2 Bad Mice – Bombscare, EMF – They’re Here, Age of Love – Age of Love and My Friend Sam – My Pleasure.

The mix feels like a night at Renaissance listening to Sasha and Digweed mixing on the fly yet I’m sure this album was very much planned and thought about. It feels live, like they were pulling out tracks and just playing them which I think is one of the reason why it makes this compilation so good.

Renaissance continued to release mixes under the Mix Collection series. The Fathers of Sound mix was really good, very different to the Sasha and Digweed mix as it was a mix of US House, big vocals, dubs, deep house and that deep US mid 90’s house.

I can’t remember the last compilation album that I physically bought and not downloaded. Like buying vinyl I do miss physically owning something rather than having a download file on my phone or laptop. It doesn’t seem right to not have the double cd and booklet or choice what colour or texture your mix comes in that goes with a stunning mix. Or maybe it’s just me that’s old and should move with the times!!

I asked the question on my Facebook page about favourite compilation albums and got so many replies. So many favourites and varied compilations, some that I’d completely forgotten about, some that I love, some that I’d never heard before and some that I haven’t listened to in probably 15 years. 

There are/were so many great series of compilation albums too. Ministry of Sounds Sessions album were really good. Tony Humphries did the first one in 1993 and in total they did 29 compilations, although I thought they stopped when they did the Magic Sessions which was Sessions 12. The Sessions series featured the top US/Soulful House DJs around at the time – CJ Macintosh, MAW, Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Todd Terry, Roger Sanchez, Erick Morillo and finished with The Magic Sessions – which was released by Defected Records – before moving on to DJs like Derrick Carter, Sneak, Smokin Jo from 2005 onwards and move away from that Soulful/US House sound. 

MOS also had another series called Late Night Sessions which had a deeper house vibe but also had a more after party downtempo groove to the mixes, especially the X Press 2 mix. The pick of this series for me was the Farley and Heller mix – Session III. The mix is so good and flows so well. It has a groove, it has vocals, and it has King Britt, Francois K, Blue Six, Big Muff, Femi Kuti, Jon Cutler, Dj Romain and starts with 4 Tune – After Hours – its sublime. The whole compilation is class. I listened to this mix again this week and its as brilliant as it was when it first came out and it doesn’t sound dated too. The Femi Kuti track Beng Beng Beng is absolutely amazing. 

Other clubs followed suit. UpYerRonson released The Soundtrack with mixes from Graeme Park and Jeremy Healy. The Graeme Park mix is fantastic and like the Hard Times and MOS mixes totally sums up the US House vibe around 1995. The Healy mix was fun and full of energy at the time but sounds very dated now. Another brilliant Park mix was the Hacienda Play by 01 06 compilation. Again full of vocal US House/Garage over 2 cd’s. 

There were so many compilation albums being released mid/late 90’s – possibly to cash in on how popular House music was at that time. Clubs saw it as a way of pushing the brand, another way of making money and if done professionally it would be something that clubbers would keep and talk about forever. The albums started to come in presentation boxes, limited edition box sets, different coloured rubber cd sleeves, metal cd tins, double vinyl release, with booklets, free DVDs…

Cream also started to do the same as the above and released Cream Live which was a 4 dj mix showcasing the different genres that the club played over a weekend. I think this was one of the main crossover compilations that caught the attention of both clubbers and people who were not really into it but became interested after this album and the hype about Cream the Super club. After the Live album Cream started to release so many compilations, they really flooded the market and obviously saw it as a good way to make extra income for the club. 

As well as clubs record labels started to get in on the act too, as did any other company/product, and they started releasing compilation albums too. Every week a new set of compilation albums were being released. The market was flooded with them. Journeys by Djs, United DJs of America, Mixmag, Fantazia, Southport Weekender, Bar SuSu plus long standing series releases from Fabric and Global Underground (both (I think) still release compilations). Azuli Records started a really good series called Choice which was a collection of classic records chosen by the guest DJ such as Frankie Knuckles, Danny Tenaglia, Francois K, Louie Vega, Kenny Dope plus many more.

Defected Records have produced some fantastic albums over the years and still continue to release them. Some of the In The House mixes (released on both CD and Vinyl) are legendary. As a label they’ve released so many different compilations – Live at the Playboy Mansion, Connected, Deep Down and Discofied, Soul Heaven, Soulfuric Sessions, For the love of House, Most Rated and also the House Masters series which is a collection of the back catalogue of certain DJs like Louie Vega and is over 2 unmixed CDs.

They also run the night, release tracks and compilations for Glitterbox which is a disco infused, soulful, classic house and upfront House brand. The night in Ibiza is extremely popular and one of the busiest on the island. The line ups are immense and the parties looked fantastic. The label and compilations albums are very good and their latest compilation may be one that I will physically buy – although I don’t have a CD player at home to play it on!!

You can’t bring up the conversation about compilation albums without giving Hed Kandi a mention. They appealed to a certain market, they had club nights/tours across the world, the promotion, the DJs and they had the artwork to go with it. You knew a Hed Kandi night/compilation from a mile away. The music policy was Funky/Disco House but they also had a series of compilations called Stereo Sushi which were Soulful/US House tracks, all unmixed and also pretty good, as were the Back to Love series which were mainly classic house tunes. 

In 2001 a more downtempo eclectic mix series started called Back to Mine. Similar to the Choices series this was a series of guest compilers selecting their tunes for an after party session at theirs. It wasn’t just DJs that contributed artists such as Morcheeba, EBTG, Faithless, Groove Armada, New Order, Tricky, Pet Shop Boys, Krafty Kuts made it a really interesting and diverse series of mixes. The MJ Cole mix is so good.

These compilations are of a moment and cannot be replicated. Once you’d listened to them you would go and seek out the tunes (well I did!). The tunes on the albums became synonymous with that DJ or club too. Some of the albums now sound slightly dated but still attach special memories similar to the time you heard a certain tune, heard a DJ or saw a band. Whether you listened in the car, before or after going out, on your Walkman/CD player on your way to school or work you will always, at some point, go back to your favourite compilation album.