Totalling some five CD’s worth of music of vital, historical importance is this next compilation curated by Terry Farley scanning the timeline from 1985 to 1991. Put simply, this is beyond essential if you’re listening to House Music (of any variety) in 2014 and want to dig that bit deeper. But back to the beginning with ESP’s early classic’ ‘It’s U’ featured on the opening disc, as indeed each CD contains its weight in gold via House Music’s finest American exports that went onto inspire a generation, and this is where it all started. Acting as companion to the equally brilliant selection on last year’s, ‘Acid Rain’ it’s the sheer breadth plus depth of the songs and trax on here which proves to be so breathtaking. Some of these records you may already know, some you may well not, but either way this blast from the past has so evidently informed the future. It’s hard to know exactly where to begin but here’s some personal favourites to whet your appetite: Ragtyme feat. Byron Stingily ‘I Can’t Stay Away’, The Night Writers ‘Let The Music (Use You)’, Bobby Konders ‘Nervous Acid’ and Blake Baxter’s sleazy masterpiece, ‘When We Used To Play’. You need to own this.
5 out of 5
Reviewed by Greg Fenton
