John Digweed - Choice: A Collection of Classics

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  • Azuli have done quite well with their Classics series, with the likes of Derrick Carter and Tony Humphries presenting a selection of their favourite tracks from yesteryear. The focus now turns to another pioneer in the DJ front, with John Digweed presenting his Choice: A Collection of Classics. It’s quite a highly anticipated collection this, considering Digweed is behind some absolutely classic mixed already such as Renaissance and Northern Exposure. The mix starts off beautifully to be perfectly honest with ‘Hoomba Hoomba’ by Voices of Africa and continues on with the delicate melodies and beats of ‘Floatation’ by The Grid. One of the highlights of the album features next when the seductive baselines of T Tauri’s ‘Joy to the World’ slowly build the groove early on. There is great variety in this disc, shown by the smooth vocal house sounds of The Peech Boys and ‘Don’t Make Me Wait’. The brilliant smooth house and vocals of ‘Your Wildlife’ provide yet another great highlight of this first disc, a disc so far filled with solid house. The Midnight Club mix of ‘Security’ by The Beat Club provides a cheeky 80’s electro cut that will provide a bit of a shock. The mix really starts to lift a gear towards the end, firstly with the storming Euphoric Mix of ‘Mercurial’ by Euphoria and then the deep groovy baselines of ‘We Came In’ by the classic Dance 2 Trance. The end of disc one is quite stunning, with great productions like ‘Desert Storm’ and the always impressive Underworld providing a nice deep end to the mix. The 2nd disc starts off where the first left with a fantastic deep start thanks to the Blue Mix of ‘Beautiful’ by Babble. David Morales provides a highlight with his remix of ‘Disappear’ by INXS and the juicy flow of disc two continues with another great house classic by DSK and ‘What Would You Do’. The moody ‘Back To The Beat’ by Reese & Santonio is arguably a high point of the album, thanks to some gorgeous haunting strings and a seductive vocal sample. The album really builds at this point, and the tracks are quite simply stunning, like the fantastic Def Mix of Jody Watley and of course the very brilliant and ridiculously classic Underworld Mix of Saint Etienne. The Young American Primitive provide a stunning title track to drive home the album, with some nice delicate percussion and haunting riffs. There is a taste of the old Paradise Garage with Larry Levan’s Mix of ‘Come On Boy’, and it’s followed by a deep hypnotic anthem by Secret Knowledge. IT is left to The Cure to finish it all off with the very tasty ‘A Forest’. I must say that as a very big fan of John Digweed, I was always interested to see what John’s current tastes were built on. Despite the fact that this album doesn’t have John’s early (late 70’s to early 80’s) taste, it does paint a great picture of the quality of House music in the 80’s and early 90’s, and as an album, it is a fantastic double mix to put on at any time. It is mixed quite well, with a variety of seamless mixes as well as drop mixes, and the flow is as you would expect quite flawless. The album comes highly recommended, and it is a rare chance to witness the tracks and tastes that have come to make John Digweed the great DJ he is. Tracklist: Disk 1 01. Voices Of Africa - Hoomba Hoomba 02. The Grid - Flotation 03. T. Tauri - Joy To The World (No Felt Mix) 04. Hypnotone - Dreambeam (Ben Chapman 12" Mix) 05. Smith & Mighty - Dark House 06. The Peech Boys - Don't Make Me Wait 07. Propaganda - Your Wildlife (Red Zone Mix) 08. The Beat Club - Security (Midnight Club Mix) 09. Sheer Taft - Cascades (Hynotone Mix) 10. Euphoria - Mercurial (Euphoric Original Mix) 11. One Dove - White Love (Scott Hardkiss Psychic Masturbation Mix) 12. Dance 2 Trance - We Came In 13. Desert Storm - Desert Storm 14. Abfahrt - Alone It's Me (Alley Cat Edit) 15. Underworld - Mmm Skyscraper I Love You (Jamscraper Mix) Disk 2 01. Babble - Beautiful (Blue Mix) 02. Waterlillies - Tempted (Apple Crumble Mix) 03. INXS - Disappear (Morales Mix) 04. Megatonk - Belgium (Nintendotone Mix) 05. DSK - What Would You Do (8 Minutes Of Madness Mix) 06. Reese & Santonio - Back To The Beat (With The Sound) 07. Jody Watley - I'm The One You Need (Def Dub Version) 08. Saint Etienne - Cool Kids Of Death (Underworld Mix) 09. Hi-Bias - Drive It Home 10. Young American Primitive - Young American Primitive 11. DJ H - Come On Boy (Larry Levan Mix) 12. Secret Knowledge - Sugar Daddy 13. The Cure - A Forest
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