Entries Tagged as 'Classix Edition'
November 18th, 2008 · 1 Comment
As I wrap up this last set from 2000, I can’t help but think about all the people and places I’ve left behind to pursue a better life for myself. Unfortunately, things don’t always work out the way I envision, they seldom do. As I previously stated, you have to remember the worst to get to the happy memories in your life. Certainly completing this mix has brought back many of those memories and if anything, it has been cathartic. People often ask “why do I even bother”? Other than the fact that I have this unquenchable thirst for house music, I frankly don’t know. It certainly isn’t for the fame and fortune; and it definitely isn’t for the love I get back from you guys, because with the exception of a handful of you, that just doesn’t ever happen. The truth is, when I was pulling in 50 - 60 hours a week at work with another hour and half on the road back and forth, I was still getting up at the crack of dawn to squeeze in some mixing. Then I’d burn a cd everyday just to have something to listen to on the way to work. It’s what fueled me and still does.
As these days get shorter, colder and darker (thanks to our idiotic daylight savings policy that fuck’s with my sleep patterns) I can’t help but think where Rick and I will be next year. I just got back from one of my ‘head clearing roadtrips’ I take from time to time. That’s where I hop in my car and just drive to wherever it takes me. Sometimes I get lost, but I always find my way back home. Actually, I’ve been doing that since I was sixteen, when I would get up in the middle of the night, take the car and just drive. It’s comforting in a weird sort of way, that I can’t explain; hitting the highway and leaving the lights of the city behind offers some sort of peace that I often can’t find among the busy streets lights and the whirling sounds of sirens, typical of living in a big city. Though I would never trade that in for small town America again, it’s nice to just escape from the world every once in a while. With gas prices dropping significantly, it makes it even easier to justify (though that never stopped me). However, don’t say anything to the oil companies, or they may raise prices again…LOL. I do want to mention that one of our readers was recently hopitalized, but is now out. His partner posted on his Facebook page that he’s doing better, but will need some time to recover. For those of you that believe in the power of prayer, please keep him in your thoughts.
And finally, about this mix. While you still have your big room, hard hitting power spins in this final mix, you also get a decent sampling of other styles that were moving the floor. From the electro-funk rock of Groove Armada’s classic “I See You Baby” to the Latin flavors of Afro Medusa’s “Pasilda” (watch out for the amazing ATFC remix that just came out or even hunt down the equally hot Seamus Haji mix from a couple of years back), my tastes didn’t move in any single direction. 2000 was the year that brought us one of my all-time favorite uplifting positively speaking hotties, Georgie Porgie. His “Life Goes On” was a top five club hit and laid the ground work for a series of number one club hits that have continued to this day. It was also the year that Olivia Newton-John was having sort of a comeback. Finally, she was able to gather her early country/pop hits and compile them with the rest of her catalogue for the most complete offering of her repertoire ever. Being a gay icon, you know someone had to go back and serve up some remixes. I remember dropping Victor Calderone’s remix of “Hopelessly Devoted To You” during Last Splash; with its pounding signature beats, it drops about 3 minutes into the song leaving the whole floor looking dumbfounded. Then the unmistakable vocals come in and everyone just goes bananas. That, was pure magic. While I was originally going to close this set with the massive “One More Time” by Daft Punk, I decided that Olivia would be more fitting. “Xanadu” the other OJN offering of the year was just plain fun. Granted, I could have done without all of the snippets from the movie sporadically dropped throughout the song, it sure made a lot of crabby queens happy. Luckily, with today’s editing software, I was able to remove it all and just left the clip from the beginning of the song with no loss of continuity. I think I may just make a bunch of you queens happy all over again.
I guess that’s about all I got for now. Stay tuned over the course of the next week for some deviation projects (mixes) that I’m wrapping up to fill out November. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and as always, ENJOY!
Album : Party Favorz 2000: Classix Edition Disc : 4/4 Genre : Circuit, Mainstream, House, Classics Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:40:58:00
Track : 1 Title : Life Goes On (Richard F’s Le Spank Remix) Artist : Georgie Porgie Position : #4 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 2 Title : Above The Clouds (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Anthem) Artist : Amber Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 3 Title : Dreamin’ (Shellshock Reconstruction Mix) Artist : Loleatta Holloway Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 4 Title : Bingo Bango (David Morales Latin Bango Mix) Artist : Basement Jaxx Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 5 Title : Pasilda (12′’ Illicit Mix) Artist : Afro Medusa Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 6 Title : I See You Baby (Fatboy Slim Remix) Artist : Groove Armada feat. Gram’ma Funk Position : #12 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 7 Title : Independent Women Part I (Victor Calderone Club Mix) Artist : Destiny´s Child Position : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 8 Title : Think It Over (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Mix) Artist : Jennifer Holliday Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 9 Title : Be With You (Thunderpuss Club Mix) Artist : Enrique Iglesias Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 10 Title : Same Script, Different Cast (Friburn & Urik Cover Your Ears Mix) Artist : Whitney Houston & Deborah Cox Position : #4 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 11 Title : That Sound (Full Intention Club Mix) Artist : Michael Moog Position : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 12 Title : One More Time (House De La Funk Filtered Club Mix) Artist : Daft Punk Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 13 Title : Xanadu 2000 (Steve Anderson & His Merry Mirrorball Men Mixshow) Artist : Olivia Newton-John Position : N/C Purchase : Unavailable
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
Epic, momentous, ostentatious are just some of the words used to best describe a majority of the productions coming out in 2000. And why not? After all, it was the new millennium, the beginning of another 100 years. With all the predictions that it was going to be the end of days and that January 1st would be the day that time stood still, what better reason could you have for making it the grandest party of all time? As DJs began to really make a name for themselves, each one tried to topple the other with the biggest, fattest and longest mix as possible. After his “momentous” remix of Jennifer Lopez’s “Waiting For Tonight” the year before, Hex Hector was leading the charge with Thunderpuss 2000 not far behind. That’s not to say there weren’t any other massive tunes of the year, because there were. DJ Tiesto quite possibly churned out a career defining remix for Delerium’s “Silence” featuring Sarah McLachlan; that is until a few years later when he posted another massive tune on his mantle by The Roc Project’s “Never (Past Tense)” featuring Tina Arena, but that’s for another post. Even Victor Calderone turned Sting into a dancefloor sensation with his unlikely rework of “Desert Rose” featuring Cheb Mami. Nevertheless, it was all about the Hextor! From 1999 forward, you could pretty much count on Hex to whip up the seasonal classic that would have everybody shaking their ass and pestering the DJ to play that song, over and over. This year’s winner was from the former Spice Girl, Melanie C. whose “I Turn To You” was an instant classic. Hypnotic, catchy as friggin’ hell with a deep trance-like thumping beat you just couldn’t escape from. No doubt, the guy was at the top of his game. You couldn’t even walk into a club without hearing one of his big productions blasting from the speakers. Whoever said everything should be in moderation was dead wrong! In this case, EXCESS is definitely BEST! Enjoy!
Album : Party Favorz 2000: Classix Edition Disc : 3/4 Genre : Circuit, Mainstream, House, Classics Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:38:41:00
Track : 1 Title : Music (Deep Dish Dot Com Remix) Artist : Madonna Position : #1 (5 weeks) Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 2 Title : I’m Not In Love (DJ Skribble & Anthony Acid Trance Club Mix) Artist : Olive Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 3 Title : Love One Another (Rosabel Vocal Anthem) Artist : Amber Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 4 Title : Desire (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Mix) Artist : Ultra Nate Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 5 Title : Feelin’ So Good (Thunderpuss Club Mix) Artist : Jennifer Lopez Position : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 6 Title : I Will Love Again (Hex Hector & Mac Quayle Main Mix) Artist : Lara Fabian Position : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 7 Title : Silence (DJ Tiesto In Search Of Sunrise Remix) Artist : Delerium feat. Sarah McLachlan Position : #6 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 8 Title : I Turn to You (Hex Hector Club Mix) Artist : Melanie C Position : #1 Purchase :
Track : 9 Title : She Bangs (Hex Hector Club Mix) Artist : Ricky Martin Position : #27 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 10 Title : Desert Rose (Calderone Melodic Club Mix) Artist : Sting feat. Cheb Mami Position : #1 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 11 Title : Spanish Guitar (HQ2 Mix) Artist : Toni Braxton Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
It’s almost 2:00 am and I couldn’t get any sleep, so I decided to go ahead and put up the next installment of the Classix of 2000. The mix was already complete a couple of days ago, so all I had to do was split the tracks and create this post. I don’t think I’ll begin the third volume until Monday or so. If you remember, I got some goodies in for my computer earlier this month. The easiest things like the additional memory and the new hard drive have long since been installed, but I was saving the more time consuming difficult part (at least for me) installing the new massive heatsink for a quieter day. Tomorrow has been designated as that day. If I don’t come back in a few days, you’ll know something went horribly wrong…LOL. I’m not anticipating any problems, but then again, I am quite possibly the unluckiest person living on this earth…swear to god!
This mix is comprised of some massive, and I mean MASSIVE club tunes from the year. Certainly “Dive In the Pool” by Barry Harris feat. Pepper Mashay was one of the largest tunes of the Millennium. What’s funny is that I was all over this song when it first came out and decided to drop it for the first time at “Last Splash”. The first night I played it, it just about cleared the dancefloor. The second night, reactions were more favorable. Generally, that’s not good enough to go forward with a song, but I really believed in it. So, I dropped it the third night and all of a sudden everyone just GOT IT! Already climbing the charts, the song was bolstered by the American version of “Queer as Folk” where it was featured on the closing credits for like the first five episodes. After the first time, it was in high demand all the time. Strangely, the song never hit number one on the club charts but peaked at number two and stayed there for two weeks. Ultimately, Madonna’s HOT “Music” leaped right over it and took the top spot for five weeks. Nevertheless, because this was an original production, Barry must have made a pile of money off of this one song alone. It was shortly after that, that he and Chris (Cox) went their separate ways only to have Barry just drop off the face of the earth. Seriously, if anyone knows what he’s up to these days, I’d really like to know. Sure he did a couple of things after that, but he never had the success of this offering and hasn’t been able to touch Chris’s success yet.
Another massive offering was from Sonique. “It Feels So Good” was just one of those hook laden songs you just couldn’t escape. Honestly, the breakbeat version was the one everyone clamored for, but I was always partial to the “serious mix” as well, featured here. Then of course we have the bubblegum dance pop of Eiffel 65’s “Blue”, the ‘I’m in need of a guy song’. Hey, why else would he be so blue? That song coupled with “Mambo No. 5″ was enough to make me want to hang myself, but you gotta give the people what they want even if it gives you acid reflux.
In 2000, we also saw the return of Ann Nesby. Most of you may not be familiar with her, but she is famous for her early seventies soul hit which she wrote “I Can’t Stand the Rain”. That song alone has been covered by just about everyone and their mother; more notably by Eruption’s amazing disco version in 1978 and Tina Turner in 1984. It was also sampled by Missy Elliot and was her first big hit in the mid-nineties. Though Ann was most notable for her top twenty hit, she was also the lead singer of the gospel group Sounds of Blackness who also scored several huge club hits in the nineties. Here, Ann flies solo with a remake of an underground disco classic originally performed by Brainstorm. I only know this song, because it was prominently featured at the beginning of the movie 54 (of which I am a HUGE fan). Let’s put it this way, she rips this mother apart!
“I can’t catch no man Hangin’ out at a discotheque But I believe in the boogie Oh, but the boogie don’t believe in me”
“I can’t catch no man Hangin’ out at a discotheque But I believe in the boogie Oh, but lovin’ is really my game Well, lovin’ is really my game Well, lovin’ is really my game Well, lovin’ is really my game”
Priceless!
Well, that’s all I got for everyone this morning. Whether you were watching or at any of the college football games or demonstrating against Prop 8 across the nation, I hope everyone had a great weekend. I should be back hopefully on Tuesday with volume 3. Until then…ENJOY!
Album : Party Favorz 2000: Classix Edition Disc : 2/4 Genre : Circuit, Mainstream, House, Classics Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:45:24:00
Track : 1 Title : Vienna (Lenny Bertoldo Club Mix) Artist : Linda Eder Position : #21 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 2 Title : Dive In The Pool (X-Union Mix) Artist : Barry Harris feat. Pepper Mashay Position : #2 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 3 Title : If It Don’t Fit (Thunderpuss 2000 Club Mix) Artist : Abigail Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 4 Title : Planet Love (Friburn & Urik Vocal Mix) Artist : Taylor Dayne Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 5 Title : Show Me (Johnny Vicious Club Mix) Artist : Angel Clivilles Position : #1 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 6 Title : It Feels So Good (Serious Remix) Artist : Sonique Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 7 Title : Fly Away (Bye Bye) (Extended Yeeeeeah Mix) Artist : Eyes Cream Position : #1 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 8 Title : 2 Times (Original Extended) Artist : Ann Lee Position : N/C Purchase : Beatport
Track : 9 Title : Blue (Da Ba Dee) (Hannover Remix) Artist : Eiffel 65 Position : Purchase : iTunes
Track : 10 Title : I Never Knew (Hani Anthem Vocal Mix) Artist : Deborah Cox Position : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 11 Title : I’m In Love (Johnny Vicious Club Mix) Artist : Veronica Position : #1 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 12 Title : Lovin’ Is Really My Game (Thunderpuss Club Mix) Artist : Ann Nesby Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 13 Title : Don’t You Want My Love (Rosabel’s Cha Cha Club Mix) Artist : Rosabel feat. Debbie Jacobs Position : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
By the end of 1999, things started to unravel for me. I lost one of my best friends from high school to colon cancer (yes it even happens to young guys), another to AIDS and another one committed suicide on New Years Eve. Two weeks into the new year, my father had a stroke and I had requested some time off from work to help out in the family business. They denied my request, so I resigned. Talk about a mistake. I was a supervisor for DirecTV and was up for area manager. I could have probably had my own center in a year. My position was that this was family and my father is like my best friend. However, I probably wouldn’t do that again since good jobs were hard to come by and I should have worked something else out.
Also for the first time in my life, I fell in love. I know this because I have never been a jealous person. That is, until some fat fuck comes up to me in the bar to let me know my boyfriend poked him on top of his pinball machine. Pete (my first real love) was a typical bachelor going to college, clerking at a law firm and always wanted a pinball machine; so that was his first big purchase despite lacking anything else in his apartment. He was dark, tall, thin and handsome in a geeky kind of way. We both shared the same birthday and I completely adored him. As you can probably guess, that relationship ended, but not until I sent him a very cruel email at his work address. Generally, I am not a vindictive person, but I was so consumed with jealousy and rage, I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. The drugs didn’t help either, but that’s a story that best be left alone. I had bought him a really nice leather coat for Christmas, the kind that looks like a blazer which I ended up throwing in the garbage can after running into him at a Christmas party. David (another story that will receive a mention in my next Classix Edition), a useless friend at the time retrieved it from the dumpster out back and kept it for himself. Thankfully, I later had the opportunity to sit and talk with Pete and offer up a sincere apology. It was necessary because I had hit him where I knew it would hurt. He told me he had only cried once in his life (when his mother passed away); that is until he got that email. While we never became close friends, we were at least friendly afterward. It was funny because David was wearing the jacket that evening and Pete commented how nice it was. I told him it was HIS Christmas present that ended up in the dumpster. We both had a good laugh. I sometimes think about him and wonder what he’s up to. I wish him the very best and hope he gets everything he wants out of life.
Three songs on this first mix fully represent me in 2000; EBTG’s “Temperamental”, Alice Deejay’s “Better Off Alone” and Angelmoon’s “He’s All I Want”. I began to regret every introducing the latter song into the club, as it was the #1 request for well over a year. Talk about torchering myself…LOL
“Six o’clock in the morning I open my eyes and think about you I thought it was like a never ending fairy tail And I am alone in my bedroom, looking at the ceiling thinking about what we have or we done I was thinking about our life together Thinking about our love And the only thing I know is That I’m in love with you That I’m in love with you”
-Angelmoon “He’s All I Want”
“This temperamental side, The one you say that you can’t hide. D’ you ever see yourself - The way it looks to someone else? Do I just waste my time? You pour your heart on mine. You think it screws you up. Forgive me if I don’t wait up.
I don’t get what you’re trying to say - What is wrong and what’s okay. You beat yourself up one more time. You trample on this heart of mine.
I don’t want you to love me. I don’t want you to love me.”
-Everything But The Girl “Temperamental”
Yeah, 2000 was definitely a rollercoaster year for me, full of lessons lived and learned. The only kind that can be understood from making regrettable mistakes never to be repeated again. Unfortunately, I had to hit rock bottom first; and that didn’t happen until 2001. So the story will continue sometime next year when I get around to the next Classix Edition. Don’t worry, I promise not to tell all and make everyone all weepy-eyed like I am right now. After all, this is supposed to be a happy post dammit!
So as we take another stroll down memory lane, ask yourself what your were doing in 2000. Hopefully it was all good or at least better than me…LOL I hope you enjoy this as much as I did making it, because the songs contained over these four mixes really bring back some great and painful memories all at once. Hey, you gotta take the good with bad, right? I’ll be staggering the remaining volumes over the course of the next several days. Until my next post…ENJOY!
Album : Party Favorz 2000: Classix Edition Disc : 1/4 Genre : Circuit, Mainstream, House Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:29:20:00
Track : 1 Title : American Pie (Calderone & Phenomenon Mix) Artist : Madonna Peak : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 2 Title : Don’t Want Another Man (Victor Calderone Roxy Anthem) Artist : Dynamix feat. Tina Ann Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 3 Title : I Learned From The Best (HQ2 Club Mix) Artist : Whitney Houston Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 4 Title : Missing You (Mindtrap Remix) Artist : Kim English Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 5 Title : Stronger (Johnny Vicious Club Mix) Artist : Kristine W Peak : #1 Purchase : Perfect Beat
Track : 6 Title : Your Child (Junior Vasquez Remix) Artist : Mary J. Blige Peak : #1 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 7 Title : Temperamental (Ralphi Rosario Remix) Artist : Everything But The Girl Peak : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 8 Title : Stop Playing With My Mind (Full Intention Club Mix) Artist : Barbara Tucker feat. Darryl D’Bonneau Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 9 Title : Better Off Alone (Pronti & Kalmani Vocal Remix) Artist : Alice Deejay Peak : #1 Purchase : Unavailable
Track : 10 Title : King Of My Castle (Roy Malone Mix) Artist : Wamdue Project Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 11 Title : Don’t Call Me Baby (Original 12′’ Mix) Artist : Madison Avenue Peak : #1 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 12 Title : He’s All I Want (Cappery Mix) Artist : Angelmoon Peak : #45 Purchase : Unavailable
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
Well, I got up this morning and began splitting the songs when I realized that I had already used Kristine W’s ‘One More Try’ in my previous 90’s Classix Edition. Shit! What was a girl to do? Being the resourceful little bunny that I am, I went back to the original mix and added ‘Land Of The Living’ to the beginning and removed ‘One More Try’ just after Jennifer Holliday. The problem was that I used the long slow intro to ‘No More I Love You’s’ following Kristine. So, I went back and got Junior’s longer mix and had come to the realization that the intro was going to have to go. Now the problem was the Annie song. Junior essentially used the actual song lyrics for a build up to ‘Take Me To The River’ Annie’s remake of a classic from the same album. That’s fine however, the only inclination of what the actual song is supposed to be is when he drops in the verse. He did the same thing with Kristine’s ‘Land Of The Living’ but obviously that was left in tact as it made for a dramatic beginning to the mix. At least in that song, he retained all of the elements of the original. I realize no one really gives a rat’s ass, but I just wanted to show everyone how seriously I take this stuff. Yeah, I could have left it the way it was and hoped that no one realized this was a repeat, but I can’t stand lazy DJs and wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I did. After all, this is about bringing together a moment in time; so what would be the purpose of repeating that same moment over again?
Generally, I like to take my time and comment on certain songs, but my brain has been awash in politics this past week and I haven’t really focused on anything else except adult duties as they arose. So please forgive my lack of storytelling this go around even though I had a really good Kristine W one, which will have to wait for another day. Hey, it’s Saturday and believe it or not…I DO HAVE A LIFE! LOL.
I just want to remind everybody that next week will be my last post for a while. I’ve invited several DJs to fill the gap while I’m away and I think it will be refreshing to have other people come on and show off their talent. During that time I’ll be trying to put my MySpace and Facebook pages together and make this site compatible with the Firefox browser since I know many of you use it. I didn’t realize that my format is all screwed up when viewing my site with Firefox, and I can’t have that. I might even throw in a review or two during my sabbatical. In the meantime, any DJs interested in contributing a mix to this site can email me through the ‘About Me’ section of this site and I’ll send you the details.
For those of you in the U.S., have a great three day holiday and everyone else get out and have a great weekend, the cold weather isn’t that far away, brrrr. I guess that’s all I got for now, so until next weekend…ENJOY!
Album : Party Favorz 90’s: Classix Edition v2 Disc : 2/2 Genre : Club, Classics, Dance, House Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:16:36:00
Track : 1 Title : Land Of The Living (Junior’s New Vocal Mix) Artist : Kristine W Peak Position : u Year : 1996 Purchase : Out Of Print
Track : 2 Title : You Only Have To Say You Love Me (Rosabel Classic Club To Dub Mix) Artist : Hannah Jones Peak Position : u Year : 1998 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 3 Title : Move Your Body (Original Club Mix) Artist : Ruffneck feat.Yavahn Peak Position : k Year : 1996 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 4 Title : Don’t Lose The Magic (Morales’ 12′’) Artist : Shawn Christopher Peak Position : u Year : 1992 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 5 Title : Found A Cure (Full Intention Club Mix) Artist : Ultra Nate Peak Position : u Year : 1998 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 6 Title : 100% Pure Love (Original 12′’ Mix) Artist : Crystal Waters Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Beatport
Track : 7 Title : Professional Widow (Armand Van Helden’s Star Trunk Mix) Artist : Tori Amos Peak Position : u Year : 1996 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 8 Title : People Hold On (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Mix) Artist : Lisa Stansfield Peak Position : u Year : 1997 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 9 Title : Your Loving Arms (Soundfactory Vocal Mix) Artist : Billie Ray Martin Peak Position : u Year : 1995 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 10 Title : No Frills Love (Moran’s Anthem Mix) Artist : Jennifer Holliday Peak Position : u Year : 1996 Purchase : Out Of Print
Track : 11 Title : No More “I Love You’s” (Soundfactory Mix) Artist : Annie Lennox Peak Position : u Year : 1995 Purchase : Masterbeat
Track : 12 Title : Find Another Woman (Main Club Mix) Artist : Reina Peak Position : k Year : 1998 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 13 Title : I’m Leavin’ (Hex Hector Club Mix) Artist : Lisa Stansfield Peak Position : u Year : 1998 Purchase : Masterbeat
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
Album : Party Favorz 90’s: Classix Edition v2 Disc : 1/2 Genre : Club, Classics, Dance, House Year : 2008 Total Time : 1:19:38:00
Track : 1 Title : Strike It Up (Original Mix) Artist : Black Box Peak Position : u Year : 1991 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 2 Title : It’s Gonna Be A Lovely Day (Palladium House Anthem I) Artist : The S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. Peak Position : u Year : 1992 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 3 Title : The Lover That You Are (DJ’s Rule Remedy Remix) Artist : Pulse feat. Antoinette Roberson Peak Position : u Year : 1996 Purchase : Out of Print
Track : 4 Title : I Get Lifted (Armand’s Lift Me Up Mix) Artist : Barbara Tucker Peak Position : u Year : 1995 Purchase : iTunes
Track : 5 Title : Caught In The Middle (Def Classic Mix) Artist : Juliet Roberts Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 6 Title : Give It To You (Momo’s Klub Mix) Artist : Martha Wash Peak Position : u Year : 1993 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 7 Title : Something Goin’ On (Tee’s Remix) Artist : Todd Terry pres. Martha Wash & Jocelyn Brown Peak Position : u Year : 1997 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 8 Title : Joy (Love Joy Vocal Mix) Artist : Staxx Of Joy Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 9 Title : Feel What You Want (Junior’s NY Xtended Vocal) Artist : Kristine W Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Perfect Beat
Track : 10 Title : Shoulda Coulda Woulda (Def Club Mix) Artist : Sherree Ford-Payne Peak Position : N/C Year : 1996 Purchase : Out of Print
Track : 11 Title : Keep On Jumpin’ (Extended Mix) Artist : The Lisa Marie Experience Peak Position : l Year : 1996 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 12 Title : Moving On Up (MK Movin’ Mix) Artist : M People Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Amazon
Track : 13 Title : Dreamer (Junior Vasquez Sound Factory Mix) Artist : Livin’ Joy Peak Position : u Year : 1994 Purchase : Amazon
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
It’s that time again for another Classix Edition, and what a thrill it was to compile this mix! First, I’d like to offer a brief history lesson in house music to bring those of you (like me) that missed out up to speed. The early 80’s reeled in a major backlash against disco. The naysayers claimed disco was dead, and the metal heads were having infamous bon fires burning disco records in an attempt to disparage and rid the format from the nation’s airwaves. While they partially succeeded, the truth is, disco never died, it just went underground. Fueled by the gay community, we weren’t going to let it die a painful death. The early eighties ushered in a new era of affordable synthesizers and drum machines, thus allowing just about anybody to create their own music without a five piece band. As a result, a new sound called “NRG” began to emerge. One of the biggest artists at the time was Shannon with her major hits “Let The Music Play” and “Give Me The Night” which were major club anthems at the time and now considered classics. By the mid-eighties, another form of dance began to emerge called House Music. By retaining many of the classic elements of disco, and moving away from the more sterile synthesized sound of NRG, it was able to capture the warmth and breadth of what was once disco. While Madonna didn’t fully embrace it until 1990, she enlisted the very talented Shep Pettibone to remix the hits from her acclaimed album “Like A Prayer” for the dancefloor. Around the same time artists such as Inner City and Sybil were enjoying massive club hits that began the process for top 40 radio airplay. By the end of 1989, Soul II Soul breached that divide with the massive house classics “Keep On Movin” and “Back To Life” (the latter hitting number one on Billboards singles chart). Ultimately, this paved the way for artists such as Dee-Lite, Cathy Dennis, Crystal Waters, Lisa Stansfield and Robin S amongst others to not only have success in the clubs, but at radio as well. With the Black community also embracing this new form of music, we also witnessed the birth of hip hop which infused many of the elements of house with break beats and eventually rap. As you can see, the entire disco movement of the 70’s was evolutionary if not revolutionary as it continues to evolve into many hybrids this very day. The old saying “what goes around comes around” has never been more evident.
In an effort to recapture a period in time I lost due to a overly guarded relationship, I’ve been buying classics that I’ve missed out on since the early nineties. I started purchasing used CDs on Amazon and Ebay back in 2002. Now companies such as Strictly Rhythm and Nervous Records have been releasing their back catalogues to the online music services. Still, much of this music is unavailable and website’s such as “Burning The Ground“, “Club Classics“, “Dance Music Forever” and “Retro Remixes” are doing an outstanding job of bringing back these long lost gems. I don’t plan on reviewing or rating any of these songs, because each and every one of them has secured its place in house music history, and is a classic in its own right. However, you might want to check out my amusing personal anecdote about “Gypsy Woman” by Crystal Waters.
Frankly, this is quite possibly the hardest mix I’ve attempted yet. Much of the structure of these songs is similar to that of their disco brethren from the seventies. When a mix exceeded 8> minutes, the DJ usually added a short break in the middle that most people would mix out of. However, by doing this you sacrifice a portion of the song that was essential to the original. Other times when mixes came in at about 6< minutes, the DJ would just fade the mix. So, in an effort to retain the integrity of the original songs, I mixed out when possible and other times I employed a DJ trick by using a drop fade. Regardless, the overall feeling of continuity remains. It dawned on me, that Hed Kandi’s “Back To Love” series which contain remastered classics in their entirety are never mixed, probably for this very same reason. To get a truly professional mix by today’s standards, you would have to create new loops for each song providing a more DJ friendly intro and outro. As it stands, this took a very long time to complete, and frankly there just isn’t enough time to begin that process. By the late nineties, DJs such as Hex Hector, Club 69, Thunderpuss and Victor Calderone began taking advantage of the break in the middle and utilized it to greater effect, thus retaining longer play time on the floor while providing a more DJ friendly intro and outro. It’s a practice most DJs use today.
I also want to suggest that you turn off any “loud” enhancement on your MP3 or car stereo players and/or lower the bass on your home entertainment’s subwoofer before playing these mixes. While the songs purchased through legal channels have been remastered for today’s playback devices, the CD rips from the original discs are pretty sub-par quality. Consequently, I went back and painstakingly remastered each song to match anything that I had already purchased. Expect a very tight bass with added higher frequencies and expansion. I just don’t want anyone blowing their speakers much less their eardrums.
Finally, I’ll be fixing some issues with the blog this weekend and will begin writing reviews for new CDs that are pertinent to this site and/or the gay community starting with Donna Summer’s latest “Crayons” this next week. I figured it was time to start expanding the site to other areas of possible interest. I’ve also finished the first mix for the next installment of my House Edition, and boy oh boy is this thing HOT! I’ll have that out just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, which will officially kick off summer…yippee! After that, my release schedule for mixes will be every other week, as I’ll start spending more time with my new blog “Tired Of Towing the Line“. I hope everyone has a great weekend and as always…
Enjoy!
Track : 1 Title : Love You All My Lifetime (House Mix) Artist : Chaka Khan Peak Position : u Year : 1992
Track : 2 Title : Are You Satisfied? (The Tao Of Def Mix) Artist : The Daou Peak Position : q Year : 1994
Track : 3 Title : Happenin’ All Over Again (Jewel & Stone Club Mix) Artist : Lonnie Gordon Peak Position : u Year : 1993
Track : 4 Title : Just Another Dream (Club Mix) Artist : Cathy Dennis Peak Position : k Year : 1990
Track : 5 Title : Where Love Lives (Come On In) (Sound Factory Mix) Artist : Alison Limerick Peak Position : l Year : 1991
Track : 6 Title : One Night In Heaven (Club Mix) Artist : M People Peak Position : u Year : 1994
Track : 7 Title : Push The Feeling On (The Dub Of Doom) Artist : Nightcrawlers Peak Position : p Year : 1993
Track : 8 Title : (I Wanna Give You) Devotion (Trouble’s Underground Mix) Artist : Nomad Peak Position : u Year : 1991
Track : 9 Title : Everything Is Gonna Be Alright (Chuff Chuff Dub) Artist : Sounds Of Blackness Peak Position : s Year : 1994
Track : 10 Title : I’ll Be Your Friend (Original Def Mix) Artist : Robert Owens Peak Position : u Year : 1992
Track : 11 Title : Melody Of Love (Junior Vasquez DMC Remix) Artist : Donna Summer Peak Position : u Year : 1995
Track : 12 Title : I Want You (Monster Club Mix) Artist : Juliet Roberts Peak Position : u Year : 1994
Track : 13 Title : Deeper And Deeper (Shep’s Deep Makeover Mix) Artist : Madonna Peak Position : u Year : 1993
Tags: Party Favorz · Classix Edition
