This album has picked its tracks with care. The selection is almost perfect - pure, unadulterated, enjoyable dance music is hard to come by under one roof, nowadays. But a collection that takes the trouble to call itself "The Definitive Encyclopedia Of Essential Dance Hits" does have a reputation to maintain, doesn't it?
Santana's "Smooth" (Dance Radio Mix), a number that won the award for Best Song Of The Year at the Grammies last year, written by Itaal Shur and Rob Thomas, and sung by the latter, kick-starts this explosive album. "Don't Give Up" by Chicane, aka Nick Bracegirdle, featuring Bryan Adams, is a track that's on the top of club music lists everywhere and has topped dance and pop charts in the UK, and Robert Miles' "Children (Dream Version)", the anthem of techno-pop, are some of the other tracks on this album. Deep Forest's "Sweet Lullaby", a hauntingly pleasant, ethnic raga, rubs shoulders with "Rigga Ding Dong Song", a fun, though mindless, track by Passion Fruit.
"Where Do You Go" by No Mercy, "Shake Your Bon Bon" by Latin singer Ricky Martin, "Waiting For Tonight" (Hex's Momentous Radio Mix), a track that became quite the rage at the dawn of year 2000 since it video-ed a scantily clad Lopez singing of the millennium New Year's Eve, are here as well. Besides, oldies like "It's My Life" by Dr. Alban, "Scatman" by Scatman John (a song that raced up the charts in the late 90s because of its speedily sung lyrics and modified bebop style), and "The Cult Of Snap", by Snap (a mix of Arabic and rap), are distinctive in sound. "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" by Eiffel 65, a must-play at any dance party, has been thrown in too.
With such choice songs arranged alluringly on a single platter, the album should have no problems with sales. A listening tip - the music can be heard just about anywhere, but sounds best at a party and in the car, especially on long road trips.
This article was first published on29 Nov 2000.