With props to Jonnattan Bongwater.
Join me on the journey. One Essential Mix at a time.
Listening to and reviewing all 1997's Essential Mixes
- Edited
I chose 1997 because it was the year I got properly into dance music, having been an indie kid before that (as everyone was, really, during the Britpop days)
01-05 The Wiseguys & Derek Dahlarge
I remember The Wiseguys being a bit of a shitty big beat act, sampling old skool hip-hop, kind of a rubbish Fatboy Slim/Monkey Mafia act. I wasn’t wrong. A cinematic opening, then into Talking Heads with a load of annoying scratching over the top. Derek Dahlarge was basically a club scene heavyweight nutter in the Alex P / Brandon Block category whose antics you would read about in Mixmag. Never saw him play.
The Wiseguys
- Vienna Philarmonic - Siegfried’s Funeral March
- Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime
- Headcrack 3 - Don’t Stop It
- Doug E Fresh - Bonus Lesson No. 1
- The B Boys - Two, Three, Break
- Biz Mackie - Something For The Radio
- Big Daddy Cane - Raw
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - White Lines
- Original Flavour - Can I Get Open
- Threat - Let The Dogs Loose
- Yagg Fu Front - Busted Loop
- DJ Smash - Bossanova
- Coffee Breaks - Yes We Can
- Todd Terry - Hard As Hell
- MC Lyte - Paper Thin
- Bagga Worries - Ride De Punany
- Nubian Crackers - Do You Wanna Hear It
- Chi-Ali - Funky Lemonade
- Uptown - Dope On Plastic
- Digital Underground - No Nose Job
- MC Shan - Juice Crew Law
- Style - The Assasinator
- Malcom McLaren - Buffalo Girls
- DJ Shadow - Orgon Donorz
- Sugar Bear - Don’t Scandalise Mine
- KOBX/Kenny Dope - And There Ain’t
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - On The Wheels Of Steel
- Afrika Bambataa & The Soulfuric Force - Planet Rock
- Son Of Noise - Master Of Menace
- DJ Prince Ice - Freestyle
- Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - White Lines - 89 Pt 2
- SL Trooper Featuring Sweet Pea - There It Is
- Twilight 22 - Electric Kingdom
- Kenny Dope Presents Power House 3 - Making A Living
- She Rockers - On Stage
- Outlaw Posse - The Original Dope
- Zeb Roc Sci & Steber Twins - Breaker’s Revenge - 93
- Arthur Baker - Breaker’s Revenge
Derek Dahlarge - Tommy Gee - Drums Of Thunder
- DJ Food - Mella (Drive Faster Herbaliser Mix)
- Phantom Breaks - Breaker’s Revenge - 93
- Cut’n’paste - Watch Me Rollin - From Street
- King Of The Freestyle EP - Get On It
- Headlamp - Tabasco (Natural Mix)
- DJ’s Project - Funk-Da-Fried Party
- Monkey Mafia Featuring Patra - Work Mi Body (Ceasefire Mix)
- Bootiful Bounty - Old Skool New Skool EP
- Old School Immortal - Mash Up
- Hard Hop Heathen - Beat Bastik (Ceasefire Mix)
- Bloodsuckas - Radio Athletico
- Shangri Las - Walkin - In The Sand
- Nonchalant - 5 O’Clock
Kind of a ‘fun’ mix that I will probably never listen to again. The Wiseguys mix bangs in parts but the flow is ruined in parts by lobbing in annoying samples, and really obvious (tacky) track choices: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - White Lines, Malcom McLaren - Buffalo Girls etc. Everyone was putting out these types of mixes in ’97. 6.5/10
Dahlarge is more of the same but even worse, so pairs well, but is elevated by some really nice squelch at around 23 minutes which saves it from the shame of a 5. Final score: 5.5/10
Appreciate the effort Dave, but doubt ill be listening to stuff from 1997 because the average 145 BPMs will be for meth heads.
- Edited
Doc Martin 01-12
Now we’re talking. A quality house mix for the first hour, sounds like it’s done in one take with no studio editing, which is what you’d expect from Doc Martin. Nice to go back to these mixes and hear surface noise from the vinyl. Proper house mix. Tips over into slight cheese occasionally. Feel that this could be one of the mixes of that year, though. A solid 8/10 and would probably listen again.
Joe Smooth - He’ll Lift You Up (Mike Dunn Mix) [ABM]
Global Communication - The Way [Dedicated]
Jay Naz - All Bridges Lead To Brooklyn (Mix ?) [Hot ‘N’ Spycy]
Byron B - Rude - Burke - Take U Back [Continue Music]
Scotti Deep - Brooklyn Beats (Mix ?) [Henry Street]
Donna Summer - Melody Of Love
Byron Burke - Rude Train [US Maxi]
Funky Green Dogs - Until The Day [Twisted]
Paul Jacobs - Soul Grabber Pt. 2 [Aquarius]
Crime - Breaking Point [Nuphonic]
Reel Houze - No Difference [Zoom - 035]
Mighty Dub Katz - It’s Just Another Groove (I Think That We Should Get Back Together) (Discfunktional Remix)
Doc Martin Presents Discfunktional & BlakDoktor - Free [Moonshine]
Josh Wink - Are You There? [Ovum]
Cevin Fisher - Mas Groove [Maxi]
Victor Calderone - Give It Up [Cyber]
Carlton - What’s So Funny (Mix ?) [BPM King Street Sounds - 1049]
Lambda - Hold On Tight [Red - 011]
Kings Of Tomorrow Featuring Densaid - I’m So Grateful (Mix ?) [Slip ‘n’ Slide - 32]
Kings Of Tomorrow - Fade II Black (Mix ?) [Yoshitoshi]
A Man Called Adam - Que Tal America [Prescription]
DJ Seamus Haji - Big Bang Theory (Mix ?) [Kult - 056]
Revival 3000 - The Mighty High (Mix ?) [Hi Life]
Kramer Dashwood - What Has Been Joined By God [PG]
Nu Yorican Soul Featuring Jocelyn Brown - It’s All Right, I Feel It [Talkin’ Loud]
Cant stand all that Funky Green Dogs shite, I had mates that would literally turn down the music mid session to let everybody know the next track IS THE NEW ONE FROM FUNKY GREEN DOGS. It was usually a room full of monged casuals at that point, having the best night of their miserable lives in some 8×10 kitchen and usually a sign that their time at the “party” was soon coming to a close before the sweet opening bars of Sasha’s remix of Horse Careful cleansed the atmosphere and sent them out of harms way.
“PEASY AND BLOCKO ROCKING YOUR SOCKS OFF!” - 01-19
This is absolutely stellar and I love the True Romance dialogue snippets peppered throughout (along with the above shout). A mix that absolutely captures the madness and energy of the main room at Cream or Godskitchen those days. 10/10 (or 0/10 if you’re Hugo or some other bore)
- Descent - Moonblower [Colors - 019]
- Van Haze - The Workout [Main Room - MR 8]
- Natural Born Grooves - Grooveblind [Heat - 002]
- Hole In One - Life’s Too Short (Live At Paleis Mix) [Manifesto - FESX 21]
- Brainbug - Nightmare [Additive - 12AD 007]
- 2B Continued - Laydown (S’N’S Remix) [Aspro - 014]
- OCP - Play D Music (Tidy Trax UK Gold 12″ Edit) [Satellite City - SCITY 003]
- Madam Friction - Bonkers [Nukleuz - PSRP 0025]
- Fred & Ginger - The Jam Must Go On [Freebass - FRBS02]
- Future Files - Babytalk [South Of Sanity - SOS 001]
- Gogo - House Of Love [Cyber Records - CR 010]
- Duke - So In Love With You (Full Intention Mix) [Pukka - 12PUKKA11]
- Liquid Art - Xplorer [Hook Recordings - HK017]
- DJ Gogo - Love Is My Passion [Cyber Records - CR 012]
- Extract - Take U To The Inside [Yeti Records - YR 9635]
- Technocat Featuring DJ Scott - The Journey [Steppin Out - IAN054T]
- Vinyl Vandals - 2-3 Break [Vinyl Vandals - 001]
- Mankey - Double Trouble [Slamm - 06]
- Chunky Mother - Cold Stone Lover [Rokstone - 12 RKR 5]
- ? - Strong Island
- Hip Hop - Renegade?
- Slacker - Scared [Loaded - LOAD 43]
Link us up UMB, some of us might like to listen along.
Played this to death on my old Maxwell C120 cassette tape.
https://www.1001tracklists.com/tracklist/1d2uh491/nick-warren-essential-mix-1997-02-23.html
Dave, what are the odds on this thread becoming a “This is my favourite Essential Mix of all time” thread? Or a “My best Night ever in Ibiza was….” thread? Or a “Live essential mixes were better than studio mix essential mix weeds” thread?
Brainbug Nightmare 
LT42 monged casuals at that point, having the best night of their miserable lives
Amps Link us up UMB, some of us might like to listen along.
I don’t know if I can post links to torrents here, apologies @mono-stereo
OK, so joking aside, this probably is a genuine 10.
01-26 Grooverider
01 Sufi – The River (Boymerang VIP Mix) [Regal]
02 PFM – Cruising Detroit [Moving Shadow]
03 Matrix – Fluid Motion [New Identity]
04 The Quartet – Nevada [Pivotal]
05 Krust – Soul In Motion [Full Cycle]
06 Boymerang – Mind Control [Regal]
07 Dom & Roland – Time [Moving Shadow]
08 Future Forces Inc & Fierce – Constant [Renegade Hardware]
09 Codename John – Warned [Higher Ground / Prototype]
10 Lemon D – City Lights [Higher Ground / Prototype]
11 DJ Die – Special Treat [V Recordings]
12 Alex Reece – Out Of Time [4th & Broadway]
13 Matrix – Mute [Higher Ground / Prototype]
14 Optical – Sever! [Virus]
15 Cybotron Feat. Dillinja – Light Years [Prototype]
16 Photek – Ni Ten Ichi Ryu [Science]
17 Decoder – Fuse [Elementz]
18 Nasty Habits – Shadow Boxing (Remix) [31 Records]
19 Lemon D – Going Gets Tough [Prototype]
20 Bally Sagoo – Tum Bin Jiya (Grooverider Dub Mix) [Higher Ground]
21 Capone – Paradise [Hardleaders]
22 LTJ Bukem – Music (Peshay Rework) [Nexus]
23 Subject 13 – Jazz Style [Creative Source]
24 Matrix – Junk [New Identity]
25 Krust – Brief Encounters [Full Cycle]
26 Optical – What’s The Difference? [Virus]
One of the best drum n bass mixes I’ve heard, big drums everywhere (especially Photek’s Ni Ten Ichi Ryu). Relentless liquid funk and big, dark drums.
Dave laying his soul to bare.
Feel like I’m rubbernecking.
Is there a safe word?
I don’t know if I can do the whole year. Can I hand the baton over to someone else for the Feb mixes? @Mad_Cyril ?
Talking of 1997, Michael Jordan was on the verge of his second three-peat. Did you get the tattoo around this time or after he had completed the feat?