Most Enduring Commercial Mix Comps
I’m not sure anyone’s suggesting Oakey’s a brilliant mixer.
Quite the opposite actually.
Smallman1 I put Henry Saiz in the same category as Guy J and High Earning Hernan Cattaneo.
Horrific.
I have to admit I see it differently Smalls, after 25 years of listening I’m loving the Hernan sound the past two years and especially his sets with Nick Warren.
I know I’ll get some stick from those that haven’t listened to it and this set from Barutana last year is one of the very best I’ve ever heard ;
depends on your definition of “enduring” I guess, which I understand to be “lasting over a period of time, durable”
I chose those mixes that I could go to time and time again and they still hit the spot as if they were fresh….I think I did well.
If we go back to your list then the Nick Warren mix is horribly dated and the mixing is terrible, it’s certainly not enduring but an OK mix at the time. The Dave Seaman mix from the series flowed better IMO
The coldcut mix whilst outstanding from a technical perspective isn’t particularly easy listening and is too much mismatch of styles and genres. I prefer the FSOL mixes from back in the day.
I suggest your critique has lost the intended spirit of your original post.
I thought the lack of prog mixes in Zackster’s top 5 was an absolute outrage if I’m being honest.
303abuser yeah and any professional that thinks that’s acceptable needs to give their head a shake. nick warren’s first few gu’s were mixed live too (with mixed quality) and were way ahead of this garbage
Whilst I am a big fan of Nick Warren, it’s not right to compare his early mixes with New York. That mix is an absolute masterpiece and is the perfect time capsule of Oakley at his absolute finest. Say what you want about his technical ability and how he went off the rails from 2001, that set along with the 1999 essential mix world tour was a man at the peak of his powers and no one was near him at that moment, not even Sasha and Diggers.
Matty argue oakey’s cultural/musical influences and how much you enjoy them and enjoy looking back at the time and place. that’s all perfectly reasonable. there are tons of old mixes that aren’t very good from a technical standpoint that i still love.
in the context of “enduring” though, 007 is a shit show of mixing and programming and doesn’t belong in the conversation. my first demo cd that i did after dj’ing for about a year is leaps and bounds above the quality of this mix (not saying it’s anywhere near as good or anything, just comparing technicals). i re-recorded it 3 times because of mixes i didn’t like and those were probably better than the best mix between any two records on this comp. from that perspective it’s awful, there’s no defending it.
cant say I agree, I love the big prog sound with loads of melody and highs and lows.
I don’t think he’s transitioned well onto the mix comp CD for some reason except for the Renaissance Masters Series 17 which was superb.
Over the past few years though including his sets from Forja and the absolutely stunning set with Nick Warren at ADE he’s been the only DJ I get genuinely exciting to hear.