Various Artists: Ministry Of Sound, The Annual 2010
Various Artists: Ministry Of Sound, The Annual 2010
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By Michael Younger. |  |
Wednesday, 04, Nov 2009 02:38
Ministry Of Sound, out now.
In a nutshell...
The most famous name in dance music takes the pulse of the scene.
What's it all about?
Can it really have been 14 years since the first Annual? Back in the mid-90s, London nightclub Ministry of Sound was four years old and had risen to the very top of the dance music tree. Creating the Annual was an inspired move for what became a global brand. It offered teenagers who could never pass through the doors of the London venue a chance to hear the sounds of the rave in one album. Meanwhile seasoned clubbers need not own a pair of decks in order to hear that special remix.
Who's it by?
The nightclub Ministry of Sound is one of the fathers of the UK club scene, having been in operation since 1991. Back then it offered a simple and direct clubbing experience: a huge dancefloor and the best DJs playing through a colossal 140dB sound system. Today the brand spans continents and is a watchword for commercial dance music.
As an example...
There has been a winning formula in mainstream dance music for some time now. Take a nagging piano riff, marry it to a monster bassline, and add a female vocalist to swell the chorus, and you should be guaranteed European success.
No greater example this year exists than the release from Eurohouse supremo David Guetta, When Love Takes Over. Here former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland sings the usual uplifting stuff about... well... love taking over, and there being "something here tonight".
Likelihood of a trip to the Grammys
Christmas is around the corner and there are stockings to be filled. Back in the heyday of compilations the Annual was a guaranteed shoe-in for the number 1 slot in the album charts. Today the internet offers house music fans plenty of places to hunt for tunes, and its impact may be lessened. Be in no doubt however that top ten success is still assured for one of the giants of the genre.
What the others say
Unsurprisingly for a compilation, reviews are more sparse than usual. The only critical review of note comes from Virgin.com, which praises the release for keeping the listener's attention. "No two songs are the same," it trumpets, and "with three CDs full of hits, there is no weak one."
So is it any good?
The longevity of house music is an extraordinary thing in popular culture. Who would have thought that what started as a niche in 1980s music would still be alive and kicking three decades later? Part of the appeal of the genre are all the different flavours, in spite of a rigid 4/4 structure. Today's house music is always recognisable alongside its earlier cousins, yet sports its own contemporary signature. The three discs of The Annual make a very good stab at chronicling this sound explosion.
This year's crop appear to have fused pop with Euro trance and big beat to produce a hybrid chart-topping monster. The first disc explores this and contains every hit from the scene. Stand-out tracks include Holiday by Dizzee Rascal and I'm Not Alone by Calvin Harris, and the emphasis is on big tunes. The boundaries between genres are further blurred by the inclusion of tracks from indie scenesters such as Jack Penate, Friendly Fires and Bloc Party. All acts however have one thing in common. The music is epic.
And the floorfillers just keep on coming with the second disc, which concentrates on the urban strain of house music in remix form. This year's buzzword has been the re-emergence of garage music as 'UK Funky' and its flavours permeate this bouncy disc. For those who might feel this is all a bit too sunny, the third disc takes us into far darker territory with enormous speaker-shaking bass. The broken rhythms of beatmakers such as Crookers and Sharam sit naturally with old timers such as the Prodigy and Snap.
What makes this one of the best Annuals is the fizz and inventiveness of the new tunes alongside snapshots of house music heritage. It's bizarre that such as well compiled CD is unmixed, yet this takes little away from what is an excellent guide to the dance music of 2009.
8/10
Marcus Dubois