Dear Fellow Dance Music Lovers,
This blog brings you the best in Dance Music and Club Classics; from early 87 (back in the daze) through to the present day.
For all those who rocked it all night until the early hours, to those that lived for clubbing and couldn't wait for the weekend to arrive. Enjoy and leave any comments on the blog or contact direct by email at pureclubclassics@live.co.uk
I've posted a different version of this classic on the blog before, but there are also a couple of other amazing remixes of this track which are certainty PCC status.
This William Orbit remix is amazing, with so many different sections, to it.
It starts off slow and just so hauntingly beautiful and then really picks up the pace and goes off the wall crazy, then slows down a touch and then goes again.
What a remix. it totally engrosses you for the full 10 mins.
A big track for "The Man Like" (Sasha).
Really quality and very unique.
Enjoy!
Morgan King - I'm Free
(William Orbit Remix)
Now this version could almost be a different track.
It was the same amazing opening chilled vibe, but in this mix it stays chilled throughout the track and is just gloriously luxurious and atmospheric.
Depeche are one of the great bands of the modern era - fact, but there isn't too much of their music which truly translated across onto the dancefloors of the best clubs.
However, this is a real exception thank you to some amazing production by Brian Transeau.
BT was heralded as almost the saviour of dance music (at least in Sasha's eyes), but although some of his tracks were outstanding; many weren't.
This one however, is in the outstanding bracket and is a wonderful progressive journey that keeps you encapsulated from start to finish.
The Depeche vocals are superb throughout as you'd expect.
This is probably not one of her best, but damn fab all the same.
Moto Blanco are always pretty consistent with their remixing just managing to navigate that fine line between commercial/underground and generally keep their tracks clubby enough and not too poppy.
What do I think about this track, I'd say "Just Fine"
Pretty much loved everything Jay Kay did, he was one crazy Kat!
Especially when his tracks were remixed in fact I need to post more than I have done to date.
This one is just quality thank you to a fantastic disco-licious remix by the legend that is Dave Lee aka Joey Negro (perhaps the most prolific remixer/producer out there).
What you get is a great track - disco through and through, funky as hell with just a great vibe.
The one thing that always inspires me to continue posting on the PCC blog is coming across old favourites which really should have been posted a long time ago due to their PCC status, but for whatever reason have been overlooked, forgotten about or on the odd occasions gems I've never heard before.
This one falls into the old classics I'd forgotten about and is a cracking track laden with piano.
Z Factor are another alias of the omnipresent Joey Negro aka Dave Lee.
Another cracking track from Incognito with two very fine remixes.
Baby I love everything that you do.....for me!
This T-empo remix is excellent and a lot more housey than their customary epic remixes, it is nonetheless top notch and right up there with the high standard they set.
IMHO it outshines the S-Man remix which is also very good (as per usual).
Incognito were one of those music acts which were a bit dull for my tastes, but came alive when remixed effectively as Roger S has done on several of their tracks.
Another huge banger of a remix from my all time fave dance duo, the legends that were Chris and James.
One of the great perks of running this blog back int' day was "meeting" them through it and having their contribution and input.
This is in their traditional remix vane, just an absolute banger with lots of great piano and so much uplifting energy.
Chris and James made some amazing, amazing tracks many of which are posted on the PCC blog.
It always saddens me that they not truly got the acclaim their musical genius deserved.
However, they can bask in the glory that their tracks and utterly timeless and still sound amazing to this very day.
Hats off to you chaps!
I'll be giving you my body and my soul!
P.S. If you've never checked out their Essential Mix from 1994 (of course it's on the PCC blog - it still remains as the greatest mix set of all time IMHO.
Now this one rips and steals from everywhere, particularly The 49ers Touch Me, which stole from Aretha Franklin's "Rock-A-Lott". I could go on but I might be here all day there are that many samples in here.
Still that was the way it was in 1991 and is no different today.
That aside, this is still a cracking old skool track, definitely a little dated now, but still a little cracker!
It's been a while since I've posted a Frankie remix.
Boy the legend produced some fantastic tracks, this is another sensational remix right up there with his best stuff (but to be honest everything he ever touched was golden).
Love everything about this track, great vocals, great vibe, great feel and of course Frankie's sensational piano sprinkled in aplenty.
It's been a while since I posted some trance and to be honest I need to post some more as there are still so many epic tracks from the late 90's which are worthy of PCC status.
This is a delightful track with some fantastic complimentary male and female vocals.
Feeling this way, makes me feel like falling!
Laura Hallet's vocals are angelic, why wasn't she on more tracks?
Or maybe she was under an alias (sounds very much like Maria Nayler)?
I quite often slag off the (poor) quality of many of todays supposed top dance tracks as many are pretty poor and just constantly ripping off and regurgitating old classics from back int'day.
However, it always great to hear new tracks which just take my breath away.
This is one such track.
It has a pretty slow build up and although good it's just doesn't reveal what's about to come next; an absolutely sensational piano break down which is just heaven.
His remix work is always so perfect, bringing the best out of the artist and lengthening the track in all the rights places to just simply prolong the enjoyment.
I really miss the use of "proper instruments" on current tracks and this one has some great musical production.
A stone cold classic and much better than the Pasadena's cover.
Blue Amazon were pretty amazing and everything that touched was just supreme.
This is right up their with some of their best.
Strap yourselves in it's an epic 15 minute journey, but one that keeps you fully engrossed throughout.
Layers and layers of superb progressive house at it's very finest and building and building until that heavenly peak with those delightful piano chords and the helicopter/chopper blades sound effects.
Just so chilled and with those heavenly chimes, it just puts you in another place.
This has featured on many Balearic albums and rightly so, as it epitomises that Cafe Del Mar scene.
I've also included a more recent Charles Shillings remix, which is pretty good and very similar just a little bit faster and punchier, but still containing the great aura of the original.
When I hear this track I instantly think of the Chris & James Essential Mix session which they did live on Radio 1 back in 1994.
It is still to this day the best DJ mix set I have ever heard and still sounds brilliant almost 30 years later.
It was posted on the PCC blog many moons ago, so make sure you check it out if you've not heard it.
By hook or by crook most of the tracks from that mix set have managed to make their way onto the PCC blog, just because they were all pretty amazing.
This is probably a lesser know one, but fabulous all the same.
It's a great track by the notorious Annabella Lwin, possibly most famous for posing naked on a Bow Wow Wow album cover as a 14 year old back in 1982. (It certainly wouldn't happen nowadays folks!).
The track is ballsy and contains lots of sex chants, underpinned by a really hypnotic groove.
It's a really great and unique track, typical of the Chris & James ear for obscure gems.
I wasn't quite sure what to make of this when I first came across it, as the Portishead version is so iconic and such as classic.
However, as with pretty much everything they touch Heaven 7th have done a great job and kept true to the original whilst adding a bit of extra fizz and their customary dance/crossover vibe.
Maybe not one for the purists, but I can guarantee that this would rock dancefloors if dropped at the right time.
It starts with a chuggy laid back vibe and then in true TE form it kicks up to a pounding, throbbing beast. Then bid tempo is drops back to the slow laid back vibe, only to ratchet up again.
It owes a lot to U2's - Where The Streets Have No Names and uses that riff very well.
All in all a cracking track which keeps you fully engrossed from start to finish.
I don't often post brand new tracks on the PCC blog, usually because today's dross don't come anywhere near the great tracks of yesteryear that we all know and love.
This however, is truly sensational and is one of the best tracks I've heard in years.
Just a glorious track with lush vocals and just such a beautiful chilled vibe.
Mark my words this will be huge this summer.
I heard it on Parky's mix show yesterday and just can't stop playing it.
Let's just wallow in this piece of Balearic brilliance.
I hated The Cure growing up as a young teen, mainly because my sister loved them.
As I matured I began to appreciate their true genius and they truly deserve their place in the upper echelons of UK music history.
When they remixed their tracks via the Mixed Up album their brilliance was converted to the dancefloors instantly creating Balearic masterpieces of which this is one.
Enjoy!
"I spy with my little eye something beginning with "S"
Brace yourself for 16 minutes of the most epic trance you are likely to hear.
Here in all it's full glory are the complete versions of this most wonderful track from 1993.
There are of course many remixes and many are excellent, however you get the best feel for the real brilliance and amazing atmosphere of this track through these versions.
Spellbinding!
Enjoy!
If you haven't quite got the patience for 16 mins, I've also posted the instrumental version (the one hammered by Oakey), which is epic enough although only 6 mins in length.
A superb track from 2020 which is a lot more recent than most on the PCC blog.
I'm really like a lot of Yotto's work.
If you like your music dreamy atmospheric and trancey he's your man.
Such a great vibe to this track and it's that gets better every time you play it.
Superb vocals from Nathan Ball.
Get on it!
Also very worthwhile getting on the Paul Woolford remix which is also great, which is much more upbeat and laden with his trademark booming piano riffs.
Faithless feat. Nathan Ball & Caleb Femi - I Need Someone
(Yotto Extended Remix)
Faithless feat. Nathan Ball & Caleb Femi - I Need Someone (Paul Woolford Extended Remix)
Possibly one of the most unique and amazing vocalists of our generation.
Simply stunning.
Valerie is the same vocalist as on the fabulous Novocento track "Leaving Now" which was massive in clubland in 1994 and was posted on the PCC blog back in 2009.
This track from 1984 is more Italo disco based, but is still amazing thanks to her truly stunning ethereal vocals.
It's a slice of dance music heaven!
I'll always be eternally grateful to my late friend Allison for introducing me to this track (R.I.P.)
Lots of Sunscreem on the PCC blog and rightly so as they were one of the very few consistent dance acts who managed to be both underground and mainstream at the same time.
The former was usually due to some fantastic remix work and this is a classic example.
There are so many remixes of this track and many very good, but none quite touches this IMHO.
The slow intro is so luxurious and teasing and was a great set opener.
The Graeme Park remix is also superb (as always) and there are many others worthy of listen.
I'm quite amazed I've not posted this before, but on reflection I purposely avoided posting tracks which were well known/over played when I first started the PCC blog back in 2009.
This is and always will be one of the original rave anthems, yes it went mainstream, yes it was overplayed, yes parts of it do sound very cheesy and very dated, but that sax riff will never age and will always continue to send shivers down anybody with a dancing bone in their body.
Additionally the piano on this track is also "off the wall" and equally epic!
It's well past 1990 and sadly the Guru is no longer with us, but this track always will be.
Contains some great heavy percussion and hand claps and then drops that atmospheric break from Moby's - Go, which was also cleverly used in Twin Peaks.
Tracks like this made so much more sense on the dancefloor and were immense when dropped at the right time.
Danny wasn't the most prolific remixer, but his hear for a tune was always his forte and his remixes were usually laced with some delicious piano and this is right on cue.
Happy New Year to you all and here's to a fantastic 2023.
Kicking off the New Year with one of my old favourites, a fantastic trance track which was one of the main stays of many of Oakey's sets in the late 90's, notably his fantastic Essential Mix in 1999 from the Rojan club in China.
It has everything a trance track could wish to have, hypnotic pounding rhythms that continue to build and build and then unleash an epic breakdown.
Close to trance perfection.
Superb work from John Graham (Space Manoeuvres) but more commonly known under his Quivver moniker. A class act!
There are many remixes of this and many of them great, but this is the best.