The Best Of Dance ’91 (Telstar, 1991)

Review
Don’t be late. No don’t be late. For love. It’s time to look back on the year of our lives. We’ve sailed the calmest seas. Ridden the wildest storms of our beautiful dreams. Our most frightening nightmares! Dream on . . .

“From the makers of DEEP HEAT and THIN ICE” proclaimed the sleeve. A more boastful statement was “the dance album of the year”. A silhouette of a lonely raver in eerie night blue. The Best Of Dance ’91 was Telstar’s replacement for the two Deep Heat yearly round-ups and lasted for the remainder of the decade.

We get down to business with Rozalla’s upfront Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good) before the gospel beats of Sabrina Johnson’s Peace courtesy of Brothers in Rhythm. The Source’s much loved remake of Candi Staton’s You Got The Love is next; in endless time, in endless art.

So what do I remember from 1991? Dancing to the euphoric Forget Me Nots in Waterford’s Bridge Hotel on the night of my 19th birthday. Getting sunburned to the strains of Charly (original mix – find it here). Never wanting the bleeps and rolling basslines of Quadrophonia to stop. The sun coming up in a dingy basement flat as Praise’s Only You played on the boombox.

There’s so much more here. The underrated Benio Over And Out mix of Last Train To Trancentral, the gulf war paranoia dust-up of In Yer Face, Oceanic’s pounding Insanity, the hardcore floatiness of Xpansions’ Move Your Body and the lesser-remembered Progen ’91 from light-show specialists The Shamen.

It’s the 90s / no time for slacking off

I still surprised at DNA’s crunchy Rebel Woman stalling at 42 in late summer 1991. Was it a Tin Machine II osmosis? Gary Clail’s Human Nature still gets me thinking while Nomad’s I Wanna Give You (Devotion) holds strong the memory of so many Saturday nights. You also need to check out the searing good hip hop from A Tribe Called Quest and Heavy D while fans of MTV’s Party Zone will get a buzz from the endearing Cola Boy tune.

Free! Love! Peace! Rebel! Snap! Kick! Bomb! Crazy! Insanity! Think! Heavy! Mummy says . . . Ready? Woman! Move! Wanna Ride?! Face! Tongue! Body! Aphrodisiac! Sweat! Wiggle! Seven ways! Box baby! Devotion! You! Love! Nature! Sexy!!

Favourite tracks
The Prodigy – Charly

Quadrophonia – Quadrophonia

Tongue ‘N’ Cheek – Forget Me Nots

Praise – Only You

Lest we forget
Cola Boy – 7 Ways To Love

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