The Hits Of House Are Here (K-Tel, 1988)

Review
The Hits Of House Are Here was released at the end of May 1988. The acid house scene – nailed so perfectly on side 4 of Now 11 – was in full effect. This timely compilation included 15 tracks on the double LP and cassette. CD buyers had to accept the ritual sacrifice of Risse’s House Train and Twin Beat’s Let’s Pick Up The Beat And Make Some Music. You will find them digitally on Jack Trax 3 and Blastmaster Radio respectively.

S-Express had just reached #1 with the Theme. The 12″-A mix is the lead track.
The lowdown:
Arpeggio bassline and horn samples are taken from Rose Royce – Is It Love You’re After.
“I Got The Hots For You” vocal sample taken from TZ – I Got The Hots For You.
“Drop That Ghetto Blaster!” vocal sample taken from Karen Finley – Lick It!
“Horn Break” taken from Crystal Grass – Crystal World.
“Uno, dos, uno dos tres quatro!” sample taken from Debbie Harry – Feel The Spin.

The DTI’s Keep This Frequency takes its title from a Bomb The Bass soundbite. It cuts up a jagged Axel F, the “plasticman” samples from Doctorin’ The House, a ghostly Jack Your Body along with staccato diva noises. Thank you Paul Hardcastle. The ubiquitous House Nation follows in remix edit guise before the megamix of Nitro Deluxe’s Let’s Get Brutal. Wicked house groove and long live the cowbell. What does it all mean? Time for the Extended Dis of Beat Dis. Fatalistic alarm clock. We are then urged to Put The Needle To The Record by those lovely folks in the Criminal Element Orchestra. Blunted beats and those killer Kiss samples. Pump up the volume.

Indie Top 20 Volume 4, Part 2 – House came out on Beechwood around the same time. That vinyl-only selection also included the Cut and Bandage Mix of the long-forgotten Housedoctors track Housedoctors (Gotta Get Down). It’s nice to see it the Crazy Cuts Mix on this CD. The Cuban Boys must have been fans. The motorcade speeds on as Steinski and Mass Media perfect the art of the cut-up with We’ll Be Right Back. Sublime and rarely heard. You can’t get fresher than this. And now for seven minutes we shall have madness. Coldcut’s remix of Paid In Full pushed the boundaries into the car park. We’re still digging it up 27 years later. Always more to give. Pump up the volume.

Rok Da House brings together the Beatmasters and Cookie Crew. Pounding hip house with cool piano. We’ve got an odd one for you. An odd couple actually: Gene Noakes and Jim Cunningham. Shake (How About A Sampling, Gene?). Another refuge from Beechwood House. Off the wall Ibiza monster with crazy samples remixed by Pete Hammond who gives it a pounding groove, a jazzy break and just the right amount of percussive balance. After that monster we need to relax and The Wee Papa Girl Rappers splice up a pleasant groove called Faith. Finally it’s the tightest of jams as the Cookie Crew let fly with Females (Get On Up) proving that 1988 really was the shit.

“So I dig into the books of the rhymes that I made
To now test to see if I got pull
Hit the studio, cos I’m paid in full”.

Favourite tracks
Steinski and Mass Media – We’ll Be Right Back

Gene and Jim Are Into Shakes – Shake (How About A Sampling, Gene?)

Lest we forget
The DTI – Keep This Frequency Clear