Now Dance – Summer ’94 (EMI / Virgin, 1994)

Review
Now Dance – Summer ’94 or NOD 13 was the series’ third release of the year. It’s a double CD containing “40 sizzling dance hits”. Curiously Polygram were off the pitch. The main plugs on the front cover are M People, Haddaway, D:Ream, Cappella, CJ Lewis, Tony Di Bart, Jocelyn Brown and Kym Mazelle, Maxx, Blast, Reel 2 Real, 2 Unlimited and Eternal.

CD1: Dawn Penn’s slowburning reggae toaster You Don’t Love Me (No No No) melds with CJ Lewis sugary skank of Sweets For My Sweet. Maxx’s Get-A-Way is the sound and vision of old skool MTV; a totally awesome bomb. Eurodance continued as Haddaway rocks our hearts while M People’s acid jazz princess Heather Small kills the funky Renaissance. Next comes the sound of May 1994: Tony Di Bart’s mysterious and atmospheric Real Thing. And Crazy Man’s brooding slo-mo Italo of Crazy Man is followed by Gloworm’s divine Carry Me Home. More World Cup memories; this time it’s Orlando. Carefree relaxation. Kym Mazelle and Jocelyn Brown’s Enough Is Enough comes with a Paradise Garage vibe.

The second Real Thing comes from 2 Unlimited; circus techno which moves into Club House’s frantic Light My Fire. Euphoria strikes again for Cappella with the superb Move On Baby. We stay in the Euro zone with the slick rhymes and rhythms of Omen III’s Magic Affair. After D:Ream’s uplifting UR The Best Thing, the ladies Eternal serve up poptastic R&B on Just A Step From Heaven. And then there’s Gabrielle’s gorgeous Because Of You, which, like Doop, comes fresh from Now That’s What I Call Music 27. Bitty McLean slows things down on Dedicated To The One I Love while SWV throw down some crucial jack swing on Anything from the Above The Rim soundtrack. Bring on the dancing girls for Urban Cookie Collective’s manic High On A Happy Vibe. Do the Charleston with Doop.

CD2: Lets move to a Reel 2 Real cacophony. Groove to Loveland’s uptempo Let The Music (Lift You Up) and break into a sweat with Bobby Brown’s Two Can Play That Game. K-Klass return with What You’re Missing but it lacks the edge of their earlier work. The goosebumps pop up for Degrees Of Motion and the pulsating Shine On. Atlantic Ocean’s Waterfall gets a second run-out, having already featured on Now Dance ’94 – Volume 2 – along with Move It. And Alex Party’s hypnotic floor-filler Read My Lips is so good, they included it twice [see Now Dance ’94 – Volume 1 where it’s titled differently]. Twist and shout to the soul tip of Judy Cheek and Carleen Anderson while expressing yourself as Black Machine’s How Gee bursts with killer funk and nifty sax breaks.

Now I’m A Cowboy: The Grid’s summer club banger Swamp Thing is molten southern comfort. Almost inevitably it’s followed by Bravado’s twanging Harmonica Man. Good times. Slip inside this house to JX and the STP-soaked Son Of A Gun. Then it’s husky hip house from Disco Anthem with Scream before Motiv 8’s stunning Rockin’ For Myself. Opus III blasts in with the biblical When You Made The Mountain. It’s no Halcyon. There’s an old favourite in tow as Junior Boys Own tear up Machine’s NY disco anthem There But For The Grace Of God. Heller and Farley magic. Meanwhile Level 42 are guaranteed to rekindle old funk memories on All Over You. The O.T. Quartet’s Hold That Sucker Down builds like a skyscraper, up and up. Mmmm, I love it. We say goodnight with a proper classic: Awesome 3’s Don’t Go ’94. Perfect bassline and a hands in the air smasher.

Favourite tracks
Alex Party – Read My Lips (Saturday Night Party)

Fire Island – There But For The Grace Of God

SWV – Anything (Old Skool Party Mix)

Level 42 – All Over You

Awesome 3 – Don’t Go (’94 Remix)

Lest we forget
Bravado – Harmonica Man