John Digweed – Renaissance - The Mix Collection Part 2

I do really like this compilation now, but it took a while to get into it after wearing out the original Renaissance Mix Collection CDs by Sasha & John Digweed. This follow up has got some wicked tracks on though: Zenith Nadir - My Odyssey, Blue Amazon - Four Seasons, Dr Atomic - Schudelfloss & Clino - Spectralized to name only a few from the many. Think it was just CD1 that was a little bit too laid back for me at the time, CD2 & CD3 are what's it's all about though. One of my fave mix compilations. It stood out on it's own from other compilations at the time in 1995 which for me was a good thing.

As a whole, there is just too much annoying vocal splattered all over the mix (Come on come on come on dance with me). Tailor made for the Friday night beer and kebab House crowd, rather than the Progressive House connoisseur.

After Renaissance comp 1, I was beyond thrilled to pick this up when it came out, but distinctly remember being majorly disappointed and even confused with this one. This was the point where progressive house started to show clear signs of changing for the worse, morphing into a mainstream formulaic thing for the masses. Even the packaging was a head-scratcher with the multi fold-out design.

*Correction to tracklist:
CD1 / track 11 Rising High Collective – Tangled In My Thoughts (Original Mix)
and NOT the Hardfloor Remix. Easy to confuse them as they are quite similar but this is the original that starts almost accapella and builds into an acid monster whereas the Hardfloor mix is their typical acid trance style throughout.
Listen here https://www.discogs.com/release/65716-Rising-High-Collective-Liquid-Thoughts
To further confuse matters, the orig and Hardfloor Rmx were incorrectly labelled on the release so a very easy mistake to make when John provided the tracklist.

Just for these four tacks alone !!! was never really into the trance and progressive stuff until much later but its only until listening to these mixes later that they really are something special !!
Judy Cheeks– Reach (Quivver's Amytiville Dub)
Zee*– Dreamtime (Vocal Mix) 7:28
Angel Moraes Feat Basil Roderick*– Heaven Knows (I Can't Understand) (Galvatron Dub)
Blue Amazon– No Other Love 12:34 Robert Miles– Children (Remix)

Why exactly is most of the Opus III track drowned under a heavy flanger effect?

Excellent. Still stands up 25 years later, just a classic mix album from the golden age of underground music.

great album. what puzzles me is when people say "sounds dated now". THANK YOU !!!! I'm glad it does, as it sounds a million times better than a lot of todays drivel. This music is such a buzz and digweed mixes it to perfection. NO EDM thank you (Stupid abbreviation, its just dance music)

My second most played-to-death-mix-album-ever ( after Renaissance volume one ) Absolute magic.

Cue’d to perfection - Three great underground mixes stuffed to the hilt with quality, relative to the burgeoning commercial - and generic - mix compilations such as cream live anthems, fantazia etc that began to flood the market

mix 1 is deeper more dubby, mix 2 steps out into more prog house/ trance ( past Fluke, the mixing is exceptional- a trippy squelchy swirly eargasm )

But Mix 3 sores like a jet - and like ReN 1 feels like more than the sum of its’ parts: each track a building block from which Diggers builds relentlessly, plateauing at Angel Moraes before going full epic prog at the end. It’s astonishingly well crafted.

( ... for Robert Miles detractors - this comp was released end of 1995, children wasn’t the ubiquitous anthem until summer 1996... )

It was FOS next up who parked it in the garage, before Dave Seamen took everyone out for an autumnal spin with a barnstorming mix 1; and later a marvellously sultry Renaissance Worldwide London, alongside Robert Miles who part exchanged the Mondeo for something with a bit more va va voom.

Production wise these early Renaissance comps feel incomparable in production to a lot of the other stuff that was about, and they’ve stood the test of time I think as a consequence. The music rwas fantastic, and the packaging also set it apart even if in retrospect it’s a bit pseudo appropriated bollox

Tbh 1 and 2 were so good I’ve never quite got over them, still downloading mixes today I think 🤔… nah!

This album is by far the best album I've ever heard in my life. I'm proud to own it.
No other album comes close. Nothing. And I own loads of Global Underground / Renaissance / Ministry of Sound classics.
Great work by all artists involved and good work by John Digweed.
This album is...perfection.

10/10. The best.