I found Schudelfloss as a white label promo while digging around for records in a shop in late spring/early summer in 1993. What a lucky find. This song's emotional breakdown still sends chills up my spine 15 years after its release.

When progressive house spun out from the UK in 1991/1992 and reached its peak in 1993, this track was a gem on the style's crown. And utterly amazing in the large parties that were thrown that summer and fall.

Blue Monday is a timeless dance music classic. Like any iconic song of any era it generates a profound sense of impact and passion among its fans. And Blue Monday as A LOT of fans.

When it came out this track was groundbreaking. It's surgical use of synth driven bass lines, beats, and melodies hadn't been used quite like this before. And the effects loaded breaks also generated the song's wow factor on the dance floor.

And while many would easily point to the track's influences (Moroder, Kraftwerk, et al), what Blue Monday didn't invent it perfected and then bequeathed.

Key to the track's success was its ability to crossover into multiple scenes and club communities. Its ubiquity directly influenced the evolution of 80s synthpop dance music and left its legacy firmly in the hands of Djs and musicians from the 90s onwards.

I always cringe when I hear Blue Monday directly sampled into other musician's tracks. Or when the song was remixed so terribly on many occasions. I'm not normally a purist, but sometimes it's worth letting a masterpiece be a masterpiece.

And then listening to it over and over again.

This CD contains an interesting mix of Italo Disco, Pop and eary House. Italo music by nature is self-consciously aware of its excess, but there are few standout tracks on this compilation that make it well worth your while.

Esavu's Breakin' Up throws in a heavy contribution of synth driven electropop that is reminiscent of Giorgio Moroder and Telex. And Advance's Take Me To The Top is a great post-disco track with soulful vocals paired against chunky and funky synthesizer basslines.

But the star track on this compilation is Valery Allington's "Stop". This track is quite hard to find on vinyl and even harder to find on CD. It epitomizes the transition from disco on into 1980s R&B. Nab this CD just for that if you have a chance.

Back in 1996, while in Seattle, I was out dancing at a large party that featured Derrick Carter, DJ Disciple, Victor Simonelli and Marques Wyatt all spinning at the peak of their form.

When Marques threw down this track's Endless Dub Mix the crowd got seriously down.

This record stands as artifact of its time. Mid-1990's garage mixed into deep house dub with strong vocals and none of the screaming diva cliches that have come to mark much of the house music from this time period.

As San Francisco was about to be fully swept up into Naked Music/OM Records sound, SF resident, DJ Rasoul, released this number. A haunting vocal and moody, inexorable rhythm carried many househeads early until the morning.

This track is a must have for any deep house fan. It captures the return to vocals, lush chords, melody hooks, and strong rhythm that characterized the San Francisco sound at the beginning of the 21st century.

A classic album that captures the dark and moody spirit of the times at the turn of the decade as punk rock's angry spirit was evolving into other styles.

Other Cure albums have eclipsed this dark treasure in popularity, but none of them contain anything like A Forest, a haunting song that, for many Cure fans, is the band's quintessential track.

I first heard the Extra remix while visiting New York City in the fall of '97. Went to Twilo and Junior Vasquez laid it down with a vengeance taking full advantage of the club's amazing sound system. I've heard this track a million times since that night. And although it's always most fun to dance to a fantastic song the first-time, I never get tired of this version. And judging from how people still go crazy, I'm not alone.