Network Records

Be warned most of their re-released stuff this year are just remastered transcodes/upscales.

Great label with great dance music within its archives unfortunately the abundance of early CD releases were pressed using the dreaded PDO manufacturing rendering the majority of peoples collections with disc rot.

Most early pressed CD's from the late 80's and early 90's were glassed mastered by Nimbus,DADC or Disctronics and PDO if only Network had used one of the other 3......
although it wasn't the only label that suffered.....but most of the larger labels or more popular/well known artists/commercial stuff had many re presses or re releases from the masters' unfortunately the rare and early limited CD pressings of Dance/rave/house stuff didnt.

Philips manufactured these only once, consequently this sub par manufacturing process ruined good music that never saw light of day again and not many of the original recordings were ever available again years down the line not even to pick up on compilations (out of print rare mixes/versions etc) and if they were they were Vinyl rips.

I spent months in the 90's trolling the shops with my old receipts replacing/exchanging my PDO CD's (before any corrosion had set in) with the new "Acrylic formulation" (PDO/Making Records) that Philips had sneakily started issuing the problem here is only the well known artists and there Albums got them etc and no dance CD singles were re pressed maybe one or 2 i.e. Orb and N-Trance etc.

If your like me with 10-20% of old 90's CD Singles on PDO (Network,3 Beat,Rising High,All Around The World,Warp etc etc) they include great mixes and obscure tracks (in clean quality)
these won't be found anywhere else unless they re appear on modern 2000 compilations chopped up/edited overly mastered MP3 transcodes or Vinyl rips.....

Network was one of the defining labels of the early 90s for me. Starting as an offshoot of the Kool Kat stable, which had been releasing material from Chicago and Detroit since 1987, releases such as NealHoward's "Indulge" (the first on the label) meant it soon became established as one of the top labels for the "bleep" sound. With its distinctive orange sleeves and circuit-board logo, Network releases stood out from the crowd alongside WARP's purple bags.

There was some cross-fertilization with the WARP stable, with Rob Gordon being involved in releases on both labels. But like WARP, its sound was varied, and spread beyond the likes of Nexus 21, Cyclone and Rhythmatic encompassing a broad spectrum of house and techno sounds right from the outset, such as MK's "Somebody New" and early Derrick Carter Outing "Symbols & Instruments"

Classic underground releases from Jay Denham (Fade II Black), Reese and Derrick May, not to mention the immense "Take Me Away" cemented the label's credibility, alongside compilations of material from NuGroove and Underground Resistance.

Before long, massive commercial success came in the form of hardcore rave outfit Altern 8, some of who's earlier releases as Nexus 21 and C&M Connection had also been on the label. As the rave scene expanded and split, so Network followed suit, releasing vocal house from the likes of the Reese Project and KWS while Tronik House and MC Lethal kept Altern8 company in the breakbeat section of the label's catalogue. The label also acted as a springboard for UK offshoots of Kevin Saunderson's KMS and Terrence Parker's Serious Grooves imprints.

By the mid-90s, Network was releasing mostly vocal Garage house, things slowed down and attention focused on the Six6 offshoot; as with so many labels, refreshing the image allowed the company to move forward. The Network label was then used for a series of remixes and reissues of classic material, some from its own back-catalogue, some not. A series of four quad-CD boxsets on the Passion label summed up the labels history, one each dedicated to Network, NuGroove, Six6 and the Paradise Garage sound.

Overall a high quality and varied catalog, with something to please everyone who was raving in the early 90s, and very little disappointing material - surely deserving of iconic status in british rave history.