Various – True People: The Detroit Techno Album.

I bought this at Record Time on Gratiot in Detroit in 1998, Kelli Hand was just leaving the store and had dropped off some used records for Mike H. to sell, this box was one of them. I bought it for $6. According to Mike Huckaby she said she didn't like it that much overall, and another guy there was less diplomatic in his opinion. For myself I didn't really get it, I was still fairly early in my techno collecting years and my friends and I had loved the CD when it came out a couple years earlier. I wasn't knowledgeable enough at the time to realize that some of my favorite tracks on the release were exclusive to it. Take the Kevin Saunderson track eponymously named "E-Dancer". React released this CD a year later https://www.discogs.com/release/6159-Various-React-Test-Six with the same track, and a slightly edited version wound up on this release in vinyl form a few years later https://www.discogs.com/master/596498-E-Dancer-Velocity-Funk-Banjo-The-Move-Remixes. Another example, I found 8th Wonder to be really powerful.... in a different register, minor key, the opening track from Drexciya, was super powerful and unlike anything I'd ever heard.... Claude Young's ambient "Carma" is one of his best tracks IMO.

Is anyone in the uk selling just the box? Hit me up!

Does anyone know who Little Joe (21) is?

Exclusive to this comp yet no other info.....

Liner Notes – Colin Dale . . . . . . Thankyou ;)

The track listing on this release is the same as the 90s compilation True People - The Detroit Techno Album...
https://www.discogs.com/Various-True-People-The-Detroit-Techno-Album/release/12123

This album comes after these 3 gems... And through listening you will find it is in keeping... Great comp!

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Techno-The-New-Dance-Sound-Of-Detroit/release/57919?ev=rr

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Techno-2-The-Next-Generation/master/31641

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Retro-Techno-Detroit-Definitive-Emotions-Electric/master/31736

Go listen and enjoy..

88:90:91:96 and before and beyond

;)

Have to agree with memepool below, on release, this was a disappointing offering, and it's telling, that at the time, the only thing that stood out, in terms of sounding fresh for 96, was the Juan Atkins/4 Hero track, it was a pretty average compilation in terms of overall quality, but keep this in context, Detroit techno was a decade old when this appeared, a lot of people were expecting it to raise the bar, instead, it sounded dated. Having said that, it's not really that bad at all now: 86, 96, 06, 2016, much of a muchness these days.

Useless fact: The titles of Eddies tracks are the initials and birth years of his two sisters.

I seem to remember reading in a music mag back when this came out that it wasn't overly well received & something along the lines of Eddie deliberately choosing relatively "boring" minimal tracks from the bigger names of Detroit as well as including not one but two of his own tracks (which are both dope by the way) which probably didn't help this rumour neither.
I love Eddies music but I remember him being slightly prickly at the time depending on what mood he was in and he was fairly demanding on the poor bastard who was unlucky enough to be his assistant during a tour.
But his music to me beat a lot of the bigger Detroit heads for turning out dope tracks with more consistency.
That said there is a heap of great tracks from some of the lesser known locals that are worth getting this comp for.

Full of amazing tunes... Wiggin', 8th Wonder and Zephyr in particular are unbelievably good! Blew my mind back in the day, and have aged pretty well, too

Contains the best track ever made by Drexciya…