Various ‎– We Call It Acieeed!

Many classics here ranging from some of the earliest Acid House classics (1986 Phuture "Acid Tracks"), up to some early/mid-90's tunes such as Hardfloor "Acperience". Also includes some Chicago House classics (Steve Silk Hurley "Jack Your Body", Housemaster Boyz "House Nation"), and a number of lesser known, more obscure tracks such as The House Gang "Cool J Trax", an LL Cool J samplefest that would fit right into a mashup/club set, or S'Express "Superfly Guy", an excellent track I haven't seen on other compilations.

The mixing throughout both CDs is such that only the last 15 Seconds or so of each track is mixed.

I picked this CD up quite randomly in the 2nd hand section (wedged between an A-Ha album and Bat Out Of Hell) in a small music shop in New Zealand. What was strange though, was that the CD was still in it's polythene seal; so was unplayed. Obviously an unwanted Christmas present received by an acid heathen.
Anyway just one quick scan over the tracklisting was enough for me to part with the pittance that was the asking price, and it was off home to listen 10 years worth of 303 experiments/compositions/jaunts/remixes/outings/madness.
Both CDs are mixed (by a computer?) and it certainly helps maintain the flow (coma) of bassline bubbles and top end tweeks.

And so the journey begins opening with the British Top Ten charted anthem; D Mob's - 'We Call It Acieeed'. The first CD spans the Atlantic, offering us underground hits from Chicago such as Laurent X's robotic 'Machines', Phuture's innovative acid blueprint 'Acid Tracks' and the hypnotic 'Dream Girl' by acid maestro DJ Pierre. The listener is also treated to the London acid sound of the 80's with cuts by Britsh acid hero Baby Ford who gives us the piano and vocal inflected acid monster 'Oochy Koochy' and one of my personal 303 favourites Jolly Roger's Chong sampling 'Acid Man'. There is also a rather nifty acid rework of 'Superfly Guy by chart toppers S'Express, which is definitely more bearable than the original. An added bonus to this analog squelchy goodness is German duo Hardfloor's epic [homage to 808 State] 'Aceperience' - a symphony of acid that just doesn't seem to date.

On disc 2 we are greeted with the sample heavy 'Pump Up the Volume' by M/A/R/R/S and another personal fave Mr Finger's wonderfully disorientating 'Washing Machine' (never has a title been so apt). Also featured are Chicago legends such as Frankie Knuckles (who teams up with Jamie Principle to produce the Prince-like 'Baby Wants To Ride'), Steve 'Silk' Hurley (drum machine a go-go on 'Jack Your Body') and Farley Jackmaster Funk who provides one of the dakest cuts on the entire compilation with his sub aqueous monster 'The Acid Life'.

But the one stand out track amongst all this high calibre 303 action has to be 'Flow Coma' by Manchester's finest 808 State. Machine music in it's purest form; a logical progression from Italian Futurist Luigi Russolo's 'Intonarumori' experiments to the Barron brothers audio/electronic vision featured in Forbidden Planet to Kraftwerk's handmade synthesizers to Cybertron's vision of an automated future. 'Flow Coma' bubbles with bits and bytes, throbs with fervour and bleeps like R2D2 after a chance meeting with Timothy Leary and Albert Hoffmany. Quite simply monumental.

To sum up? The CD cover says it best (without subtlety); "36 of the maddest acid tracks ever!".