project: update - update 1.1

DJ Noël - Classic House Archive

So, this is where it all began: a series of noël mixes with numbers in the titles that just confused everyone.
Through the early 90s I was pretty efficient at knocking out a new mix tape every month or so, but for some reason - probably a combination or work and going out too much - I hadn’t committed anything to tape or minidisc for a while. At the time I was working at Key 103 and I’d recently done my first mix in the studio, which I was pretty proud of. I decided that if I was going to ‘update’ my catalogue, it needed to be a stonker. And, with so many tunes to catch up on, I knew if would have to be a double disc.
And cramming in so many tracks would allow me to indulge in my second favourite hobby (next to DJing) of music editing. The station had spent £60k on a computer-based multi-track audio system, which I had just about mastered, and I couldn’t wait to get cracking on a personal project. It meant using the studios outside office hours, grabbing the odd hour in the evenings or going in at the weekends. This was certainly going to be some project...
Burning CDs was pretty new too. No one had computers or even hi-fi CD recorders back then, but we had an expensive Studer one at the radio station. I remember the blank discs alone cost £16 (maybe it was £30) each. Simply committing it to CD gave the mix a little more prestige.
Matt designed the cover - the ‘n’ in a circle - and came up with the font variation for track lists (bold = artist, regular = track, italic = mix) which I still use today. OK, it’s not rocket science, but these were the days when everyone was just moving from dot matrix printers to laser and bubble jet: things suddenly looked a lot smarter. The inlay was printed on tracing paper with the ‘n’, the circle and the title on different layered sheets. He’s always had a talent for great CD packaging, utilising different types of paper, plastics, even petals and leaves.
I’ve lost the front cover, but you can download the back cover here.
I gave the first copy of this to Kath or Janine. I’m pretty sure it was Janine. She had a boozy Sunday afternoon session in Chorlton’s Lead Station to celebrate her birthday.
Enough of the history, on to the tunes. We open with Get Carter, as my good mate and boss at the time had a thing about the melody in the movie. We were going through a pretty hedonistic period and this disc was often the soundtrack.
The first mix sets us up with some funky and commercial party tracks, then turns up the heat in preparation for the tougher second mix, which you find here.
update 1.1 – march 97
1’10’05” 85 MB MP3 file 160 kbps
human league - get carter
future force - what you want - karmasutrafunkyexpress
byron stingly - get up (everybody) - rhythmmastersdub/parademix
wildchild - jump to my beat - toddedwardsjumpremix
janet jackson - runaway - factorymix
ann nesby - witness - mousset'sfunk2000mix
whitney houston - step by step - k-klassicmix
h²o featuring billie - nobody's business - eurovocal
armand van helden - the funk phenomena - originalmix
that kid chris - feel the vibe - theonlymix
ninety nine all stars - luv is all u need - spacebaseremix
faithless - insomnia - armand'seuropeanvacationmix
lisa stansfield vs the dirty rotten scoundrels - people hold on - jonisthedonmix
express of sound - real vibration - realclubmix
ninety nine all stars - luv is all you need - originaldillon&dickensmix
cool jack - jus' come - sharpblasteddub.