Electronic > Electronica Electronic > Classic Electronic > Virgin > 1970 to 1979

Advantages: One of the best 'electronic' albums ever
Disadvantages: It is somewhat short

...my neck tingle. Rubycon Part Two starts off with a scary build up of electronic howling wind and a chorus of distorted male voices bringing you into the realm of a horror film. It is similar to some of the pieces used by Kubrick in his 2001 movie (by composer György Ligeti). Suddenly a fast throbbing electronic beat bursts out from the black mass and starts mutating, turning and twisting, dragging lush synth sounds along with it. The piece settles ...
...created waves crashing on a beach, which nowadays does sound a rather pointless exercise but I guess must have been impressive in its day. The final five minutes have gentle subtle harmonies playing with bright synth sounds. I have heard this part used on nature programmes to accompany underwater scenes, which it does splendidly. Finally a lonely mellotron flute sound concludes the album on a sombre note. Overall the music on this album is quite ... Read review

Advantages: Smooth, slick, scary, silvery
Disadvantages: Sizeable, short, sexless

That's how Paul Morely described his experience of listening to this album; and you can understand why, it's far from innocent. Entirely instrumental and with no discernable temperature, "Phaedra" is a trudge through a swamp of early-modern electronica: slow, misty and bleak, still human despite being completely mechanical, strangely alive, like soup. Each of its four tracks, unsettlingly, is shorter than the previous one (except the first, "Phaedra", ...
...the day) - "Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares", a title so superb that the CD version of this album can't choose between "strand" and "stand", and frankly, who can in good conscience? is a ten minute, well, nightmare, beginning with the distant sounds of laughing children playing in an abandoned factory, and ending in a far from aerodynamic wash in the clouds of Jupiter, a la the dialogue-less sequence of 2001: A Space Odyssey. But ... Read review

Advantages: Great mixes, full length
Disadvantages: none

I have actually got Spiller "Groovejet (If This ain't Love)" single on vinyl. I bought it from HMV, in 2006 for about £3 brand new. It has two tracks on it; "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)-Extended Vocal Mix" with Sophie Ellis-Bextor 07:27 and "Groovejet-Solar Stone's Jet Groove Dub Mix". 05:55 It is essentially a DJ's copy but I play it myself. Two great mixes of this cult classic on Positiva recordings. It came out in 2000 and can still be ... Read review

Advantages: Great mixes, chilled, value for money
Disadvantages: Two weak tracks, nothing major.

This 2CD compilation by Jay Burnett is very, very good. CD1 is relatively poor compared to CD2, which is amazing. Alternative mixes of Dido, Spiller "Cry Baby", Motorcycle "When the rush comes". David Bowie vs Scumfrog appears with an excellent "Loving The Alien". "Janeiro" by Solid Sessions is so, so chilled and takes my mind to another dimension. Maybe there is two weak tracks on the album being Moony "Dove" and Kylie Minogue "Love At First ... Read review

Advantages: Chilled, collectable, cracking
Disadvantages: None, but increasingly hard to find.

In a nutshell, this is probably the greatest Euphoria of all time. From beginning to end, it is absolutely flawless! CD 2 perhaps having the edge over CD 1. I bought this for £7.5 of amazon second-hand. The sleeve however is not very secure so make sure you make copies of this if you by it. Not manufactured anymore this can be a cracking buy if under £10. "Seven Days and One Week" by BBE being so chilled. Also "Autumn Leaves" (English Version) ... Read review