Essential Mix

Danny Rampling · 20 November 1993

Forget the neat progressive-house origin story. Episode four of the Essential Mix has Danny Rampling playing K-Klass, Strictly Rhythm and big vocal house, from Dina Carroll to Whitney Houston, with acid-house warmth intact. The fourth Essential Mix is a particularly useful bit of history because it comes before later labels can tidy everything up. The vocal choices and Strictly Rhythm connection show the warm, house-led world out of which British progressive culture grew. Put this beside a 1999 trance broadcast and the difference is enormous; put it beside later Rampling sets and the connections become clearer.