Renaissance Presents… Volume One
- Progressive House
- Progressive Trance
- Trance
CD1 — Ian Ossia
CD2 — Nigel Dawson
Every Renaissance story gets told the same way. Mix Collection, Sasha, Digweed, the sleeve, the myth. Fair enough — that record deserves it. But a club isn't its guest list, and by 1998 Renaissance had something the retelling usually skips: a resident bench good enough to carry a release on its own.
That's what this is. A 2CD Renaissance release from 14 June 1998, with Ian Ossia on disc one and Nigel Dawson on disc two. No flown-in headliner. Just the people who were actually there most weekends.
Ossia's CD1 is the broader half. It opens with Nalin & Kane's remix of Van Bellen, runs through Yum Yum, Sunscreem and Inkfish, finds room for Brothers in Rhythm's remix of Kylie Minogue, and heads towards the melodic end via Albion's “Air”, Pink Bomb and The Light before Andy Jarrod closes it. Vocals, melody, a fair bit of warmth. It's recognisably 1998 without being only about the trance boom.
Dawson's CD2 goes the other way, and does it immediately. Two versions of Miro's “Paradise” back to back — the Farmatronic Creeping Mix, then the Miro Dub — which is a statement of intent rather than a lack of records. From there it gets darker and more insistent through Dominion (his own production alias), Human Movement and Dos Deviants, then tips properly into trance with Corfu, Agnelli & Nelson's “El Nino” and Propulsion at the end.
Put the two discs in order and you've got the club's own arc: open it up, then take it somewhere moodier. That's not a compilation concept, it's what residents do.
I'm not going to oversell it. Reviews at the time were mixed, and it never acquired the status of the Mix Collection releases. Some of the trance on CD2 has dated more obviously than the deeper material around it, and if you want one perfect Renaissance artefact this isn't it.
What it is, though, is honest. This is what the sound of the room was in 1998, assembled by the two people best placed to know — which is a rarer document than another headliner's career statement. Both players are above; do CD1 then CD2, in that order, and the whole thing makes far more sense.
Tracklist
- 1CD1 — Ian Ossia: Van Bellen — Let Me Take You (On A Journey) (Nalin & Kane Remix)
- 2CD1 — Ian Ossia: Yum Yum — Glasshouse (Yum Yum's Live One Remix)
- 3CD1 — Ian Ossia: Sunscreem — Perfect Motion (Sunday Club DMC Remix)
- 4CD1 — Ian Ossia: Inkfish — Late Night Pimp
- 5CD1 — Ian Ossia: Martini & Hardcorey feat. Sabrynaah Pope — We Got A Love (SPS Cained Club Mix)
- 6CD1 — Ian Ossia: Hong Kong Trash — Down The River (HKT McBuffalo Remix)
- 7CD1 — Ian Ossia: Albion — Air (Original Mix)
- 8CD1 — Ian Ossia: Pink Bomb feat. Tracy Cattell — Indica (Vocal Mix)
- 9CD1 — Ian Ossia: Kylie Minogue — Too Far (Brothers In Rhythm Remix)
- 10CD1 — Ian Ossia: Voices Of Kwahn — Ya Yae Ya Yo Yo Yo (The Light Mix)
- 11CD1 — Ian Ossia: Andy Jarrod — Stormcycle (Main Mix)
- 12CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Miro — Paradise (Farmatronic Creeping Mix)
- 13CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Miro — Paradise (Miro Dub)
- 14CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Dominion — Lost Without You (Zanzibar's Brickhouse Dub)
- 15CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Human Movement — Vidapura
- 16CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Dos Deviants — Sublimate (Original Mix)
- 17CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Paragliders — Share Of Bitterness (Dos Deviants Twist The Knife Mix)
- 18CD2 — Nigel Dawson: DEA — Spiritualized
- 19CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Private Productions — Sexdrive (M & B's Instructor Mix)
- 20CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Corfu — Snake Charmer (Mantra Remix)
- 21CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Agnelli & Nelson — El Nino (Original Mix)
- 22CD2 — Nigel Dawson: Propulsion — Pressure
Recommended if you like: Renaissance: The Mix Collection, resident sets rather than headliner statements, Hooj-era Miro and the 1998 stretch where progressive house and trance stopped having a clear border.