Collector's Shelf · Renaissance
Dave Seaman & Ian Ossia — Renaissance: The Mix Collection Part 4
Seaman controls the first two discs, Ossia takes the third. Nearly four hours moving through deep house, progressive house, trance, breakbeat and vocals: Garbage, Sasha, Sarah McLachlan, Björk, Way Out West and Blue Amazon all make sense because the programming holds them together.
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Release details
- ArtistDave Seaman & Ian Ossia
- Year1996
- LabelRenaissance
- Format3 × CD
- SeriesRenaissance: The Mix Collection
- Catalogue numberRENMIX4CD
Part 4 doesn't try to recreate the first Renaissance collection
Three hours where two DJs make records that should not sit together feel coherent. By 1996 the Renaissance sound had broadened — breaks, deeper house, trance and crossover vocals were all in the room — and Part 4 embraces that rather than pretending it is still 1994.
Seaman takes the first two discs, Ian Ossia takes the third, and the whole thing works because nobody is afraid of a left turn.
CD1 starts by refusing to settle down
The first twenty minutes are deliberately broad: Elements Of Life into System 7, Deep Dish's Stay Gold, Evolution's Look Up To The Light, then Lil' Mo' Yin Yang in the Basement Jaxx remix. It should not flow. It does.
Then Garbage turns up. Queer, in the Rabbit In The Moon Hefty Bag mix, is treated as club raw material rather than a novelty crossover — and it lands because the set has already built a world it can live in.
Ohmna into The Gate is the centre of the disc: Sasha's own production dissolving into Dominion, with a cappellas used as transitions rather than tricks. From there Paul van Dyk, Sam Mollison and Chicane push the ending upward — a melodic close that feels earned rather than pasted on.
CD2: patience is the point
CD2 begins like somebody has opened the club door again — Dance Planet's intro, Sarah McLachlan's Possession in the Rabbit In The Moon mix, Pete Lazonby's Wavespeech — and then it makes its boldest move.
Horse's Careful and Bedrock's Set In Stone get more than twenty minutes between them. That is not indulgence; it is the whole argument. Way Out West's mix of Bjango, another run of a cappellas, Anomaly in its Granny's mix and Björk's Hyperballad follow — bold programming that never tips into gimmick.
Then Ian Ossia gets the keys
This is not a guest cameo — Ossia gets the full third disc. He opens vocal and melodic with Kristine W's Land Of The Living, then gradually turns darker and more psychedelic.
Keoki's Caterpillar, in the Rabbit In The Moon Disco 2000 mix, is where CD3 starts growing teeth. And Way Out West's Ajare into Blue Amazon's twelve-minute Never Forget is the bit you will remember — the centrepiece of the entire three discs.
Three discs, two DJs, one Renaissance identity. It holds up because of its confidence: progressive used to mean the freedom to put Björk next to Bedrock and make it obvious in hindsight. Owning it means owning three complete mixes, not a highlights reel.
Full tracklist
- CD1-1. Elements Of Life — Are You With Me Love? — 1:48
- CD1-2. System 7 — Sirènes (Marshall Jefferson Mix) — 3:16
- CD1-3. Deep Dish — Stay Gold (Original Mix) — 4:38
- CD1-4. Evolution — Look Up To The Light (Quivver To The Vocal Mix) — 6:56
- CD1-5. Lil' Mo' Yin Yang — Reach (Basement Jaxx Firecracker Mix) — 4:50
- CD1-6. Garbage — Queer (Hefty Bag Mix) — 6:49
- CD1-7. Desert — Feelings Run So Deep — 7:25
- CD1-8. Sasha — Ohmna — 7:42
- CD1-9. Dominion — The Gate (Original Mix) — 5:50
- CD1-10. D*Note — Garden Of Earthly Delights (Acappella) — 5:08
- CD1-11. Paul van Dyk — Beautiful Place (Sundae 6 A.M. Mix) — 5:36
- CD1-12. Sam Mollison — Cry (Fade DMC Mix) — 8:44
- CD1-13. Chicane — Offshore (Disco Citizens Mix) — 1:20
- CD1-14. Power Circle — A Little Love, A Little Life (Acappella) — 6:40
- CD2-1. Dance Planet — Orbit (Intro) — 1:28
- CD2-2. Sarah McLachlan — Possession (Rabbit In The Moon Mix) — 5:11
- CD2-3. Pete Lazonby — Wavespeech (Junior Vasquez Mix) — 8:05
- CD2-4. Horse — Careful (Sasha / Brothers In Rhythm Mix) — 10:44
- CD2-5. Bedrock — Set In Stone — 10:26
- CD2-6. Lucky Monkeys — Bjango (Way Out West Mix) — 4:47
- CD2-7. Soundsation — Do You Feel It (Original) — 6:46
- CD2-8. Outcast — Rollercoaster (Good For Horses Mix) — 1:52
- CD2-9. Incognito — I Hear Your Name (Acappella) — 5:14
- CD2-10. Libra presents Taylor — Anomaly (Calling Your Name) (Granny's Mix) — 5:10
- CD2-11. Björk — Hyperballad (Album Version) — 5:06
- CD2-12. Dave Wallace — Future Reality (Part 1) — 4:53
- CD2-13. Wayward Minds — Homeland (Xpressive Journey Mix) — 8:08
- CD3-1. Kristine W — Land Of The Living (Dekkard's Planet Vocal Mix) — 9:35
- CD3-2. Sjef Van Leeuwen — Voices Of K.A. (Angeles Voices Of Eden Mix) — 6:47
- CD3-3. Shiva — Let There Be Love (Renaissance Mix) — 5:42
- CD3-4. Yekuana — Canis Loopus (Remix) — 4:55
- CD3-5. Universal State Of Mind — All Because Of You (Original Mix) — 6:41
- CD3-6. Keoki — Caterpillar (Rabbit In The Moon Disco 2000 Mix) — 5:58
- CD3-7. Djum Djum — Difference (Cake Mix) — 3:24
- CD3-8. Big C featuring Alice — Daylight (Infallible Clank Mix) — 5:21
- CD3-9. Way Out West — Ajare (Original Mix) — 4:07
- CD3-10. Blue Amazon — Never Forget — 12:19
- CD3-11. Supereal — One Nation (Unity Mix) — 3:09
- CD3-12. Heliotropic — Walk With Me (Mix #1) — 5:56
Related on The Mix Archive
Want all three Part 4 journeys back?
Two of Dave Seaman's most patient mixes plus a full Ian Ossia disc that many people have never heard properly. The three CDs belong together — the programming is the point, and it only makes complete sense as a set.