Collector's Shelf · Renaissance
Dave Seaman & Robert Miles — Renaissance Worldwide: London
Seaman's disc is sensual, vocal, progressive and cinematic; Robert Miles' is tougher, more techno-facing and increasingly psychedelic. The contrast between the two is the value, not a flaw.
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Release details
- ArtistDave Seaman & Robert Miles
- Year1997
- LabelRenaissance
- Format2 × CD
- SeriesRenaissance Worldwide
- Catalogue numberRENWW1CD
Two DJs, two very different Londons
The second disc of Renaissance Worldwide: London makes you check the sleeve. Robert Miles — the man behind Children — does not play an hour of dreamy piano trance. He plays Fluke, Empirion and The Delta, and it is brilliant.
Seaman's disc, meanwhile, is one of the most sensual things he ever committed to CD. The contrast between the two is not a flaw in the release. It is the value of it.
CD1: Seaman starts almost horizontally
Smoke City's Underwater Love and Furry Phreaks' Soothe set a slow, warm tone, and the disc opens up gradually from there. Garbage's Milk — in Rabbit In The Moon's Got It mix — should not fit this naturally, but it works because the set is already a world by the time it arrives.
Lustral's Everytime is the first real emotional hit, and the small transition tracks around it matter as much as the anthems. Then Underworld's Cowgirl gets eleven minutes because it deserves them, and Skunk Anansie's Twisted becomes a twelve-minute progressive record via Blue Amazon. Saint Etienne in the PFM mix and Lamb's Gorecki close the disc softer without breaking the spell.
CD2: Robert Miles tears it up
Miles opens with Fluke's Absurd, Way Out West's Drive By and Empirion's B.E.T.A. — tougher, more mechanical, immediately miles away from his radio image. Drive By turns out to be the bridge between the two discs rather than a hint of what is coming.
The middle of the disc gets weirder — Sultan, Metal Spark, Ascendence — and the closing run of The Delta, Children Of Paradise and Darshan's Mind Merge is genuinely psychedelic. Anyone expecting Children twice is in for a shock.
The two CDs should not match, and that is exactly why they do. What connects them is curiosity, not genre. In 1997, before the lanes hardened, that was what progressive meant — and owning both journeys together is the point.
Full tracklist
- CD1-1. Smoke City — Underwater Love (Morales Reprise & Underwater Club Mixes) — 7:57
- CD1-2. Furry Phreaks — Soothe (Chicane Jazz Mix) — 5:23
- CD1-3. Bulkhead — Easy Rider Blues — 2:15
- CD1-4. Garbage — Milk (Rabbit In The Moon's Got It Mix) — 7:24
- CD1-5. Lustral — Everytime (Nalin & Kane Mix) — 6:29
- CD1-6. Pako — Western Approaches — 0:57
- CD1-7. Dina Carroll — Mind, Body & Soul (Acappella) — 3:35
- CD1-8. Stone Factory — Saint And Sinner — 1:54
- CD1-9. Underworld — Cowgirl (Irish Pub In Kyoto & Original Mixes) — 11:05
- CD1-10. Skunk Anansie — Twisted (Everyday Hurts) (Blue Amazon DMC Mix) — 12:33
- CD1-11. Saint Etienne — The Sea (PFM Mix) — 6:41
- CD1-12. Lamb — Gorecki — 6:28
- CD2-1. Fluke — Absurd (Referendrum Mix) — 4:43
- CD2-2. Way Out West — Drive By — 3:47
- CD2-3. Empirion — B.E.T.A. (Original Mix) — 4:55
- CD2-4. Landlord — Split Second — 3:03
- CD2-5. Polybeat — Koea 954 (Heart Of Steel Mix) — 4:43
- CD2-6. Rebel Yelle — Mizbehavinit (Gizelle's Mizbe'ere We Go Again Mix) — 2:20
- CD2-7. Moogability — Houston ('97 Remix) — 3:09
- CD2-8. Metal Spark — Smells Electric — 3:16
- CD2-9. Ascendence — Drop — 5:23
- CD2-10. Sultan — Gel Gor Beni Ask N'Eyledi — 3:39
- CD2-11. The Delta — As A Child I Could Walk On The Ceiling — 7:53
- CD2-12. Children Of Paradise — Alien Nation, Part 2 — 4:53
- CD2-13. Darshan — Mind Merge — 7:03
The handover is the whole point
Seaman ends with Lamb’s Gorecki. Miles begins with Fluke’s Absurd. Put those moments beside each other and the release reveals itself: this is not one mood stretched across two convenient discs, but a handover between two completely different ideas of where London could lead.
The first disc moves through sensual house, progressive drama and a soft landing. The second takes the same listener into harder electronics, clipped rhythms and psychedelic pressure. Way Out West’s Drive By is the small patch of shared ground before Miles heads somewhere much stranger.
That jump is exciting because Renaissance does not smooth it away. You turn the disc over and the personality changes. The compilation trusts you to follow.
Why the complete release is worth owning
Robert Miles is the surprise, but Seaman is not merely the sensible half. His disc earns the contrast through patient, luxurious programming: Underwater Love, Milk, Everytime, Cowgirl, The Sea and Gorecki, all given enough space to alter the temperature.
Miles then makes the second CD feel like a door you did not expect the set to open. The further it travels from his radio reputation, the more valuable the pairing becomes. By Mind Merge, the cover credit makes perfect sense for entirely different reasons than it did at the start.
Keep only one disc and you own a very good mix. Keep both and you own the conversation. That tension between elegance and abrasion is what makes Worldwide: London more than an interesting 1997 curio — and exactly why the original two-CD sequence still deserves shelf space.
Related on The Mix Archive
Want both sides of Renaissance Worldwide: London back?
Seaman's most sensual mix and Robert Miles' toughest, in one package. Neither disc makes full sense without the other — the contrast is the release, and the only way to hear it as intended is to own both halves.