DJ Paul Oakenfold: Ibiza, the Goa Mix, Cream and Perfecto

Chances are you knew the name Paul Oakenfold before you knew why. He's one of those DJs where the mythology is so bloody big it gets in the way of the music: the 1987 Ibiza trip, Spectrum, Perfecto, U2, Cream, number one DJ in the world. Underneath it are some genuinely great records, starting with a 1994 radio broadcast that still sounds like nothing else. The trick is to separate the extraordinary career from the actual music. His 1994 Goa Mix, Oslo compilation and globe-trotting 1999 Essential Mixes show related but strikingly different versions of Oakenfold. The records move between house, psychedelic trance, film-score atmosphere and unapologetic hands-in-the-air moments. None of that is explained by a single list of his biggest hits.