Customer Reviews

Best of House 1: Progressive House

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

DO NOT BUY THIS CD. This is NOT in any way Progressive House. This is corporate America bastardsizing the name Progressive to get your money. Not even close to the music. Buy the Global Underground CDs, Renaissance CDs, latest Tranceport series. This is a shameful example of how corporate record labels hurt the electronic music industry and the loyal people that follow it. Shame. Shame. I am embarrassed by this and your tactics in advertising this CD to internet forums of loyal progressive house fans. I know the old cliche "To each his own." but this a slap in the face to the progressive house community.

The Best of House... hmmm after listening to samples I wouldn't call it house. Sounds more like RAVE music which is heavy. House is smooth and groovy. This music is hot and heavy. House makes me sway my hips, this music makes me want to jump up and down. For a good house compilation, check out Do you know house? Volume One by Dance Tracks (2001).

Not to say the cd is bad, only mislabeled. Four songs stuck out for me. Sandstorm by Darude is an absolute Rave classic. Then there is Do It Again, and Stomp to my beat. And then there is the mainstream Vengaboys Up and Down. My friend used to call their music Cheese. Vengaboys are in the same class as Effifel 65. Their music can be good for Chuck E Cheese celebration but can be annoying sometimes.

This music is a cousin of Happy Hardcore but definitely isn't house.

When it comes to electronica and house, it's not that hard for an album to strike a chord with some segment of the population. There are more than a few different species of rave music, and although it means critics can sometimes get bogged down in semantics (do we call this hard house? progressive? deep? industrial? techno? trance? digital box pop? blah blah blah), it also means, on the plus side, that there's usually something out there for all kinds of HouseHeads.

Ignoring the touchy subject of definitions, there's one thing that can definitively be said about this album: it's not very good. In fact, it's pretty bad.

So-called "newbies," seeking an introduction into or an argument for club music, will not be seduced or persuaded by this hasty conglomeration of petty and pretentious songs. The album labels itself as "Progressive House," which is a smug enough title as it is; then you have songs that, in deep bass, urge you to "Shhh...be quiet. Listen!" or that holler, self-righteously, "In the beginning, there was house music ... and from this groove came the groove of all grooves ... and then one day some DJs declared, 'Let this house be progressive!'" Give me a break.

There are some old standards on this record (emphasis on the "old"), so an argument could be made for it as some sort of record of house antiquity (if such a thing is even necessary). Darude's "Sandstorm" was once a club staple (and still calls up nostalgia among older ravers), Da Hool's "Meet Her At The Love Parade" is a song that will probably sound familiar to almost anyone -- it was once "progressive," I guess, but it's now the formula a DJ follows when s/he's run out of ideas. The same could be said for the Vengaboys and their "Up And Down," a song that plays like it was bought from a vending machine.

Any one of these songs might survive in a club, played alone, and sandwiched between songs of higher skill. They have their place just as much as, say, the B-52's "Love Shack" or Ace of Bass's "Don't Turn Around." They are novelties, once popular, good now as something to snicker at and even nod your head, too. But an entire album of them only makes you realize how incredibly trite and grating they really are, and shows you just how far the genre has come in such a short amount of time. House, this music may be, the Best, it most certainly is not.

Best of House vol. 1 was one of the first cds I bought as a "newbie." The collection of tracks is nothing spectacular. Then again, it's not bad either, but it is a good place to start for those of you newly introduced to electronica. Clearly, the person that claimed Best of House, "has no true value as a music CD," should not have bought a CD that was INTENDED for "newbies;" given the fact, he or she does not sound like one. But for those of you who ARE, I definitely recommend this one.

My friend gave me this CD, and I've enjoyed it. I'm not much into any type of house/trance/rave/techno/syntho-whatever music so I didn't know if I'd really enjoy it, but I like it. Looking at some of the other reviews, it's probably not your best choice if you're a hardcore House music fan, but then, if you're hardcore, you probably shouldn't be listening to compilation CDs anyway ;-)
This is a good CD to put on when you're doing something, but I'm just not into this music for the sake of listening to, except track number 2, Castles in the Sky. All in all, if you can get this from a friend, do it, but I wouldn't jump out to buy it unless you had extra money.

It's been awhile since i've seen such a badly mislabeled cd. This music is great for the garden variety of glow stick and baggy pants so called raver teens who are always asking me...what's that song that goes...or asks for Ian Van Dahl or Darude's 'sandstorm' constantly. The tracks on the cd are more what i would consider akin to happy hardcore only 20 beats per minute slower..There's nothing all that bad with this cd other than those facts. However, my gripe is with the fact that it's being hailed as something it isn't i.e. Progressive House...Not even close! Ifyou want a better mixed cd than this..get Paul Oakenfold's Creamfields, Cream Renaissance, or Sasha & Digweed's Northern Exposure. ALl of them feature loads better track selections even tho there may be a few tracks that some may consider to be cheese in the mix with some very choice tracks, however many of them on the former two cds i mentioned are gonna be considered to be trance. Of all of them i would recommend NOrthern Exposure first...less of the sweeping epic buildups of trance and more chuggy deeper progressive house style of music, overall. I see this cd as a shameless attempt of a major record label to cash in on using the name of a subcategory of electronic music (progressive in this case) and giving the average person an instant disliking of all that truly falls into the progressive house realm based on hearing this cd and not liking it. With tracks ranging from the commercial vocal trance of IVD, to the hard house noise of RObbie Tronco's 'fright train' , the mix doesn't make sense as a whole, and is very general electronic dance. Each song in it's right context would be very useful to a dj but then most of the tracks here are ones that any dj worth his salt already has as a CDM or 12 inch vinyl and with the tracks clocking in at little more than 4 minutes each, that's not too handy for the beat mixing professional club dj, but could be used by some mobile djs who require songs of the edited variety.
DjJohnnyM
birmingham, AL (U.s.)

I got this CD from my friend after I told him that I like house music, and I really liked it. Well, I was pretty nice giving this 5 stars. I think it really could have used a song like Paul Johnson's "Get Get Down" or "The Bomb" by the Bucketheads instead of songs that I don't like and had never even heard of such as "The Final Chapter" or "Sssst...Listen be quiet". If you like this, you'll probably like Best of House 2 also.

It is an insult to Progressive House to refer to the commercial feces on this CD as Progressive House, let alone "The Best Of" anything! Anyone that knows anything about Progressive House knows that this CD is nothing more than a record company's pathetic attempt at raking in the dollars.

The tunes on this CD are, in fact, EXTREMELY popular, BUT I THINK MOST PEOPLE ARE TASTELESS ANYHOW! I guess what I am trying to say is, if you want a CD filled with MTV-like 4/4 dance tunes, aimed directly at the mindless majority, then you have certainly come to the right place; just don't insult my favorite form of music by combining the words "The Best Of" and the words "Progressive House" in the same sentence or breath with regards to THIS CD!

If you are really interested in getting a "Best Of" Progressive House CD, then go buy a Renaissance or Cream "Anthems" CD. They may "bend" their credibility by putting a few commercial tracks on their "Best Of" compilations, but they keep their dignity intact by putting some legitimate tunes on there as well.

What's up with the first track anyway. Anytime a progressive hosue album tries to build itself up with an "In the beginning. . ." track...well, that's bad news.
This album is off-kilter at most points. If this really is "The Best of House", then maybe I should crawl back under a rock. Definitely not the house music that I enjoy listening too.
On the other hand, tracks 2, 3 & 5 tell you that there are at least 3 artists worth exploring more. Darude can be quite fun, and Kernkraft is a classic for you NHL fans.

Looking for a great mix? Look no more... this CD is perfect driving-music, for working out, parties, whatever... the beats get you moving. It's very listener-friendly, so newbies will find this CD a great addition to their collection. My raves go to "Sandstorm," "Castles in the Sky," and "Blackout," although I've yet to hear a track I don't like. Enjoy!