Essential Selection

The ever-steady Pete Tong kept his Essential Selection train on track in 2003 with a stateside edition for Moonshine that was inspired by his summer in Ibiza. While it's tempting to automatically lump this edition in with the innumerable other Essential Selection mixes Tong recorded over the years (usually in conjunction with ffrr in the U.K.), that'd be a mistake because there's nothing generic about this particular edition in terms of music. Sure, back in the '90s Tong was a so-so DJ with all the right connections, but circa 2003 he'd become a force to be reckoned with and truly deserved his lofty billings -- he'd improved his mixing over the years and become more liberal with his track selection, at times eschewing the obvious for the obscure. This 2003 edition showcases these very attributes, as Tong bridges a jumpy 14-track mix as well as anyone realistically could without sacrificing the broad scope that he's chosen to unveil. He opens with some very congenial pop-crossover house (Holloway and Eastwick's "Downtime"), which is perhaps to be expected, but then he quickly detours toward a pleasant run of quirky tech-house (Bobby Peru's "Jack to the Future," Rework's "You're So Just Just," Jesper Dahlback's remix of Phonogenic's "Generations") before dropping the festive bombast of the Usual M.J.C.'s "Silco." From there Tong again makes a left turn, going with some dubby, jerky tracks that are totally uncategorical (Darkroom Dubs' "Darkroom Dubs La," Tom Mangan's "So We Can") before making the inevitable drift toward the climactic sounds of progressive house (Jack Prongo's "Alleviation of Distress," M.A.N.D.Y.'s "Tonite"). Okay, so the closing salvo of prog house excess is to be expected, as is the congenial opener, but Tong makes the getting from A to B quite interesting and enjoyable, as good DJs should. The liberties he takes here are a bit surprising given his reputation as a mainstream DJ with more commercial stature than raw talent, yet that's precisely what makes this Essential Selection disc a cut above its predecessors. ~ Jason Birchmeier