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An odd time, you might think, for X-Press 2 to be bringing out a greatest hits compilation. But then this is a compilation celebrating fifteen years in dance music for the trio, which is some achievement.
"Raise your hands", of course, is the call of London Xpress, the single with which the group hit the ground running in 1993. And whereas initially Rocky, Diesel and Ashley Beedle found success as DJs, famously using as many as twelve decks in the course of their gigs, they soon started to make a stronger case for themselves as producers.
Lazy remains their biggest hit, with David Byrne enlisted for their biggest hit, and best song, to date. But in the context of their output it's far from representative, and darker, edgy club tunes such as Muzikizum and Smoke Machine carry more weight. Reproduced here in 12" form they make a big impression, particularly the darkly majestic lines of the former.
More recently their style has diversified, but their productivity seems to have slowed. Kill 100 is a good, moody piece of cool house, while Lambchop's Kurt Wagner brings an uplifting spirituality to Give It. The classic house tunes stand up well, too, the trio's twisted version of disco giving their earlier music an underground energy.
The second disc isn't exactly the makeweight of remixes these compilations tend to throw up. Carl Craig's Kill 100, the chunky Tom Stephan Superchumbo remix of Muzikizum, the Freeform Five take on Lazy - all more than merit their inclusion, and are topped of with remixes by the group, of whom Ashley Beedle alone would merit a whole retrospective of mixes.
But this is about the raw material - and it's an excellent selection that shows how quality rather than quantity has kept X-Press 2 at the top of their game in house music for so long, and how more recently they've shown encouraging signs of branching out and adding more to their sound. Let's hope it's not too long before we hear from them again.
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