Jukebox

Ministry of Sound - The Annual 2009

‘Tis the season of the compilation album, all in good time for Christmas. Probably second only in popularity to the Now That’s What I Call Music series is the worldwide brand The Ministry of Sound which is releasing its 2009 Annual.

It’s a fair beast; comprising as it does of three discs featuring 58 tracks of music and a DVD containing the best dance videos of the year. Now as always it is a mite tricky to say anything new about a compilation album, seeing as how you’ll most likely be quite familiar with the tracks on it but there are a few surprises on here. For me anyway.

I’ve never been to any of the MOS venues and probably only own three or four of the albums but I’ve heard enough to be of the opinion that the MOS makes dance music accessible for everyone; even those who don’t go clubbing any more. What I like about the albums is that they don’t alienate people. The annuals give you all the best of the mainstream dance floor fillers and massive weekend radio tracks. You’ll hear dance tracks you already know, some remixes you thought unlikely and some new stuff you might just enjoy.

The sampler I’ve been sent doesn’t really give much of an idea of how the mixing plays out, giving me as it does just under two minutes of 40 of the tracks, all nicely faded in and out, but I think it’s fairly safe to say that The Ministry has never let us down to date and that it will flow pretty well. Some of the tracks I reckon any mainstream radio station listener will know include Eric Prydz’s Pjanoo, Christian Falk’s Dream On featuring Robyn, who has been ever present this year and the annoying Jordan Sparks with No Air (and I sometimes wish she was). You’ll know these exactly as they’ve been played on the radio but there are some great remixes of other well known tracks too such as September’s Cry For You which has been remixed superbly by Spencer & Hill. My favourite remix is probably Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) by SASH! Feat STUNT; a truly great revival of a phenomenally massive dance track from the nineties.

There are a few tracks that I wouldn’t have classed as dance tracks. For example my band of the year The Ting Tings’ That’s Not My Name has been brilliantly remixed to become a dancefloor piece, Daniel Beddingfield’s The One remixed by Sharam and Wawa’s remix of Keep This Fire Burning, originally by the powerhouse that is Beverley Knight. There’s a bit of old school too. Robyn S’s Show Me Love has been brought bang up to date by Mobin Master. Other revivals include Love Shy, and there are a few radio newbies like Wearing My Rolex, Dance Wiv Me, and Nicki Bliss’ I Kissed A Girl with which Katy Perry which took the charts by storm.

It doesn’t all hit the spot as far as I’m concerned; I’m left cold by Chris Lake’s Only One and a few others, but on the whole, from what I’ve heard it’s an excellent collection, even when you take into account the moody and late night saxophone jazz of Man With The Red Face by Mark Knight & Funkagenda and Infinity 2008 by Guru Josh Project. And even allowing for Mint Royale’s Singin’ In The Rain as made famous by commercials and small boys dancing.

If you only buy one dance album this year… well you could do a lot worse than this one.

“ The Ministry has never let us down ”

File under: Dance

Tracklist: Disc: 1
Christian Falk Feat. Robyn - Dream On / Eric Prydz - Pjanoo / Axwell & Bob Sinclar Feat. Ron Carroll - What A Wonderful World / Jordin Sparks & Chris Brown - No Air / SASH! Feat. STUNT - Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) / Basshunter - Angel In The Night / Lasgo - Out Of My Mind / September - Cry For You / The Ting Tings - That’s Not My Name / Skepta - Rolex Sweep / Mark Knight & Funkagenda - Man With The Red Face / Guru Josh Project - Infinity 2008 / Chris Lake - Only One / Steve Angello & Sebastian Ingrosso - Partouze / Lys - Speechless / ENUR - Calabria 2008 / Audio Bullys - Flickery Vision / Kidda - Under The Sun / Example - Girl You Can’t Dance / Hervé Feat. Plastic Little and Ny - Cheap Thrills

Disc: 2
Platnum - Love Shy (Thinking About You) / Freemasons Feat. Hazel Fernandez - If / Dizzee Rascal Feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome - Dance Wiv Me / Wiley - Wearing My Rolex / Kelly Rowland - Work / Sharam Feat. Daniel Bedingfield - The One / Haji & Emanuel Feat. Beverley Knight & Bryan Chambers - The Pressure / The Shapeshifters - Chime / Outsiders - Keep This Fire Burning / No Halo - Put Your Hands On / Nicki Bliss - I Kissed A Girl / Mobin Master Feat. Robin S. - Show Me Love / J. Majik & Wickaman - Crazy World / Star Pilots - In The Heat Of The Night / The Montanas & DJ Roland Clark - Music Talking / Malibu Sneakers - Get Down Again / Bingo Players Vs Chocolate Puma - Touch Me / Picco - Yeke Yeke / Mint Royale - Singin’ In The Rain /

Disc: 3
Basshunter Feat. DJ Mental Theo’s Bazzheadz - Now You’re Gone / Dizzee Rascal Feat. Calvin Harris & Chrome - Dance Wiv Me / Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand - Let Me Think About It / H “two” O Feat. Platnum - What’s It Gonna Be / Booty Luv - Some Kinda Rush / Alex Gaudino Feat. Shena - Watch Out / SASH! Feat. STUNT - Raindrops (Encore Une Fois) / September - Cry For You / Freemasons - When You Touch Me / Basshunter - All I Ever Wanted / Utah Saints - Something Good ‘08 / Bob Sinclar Presents Fireball - What I Want / Platnum - Love Shy (Thinking About You) / Skepta - Rolex Sweep / Alex Gaudino Feat. Crystal Waters - Destination Calabria / DJ Q Feat. MC Bonez - You Wot! / Ricki-Lee - U Wanna Little Of This / Basshunter - Angel In The Night

Written by Vikki Roberts - November 2008
Read more: Compilation Albums, Dance, Ministry of Sound