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(Skint/Inertia)
Dave Clarke Live was mixed live, naturally (complete with occasional crowd shouts), at 2004’s Pink Pop festival in the Netherlands. Recorded on the tour on the back of the release of Dave Clarke’s second album, Devil’s Advocate, it not only includes many of the tracks from that album, but many of the biggest tracks from Dave’s 15 year career as a producer.
The mix starts off with the chunky techno beats of Gonk, the B-side to the 1994 release Red 2. This is mixed into the more recent track, Just Ride, a piece of synth-laden swirling techno from Devil’s Advocate. The mix then returns to older music with No One’s Driving, from 1996’s Archive One, the slower beats betraying Dave’s hip-hop roots. The recent single Way Of Life features the distinctive vocals of DJ Rush, which is followed by the bass-heavy track Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted. The mix then returns to funkier ground with the single Wiggle, taken from Devil’s Advocate, then Archive One’s Southside.
The Feeling, which is credited to AB/DC, is an as yet unreleased collaboration with Arthur Baker, while next up is the seminal track Thunder, the A-side of Red 3, with its fast pulsating beats. Dirtbox is the final single to be released from Devil’s Advocate, and is followed by Dave’s late 90s remix of Leftfield’s Phat Planet. The mix continues to dig into Dave’s older back catalogue, with Wisdom To The Wise, the A-side of Red 2, the tough as nails anthem The Compass, and Protective Custody, the A-side of Red 1, mixed up in succession.
It then returns to some more recent tracks towards the end. The Wolf, taken from Devil’s Advocate, is followed by a fellow track from Devil’s Advocate, the phat electro beats of Disgraceland, albeit an instrumental version lacking the vocals provided by Chicks On Speed. The mix winds to a close with the LFO Remix of the beautiful track What Was Her Name.
It’s an excellent mix, showing off both Dave’s impressive catalogue of releases that span many facets of the techno genre and his prowess as a DJ, and as such is an essential album for fans. If that’s not enough to entice you to buy it, there’s also an impressive list of bonuses. Added on to the end of the mix CD are three bonus tracks. There’s a previously unreleased remix of Way Of Life, the Lets Go Lets Go Remix by Technasia, which tones back the synths and ups the funkiness of the original. Then there’s two previously download only remixes of What Was Her Name. The Product 01 Remix is a synth-laden electro monster, while the Rekid Remix is a stripped back affair.
Even better, there’s a bonus DVD included (which unfortunately I haven’t been able to view). It features the Pink Pop performance, nearly 2 hours of another filmed performance at the Dour festival in Belgium, a 10 minute backstage interview, a short travelogue style film following Dave on the road to last year’s Creamfields Festival, and the video’s to Way Of Life and What Was Her Name.
