Various

THE LOST TAPES: PRIDE 95 MIXED BY LIL LOUIS
Chicago’s Lil Louis is one of the unsung godfathers of house music, a key mover from the original days whose influence is far deeper than his low profile might suggest. The risqué ‘French Kiss’, a top 2 chart hit in the UK and a huge dance hit globally in 1989 still wields enormous power today thanks to its seminal keyboard riffs. But Louis was much more than a few groans and a prototype electro-house groove; his two albums were streets ahead of most of the competition at the time and his skills encompassed brilliant vocal cuts like ‘Club Lonely’ and of course, the Strictly Rhythm release ‘Freedom’ by Black Magic.
Pride 95 is about much more than the DJ who mixed it, however. A celebration of Gay Pride, the album marked an important milestone in recognising not only the huge influence gay culture played (and still plays today) in club culture, but also how it interacted with the straight scene. The tracklisting reflects the diversity of a scene that by 1995 already covered numerous strands and sub-cultures; Erick Morillo’s ‘Club Ultimate’ and Armand Van Helden’s ‘Mole People’ bump up against post-disco divas Barbara Tucker and Moné and those products of the flamboyant and fierce gay New York scene of the mid ‘90s, Michael M and Franklin Fuentes. And Pride, of course, is still loud and proud today.