Various

The world’s first commercially released house music mix CD? We think the legendary Tony Humphries’ Strictly Rhythm Mix from 1993 is the one to beat. A veteran DJ and pivotal figure in the history of house music, Humphries rose to international prominence on the surge in popularity of what became known as Garage, the soulful house sound that was born in Larry Levan’s Manhattan club Paradise Garage and grew up in Zanzibar, the big man’s residency over the Hudson River in Newark, New Jersey. By the time the Zanz closed in 1990 Humphries was already established as the New York area’s leading dance music DJ and his influence was such that he became responsible for breaking countless records by playing them in his sets and on his weekly mix show for New York’s Kiss FM. The Tony Humphries Strictly Rhythm mix features several of the classics he was first to champion – Photon Inc’s ‘Generate Power’, Djaimin’s ‘Give You’ and Aly-Us’ ‘Follow Me’ – mixed in with club favourites like Hardrive’s ‘Sindae’ (produced by MAW) and After Hours’ ‘Feel It’ (co-produced by Roger Sanchez), and more commercially slanted songs like Cynthia M’s ‘Love Storm’ produced by DJ Pierre and Simone’s ‘Hey Fellas’. The mix is a brilliant soulful snapshot of Strictly Rhythm’s early years; check the Hump’s classic blending progression of track-vocal-track-vocal.