The House Sound of Chicago - Vol. III - Acid Tracks
1988
House
Hopping off of that notoriously rickety K-tel train to nowhere for a bit and latching onto some classic house goodies instead, starting with this third installment from The House Sound of…, a series that was originally launched in 1986 by Chicago house label D.J. International Records in order to showcase the city's own house scene, and was also released in the UK through the much bigger London Records too. This series would end up proving far more impactful across the pond than it would in the States, but in '88, the year of the UK's Second Summer of Love, during which house music would spread like wildfire among the youth, the London label took over its reins and decided to start redirecting this series through their newly-repurposed FFRR imprint instead. FFRR's focus would be on dance music, and as it was headed by the one and only Pete Tong, it would go on to become one of the greatest and most important labels in the history of dance music as we know it.
So, in that regard, what we have here happens to be a pretty damn big deal, because this was the first comp that was ever issued on FFRR since its dance rebrand. But its title is actually inexplicably and very confusingly misleading, because while it claims to be loaded up with 'acid tracks,' only one of these tunes actually meets the criteria for being acid—Tyree's "Acid Over," which, as all acid tracks do, stars the unique squelches of the Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer—and I can't say that I'm very much a fan of it.
Instead, what dominates this comp is a bunch of great Chicago house of a different stripe: largely black and queer, vocally male-led stuff with some soul to it, that includes things like feelgood combinations of strings and richly stabbing piano chords deployed over four-on-the-floor drumbeats.
And while I find almost all of this record to be quite good, I think its very best moments happen to lie on its B-side, with Darryl Pandy and Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's absurdly energetic "Freeman" and Sterling Void's much calmer and steadier "It's All Right" serving as a stellar yin and yang, together representing opposite ends of a spectrum of both vibe and sound that could be contained within this revolutionary dance music genre that was still very much at such an early juncture itself.
So, Darryl Pandy, as he is wont to do, sports his lovably goofy vocal passion all over "Freeman," while Farley complements him with a beat that's very fiery, deliberately ostentatious, and, by that some token, clearly on a queer post-disco/hi-NRG type of tip too. Basically, if you love yourself some big, gay, and campy 80s dance tunes, this one's a can't-miss 🔥.
And then to counterbalance something as fun and ridiculous as that one is "It's All Right," which is one of those blissed-out bits of transcendent dance dreaminess that seems to be targeted directly at your very own soul. This is a song in which those deadly key-and-string combos really abound, and if you're ever out on the floor when it comes on, you're then required to do some extensive, eyes-closed, slow grooving to it 😌. Wonderful track.
So, ultimately, I feel kinda bad for all the acid jackers who bought this record and were expecting their purchase to be a whole lot more chemical than it was, but hopefully they still came away with an appreciation for this different slate of 80s Chicago house bangers anyway. Buncha must-listen tunes here for anyone who's interested in this local scene, where this music first originated.
And you can also pair this album with my own 1980s Chicago House playlist too, which as of right now has almost no overlap, besides Jamie Principle's "Baby Wants to Ride"—but my playlist (the YouTube one at least) has the version of that song in which Jamie at one point decides to….cynically parody "America the Beautiful" 😂…and this album doesn't.
1980s Chicago House: Spotify / YouTube / YouTube Music
Jamie Principle - "Baby Wants to Ride"
Frankie Knuckles - "Only the Strong Survive"
Paris - "Girl U Need a Change of Mind"
Darryl Pandy & Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - "Freeman"
Romance - "All Dis Music"
Farley "Jackmaster" Funk - "My House"
Sterling Void - "It's All Right"
pixelskylines
dededos
discoholicmusic
kaledo-art
germansingergirl
jbbartram-illu
snowghoul
blakekathryn