Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Plum Blossom - Lateef, Yusef
2. Game Over - Dabrye & Jay Dee/Phat Kat
3. Beej-N-Dem - Jay Dee (1)
4. Rock Steady - Franklin, Aretha
5. NTT Docomo - Arpanet
6. Galaxy - BFC
7. Just A Feeling - Instinct
8. No More Words - Craig, Carl
9. Burning - MK
10. Me And The Gang - Bohannon, Hamilton
11. Get Up - Detroit In Effect
12. Don't Talk - Adult. (1)
13. No Fun - Stooges
14. Utopia - Mills, Jeff
15. Bettino's Bounce - Funkadelic
16. Journey In Satchidananda - Coltrane, Alice & Pharoah Sanders
17. Amazon - Underground Resistance

Disc 2:

1. Intro - Various Artists
2. Beatbox - Art Of Noise
3. I Need Love - Capricorn (2)
4. Join In The Chant - Nitzer Ebb
5. Disco Circus - Martin Circus
6. It's A War - Kano (2)
7. Computer Games - Yellow Magic Orchestra
8. No More Words - Yello
9. Peut Etre Pas - Liaisons Dangereuses
10. Dance Boy Dance - Alexander Robotnick
11. Acid Eiffel - Choice (2)
12. Virtual - Black Dog
13. Flesh And Steel - Flying Lizards
14. Nort Route - Balil
15. Frequency 7 - Visage (1)
16. Ant Can See Legs - Severed Heads

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27500 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-23
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Electrifying
In my opinion the above reviews are unfair. Yes its slightly frustrating that Garnier's mix is all done in one go but look at the quality of the tracks - Aretha's 'Rocksteady' is an immense chunk of funk and 'No Fun' by The Stooges might be a stripped down wail of primal guitar-driven garage rock but its motorik beat shows it's a product of Detroit as much as any 'techno' produced long after it was recorded and its just as thrilling. Myself I LIKE the fact that Carl Craig TALKS at the start of the tracks and bigs up Dieter and Boris from Yello on their selection (for instance), the awesome 'No More Words' - ha! It's like you're listening into an Electrifying Mojo radio broadcast from 1983 - which I'm sure is what this mix is in homage to. You can sense Craig's excitement and joy in playing these tracks, many of which have educated his taste and are the influences on his take on techno. Again we're talking quality product on offer - rippling Italo tracks such as Capricorn's 'I Need Love' and Kano's 'it's a War', spacey electro from Alexander Robotnick, avant garde synth pop from Liaisons Dangereuses and Flying Lizards and the storming EBM of 'Join In The Chant' by Nitzer Ebb. These are informed by commentary from Carl Craig and I think they really improve it rather than just another mix CD. In my opinion his European perspective is informative, enjoyable and excellent - so buy it!

Up its own bum
I was really disappointed with this double CD. The Detroit and European stories of techno should be classic, but this is a huge let down.
Firstly the Laurent Garnier disk was burnt as one track, so no skipping to individual tracks, just messy forwarding and guessing. So much for this being a historic collection that isn't even broken down. Garnier's track selection is fine and there are some gems and vocals mixed in with Detroit sound bites. ok.
The Carl Craig disk is a complete pain in the arse, as the self proclaimed 'King' shouts out requests before each track "This goes out to the roller skaters" along with how much a tune shivers his spine and on another occasion how he lost another track for years (that special, eh?). So his European perspective seems shallow to non existent.
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Warning
Only one star? The track listing looks promising, and the music is superb, unfortunately the Garnier CD is not chaptered and Carl Craig talks over every track on his disc (which fortunately is separated into individual tracks).
Yes, just like a bad Radio 1 DJ from the 1980s, Craig just cannot shut up. Just when you might start to lose yourself in a piece of music and forget he is there, you get 'whoop-whoop', or 'put your hands in the air, like you just don't care'. One track is introduced 'This is for all of you who hate war' (!). Truly a shame.
Meanwhile with Garnier; despite the CD being titled 'Kings of Techno', you actually have to wait over 15 minutes to hear any. What you get is Yusef Lateef, 2 hip-hop tracks and Aretha Franklin. I do actually like all of these, but it is highly annoying having to hold your finger on fast forward if you just want to get into the electronic segment.
I wonder though if Garnier had actually heard Craig's mix before he made his, as the inclusion of Craig's own 'No More Words' and 'Don't Talk' by ADULT, suggest he is trying to tell his peer something.