Jackpot Meets Guerilla..

A fair bit of buzz when it was announced that Jackpot had acquired the rights to the back catalogue of arguably the most influential progressive house label of the nineties. I always felt they were both very similar labels, both for a brief moment in time completely ruled the roost, the ethos behind the labels also appears to have some resemblance, it kind of made sense that if anyone was going to work some magic on Guerilla it was Jackpot.

So what did we get ? well if i'm honest looking back it was a little patchy, whilst there were a couple of decent remixes I'm thinking Bedrock's take on Justin Robertson's 'Intoxication' and Lol Hammonds 'You Make Me Feel So Good' (remixed under his Girl Eats Boy moniker) you kind of feel the rest are slightly below par and that was not for want of production skills, there's a pretty strong raft on there, its arguably perhaps an indication of 'best left alone'.. How can you improve and put your stamp on something which for many is already perfect ?

What the compilation did offer up was a revisit to the original back catalogue in the form of a 75 minute mix by Full Circle promoter Phil Perry and for that alone i've always gone back to it as a reminder of just how ahead of its time Guerilla really was, A number of the 'big' tracks are there but a few of the lesser known cuts get an airing.. Jo Bogeart's 'Water' and Felix Da Housecat - Thee Dawn both represent good examples of this.. So many sounds, elements and inspirations can be heard on the 'Then' disc which feature in current tracks 25 years later..

Worth a purchase ? I would say yes.. Its not perhaps the album we all hoped for but it does have its moments.. A reasonable amalgamation of two fantastic labels that have cemented their place in the dance music history books.

Supporter of Jackpot from day one.. Getting a Jackpot mailer through the post was something to get excited about back then..

Jackpot presents Guerilla - THEN mixed by Phil Perry

Jackpot presents Guerilla - NOW mixed by Danny Howells