Various - The Best Club Anthems 2...Ever! FLAC download

After the great success which was 'The Best Club Anthems...Ever' earlier the same year, Richard Evans mixed yet another spectacular string of songs released throughout the 90's. The majority of them were released around '97, though some such as U.S.U.R.A's Open Your Mind came out back in 1992, along with M People's How Can I Love You More and Robin S's Show Me Love as these were all originals for the most part.Looking at the first CD, the quality does not fail to disappoint - and as you may know, Richard Evans was the DJ mix. He was also responsible for 'The Best Mix... Ever', both releases of 'Big Mix 97' and many more. He has done many others in the years that came but I have not heard these.Here, you have the great hits such as Ultra Nate's Free, Todd Terry's Something's Going On, Gala's Freed From Desire, USURA's Open Your Mind, Billy Ray Martin's Your Loving Arms, Dario G's Sunchyme, Mighty Dub Katz's Magic Carpet Ride (Club Mix) which is rare, and my favorite inclusion - Sash!'s Stay. The mixing here should really get you pumping, as it blew me away in certain transitions. The majority of hits are not used to death, except for maybe Healy & Amos's Stamp but that's only a minor gripe. The first 'Club Anthems' release has already been surpassed with this CD alone, as it is some of Richard Evans' best mixing, and the sheer quality has vastly improved.The second disc is not as memorable as the first as there were a few 'weaker' hits, and three hits that I would rather skip altogether, being Happiness by Kamasutra, Coco's Miracle and Amira's Desire. I enjoyed House of Pain's Jump Around, The Chemical Brothers, Robin S's Show Me Love, Bobby Brown and particularly M People's How Can I Love You More being an entirely new remix I had never heard. It really does pick up in its second half with the appearance of The O.T. Quartet's Hold That Sucker Down (Happy Daze Vocal Mix), but it is followed by a garage hit - Roy Davis' Gabriel which felt odd. We have Huff & Herb's Feeling Good (Epic Mix), Jaydee's Plastic Dreams, Staxx's Joy and Tin Tin Out's Strings For Yasmin. They really brought up the entertainment factor, and Richard Evans' mixing really shows. While not as memorable as the first CD, I have grown into it and it is a great contribution to the series. The mixing by Richard Evans is one of the reasons why the score is what it is, only ruined by some forgettable hits in the middle.Overall, I would say that this is better than the first Club Anthems album in terms of the overall quality. This came down to the fact that the first CD is everything that I would want to see in a 90's dance mix - great inclusions, perfect mixing and great transitions into songs, but only let down by the middle selection of tracks in the second CD. Luckily, the next two releases would be my favourites of 'The Best Club Anthems' series.