Années 80 : La Discothèque idéale

Released at the tail-end of the 2000s, just as the decade was coming to a close, Ministry of Sound: One is an unmixed, triple-disc compilation of dance hits that made it to the upper reaches of the U.K. singles chart.
The album title suggests that the 54 songs compiled on Ministry of Sound: One were all number one hits, but that's not entirely the case here. Some were (for instance, the Prodigy's "Firestarter" and Fatboy Slim's "Praise You") while others were close but not quite chart-toppers (for instance, Underworld's "Born Slippy" peaked at number two, and the Chemical Brothers' "Hey Boy Hey Girl" peaked at number three). Nevertheless, there is a wealth of dance hits on here, and they go all the way back to 1987, when Steve "Silk" Hurley's acid house classic "Jack Your Body" (included here) was the first electronic dance track ever to top the U.K. singles chart. While there are a few other oldies from the '80s (e.g., M/A/R/R/S' "Pump Up the Volume" from 1987, Soul II Soul's "Back to Life" from 1989) and quite a few recent hits (e.g., Dizzee Rascal's "Bonkers," Kid Cudi vs. Crookers' "Day 'N' Night," both from 2009), most of the songs compiled on Ministry of Sound: One come from the mid- to late-'90s electronica heyday. Fans of that era, particularly those who lived it, will enjoy the blast from the past, though many of these songs were so popular then (e.g., ATB's "9PM ," DJ Sammy's "Heaven"), they still might feel overplayed to even the most nostalgic listeners. That's partly the problem with Ministry of Sound: One, a compilation of material that most dance music fans either already have in their collection or don't care to pay good money for. On the other hand, younger listeners looking for a history lesson in popular dance music couldn't ask for a better compilation. Two other compilations that likewise round up a bunch of U.K. dance favorites from the past couple decades are Gatecrasher's Club Anthems 1993-2009 (2009) and Cream Classics (2004), though these are more oriented toward what was actually spun in British clubs rather than what appeared on the singles chart.