Documenting Phuture's early recordings (before signing to Strictly Rhythm in '92), this includes acid house classics like the anthemic 'We Are Phuture', the cunningly low-fi 'Slam', the haunting 'Your Only Friend', as well as lesser know - but indispensable - highlights like Phortune's piano slammer, 'String Free'.

An eternal house music classic from the inventors of acid house, 'Rise From Your Grave' is the 1990 follow up to Phuture's previous anti-crack hit 'Your Only Friend'. Features haunting chords and classic Phuture spoken word lyrics, including the famous 'This is cocaine speaking...' sample - so keep away from the white stuff, folks!

Strictly Rhythm's iconic logo alone is a legend in its own right - the letters scrawled on a brick wall have long become the symbol for the worldwide success of house music.

Set up in 1989 by former aeronautics engineer Mark Finkelstein and A&R Gladys Pizarro, Strictly Rhythm had the fortune to rely on great talent from its very beginning: George Morel for example, who recorded the label's third release, 'Special', under the name Sir James. Or young Roger Sanchez, who had his hands in the productions of Strictly's first break-through hit, the reflective piano house track 'The Warning' by Logic.

Soon New York's greatest house music talents united under the banner of Strictly Rhythm: Todd Terry, Little Louie Vega, Kenny Dope, and even Chicago's acid house inventors Phuture joined the label's ranks, releasing eternal house anthems such as 'Rise From Your Grave'. Phuture's DJ Pierre even invented a unique signature style for his productions for Strictly Rhythm: Wildpitch, which debuted on Photon Inc.'s 'Generate Power' from 1991.

By 1993, Strictly had become the leading label in the field of house music, with 'I Like To Move It' by Erick Morillo (as Reel 2 Real) topping the charts that year. A year later Strictly Rhythm jump-started the career of Armand Van Helden, whose 'Witch Doctor' became a huge underground hit. The same goes for Josh Wink and his spiralling acid madness 'Higher State Of Consciousness'.

All these classics are of course included on this release, along with plenty more of house music's finest moments. The current resurgence of house music might lend the fortune of good timing to this compilation, but at any rate this is an unmissable slice of music history.

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