Back catalogue: Disco/Re-Edits

Review: Until he quit the music industry in the mid-1990s, Shep Pettibone was the most in-demand remixer on the planet - a position he'd held since the late 1970s. This four-disc compilation does a great job of showcasing some of his greatest remixes, all of which are presented in full-length form. There's naturally plenty of versions of big pop singles of the '80s - see the epic 'Mastermix' of Pet Shop Boys' 'West End Girls', as well as rubs of Duran Duran, New Order, Whitney Houston and Belinda Carlisle - as well as a sprint through his celebrated disco and boogie reworks (see disc four). In addition, you'll find versions of some lesser-celebrated gems from the freestyle-era, including heavyweight revisions of Sinammon, Alisha, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam and The Flirts.

Review: John Luongo is a Bostonian disco legend and although his contributions to the proliferation of the sound are more than noted within the industry, his recognition among regular old music fans seems, as his own estate puts it, "to have slipped through the cracks of dance history." Demon hopes to change all that with this new multi-format box set of his music, which aims to memorialize him as one of the most influential DJs and mixers of his day. Luongo's many credits include remixes of Jackie Moore's 'This Time Baby', 'Vertigo / Relight My Fire' by Dan Hartman and Patti Labelle's 'Music Is My Way Of Life'. Luongo also went on to establish a production career in his own right, and his legacy is more than cemented here. This box set compiles his most striking tracks in a 4xCD compilation, as well as many other trinkets and rarities including a 32-page booklet and an in-depth essay from Alexis Petridis.

Review: After launching the Dance Masters series with a much-needed trawl through the remixography of the great Shep Pettibone, Arthur Baker has now turned his attention to his own sprawling catalogue of productions and remixes. Stretched over four discs in order to present full-length, DJ-friendly mixes, the collection does a great job in showcasing Baker's immense achievements in the 1980s and 90s. Naturally, his most celebrated productions and remixes are present - see his versions of Fleetwood Mac's 'Big Love', which became Balearic anthems, Afrika Bambaata and Soulsonic Force's genuinely game-changing 'Planet Rock', Freez's 'I.O.U', Rockers Revenge's 'Walking on Sunshine' and New Order's 'Confusion' - alongside a swathe of forgotten, overlooked and harder to find revisions.

Review: A couple of years ago French crate digger Charles Bals invited us to "Club Meduse", an imaginary Riviera club where the music was always obscure, European and decidedly mid-80s. Here he opens the doors once more, delivering an open-air friendly soundtrack heavy on rare private press gems, overlooked beauties and the kind of cuts that most would consider Balearic (even if they may have been more popular in Italy and France). Highlights are plentiful, from the eccentric instrumental of Voyage De Charme's fretless bass-powered "Hotel Des Savanes" and the soft-focus, flamenco-tinged bliss of Claude Miss' "Paco Ye Adama", to the sun-kissed jazz-funk/synth-pop fusion of Marc Et Frank's "Cap'tain Coke" and the reggae-zouk quirkiness of Les 36 15's "Zoulous! (Remix)".

Review: When tasked with compiling his first After Dark compilation for eight years, musical font-of-all-knowledge Bill Brewster decided to go "slow and low", picking an impressively eclectic collection of low-tempo outings old and new. The results are undeniably impressive, with Brewster serving up an entertaining and eye-opening mixture of twinkling, jazz-flecked electronica (T.O.E), synth-laden proto-Balearic dreaminess (Island Band), Weatherall-esque dark disco psychedelia (Brewster's Hotel Motel project remixing Jeb Loy Nichols), squelchy nu-disco deepness (Ray Mang dubbing out Khruangbin), acid-flecked revivalist proto-house (Rhythm Plate), little-known, 80s soul era synth-pop (Debbie & The Code), future Balearic anthems (Nail re-editing Gilbert O'Sullivan), saucer-eyed, piano-sporting space house (Gus Patterson) and ultra-deep electro (Carl Finlow). As usual, Brewster has largely avoided familiar favourites, instead showcasing obscurities that deserve wider attention.