Ahhh… The Hacienda what more can be written for the club that gave us Tony Wilson, more tabloid column inches than Doherty and Manchester’s drug wars. Nothing in fact - which is why we’re going to look at this album as an album and not in nostalgic back-in-in-the-day doe eyed haziness. The fact that this reviewer was playing with Ninja Turtles and heroically battling Bowser on Nintendo has absolutely nothing to do with it. It’s not a club maaaaaaan it’s a feeling. Ahem…
We all felt the reverberations of its influence but what about the choons? Well fortunately for anyone wise enough to add this to their collection they’re in for a treat. From the word go this rawks, the plane taking off cacophony of ImpLOG’s ‘Holland Tunnel Dive’ to the out and out classic groove of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘White Lines’ this is as relevant now as I’m sure it would’ve been in the good old days. Listening to this album without reaching for imaginary lasers in nigh impossible and by the time CD 1 ends with the incredible ‘Get On The Dancfloor’ by Rob Base and EZ Rock you’re left wishing for a time that flares were cool and you didn’t look a complete tool sellotaping a bottle of Vics to your face. The Jacko sample and early rap lyricism of first one ended with Bam Bam’s ‘Give It To Me’ incredible bongo rock and acid bass dilating your pupils quicker than you can say gun crime. Also present and correct is the still amazing ‘Voodoo Ray’ by A Guy Called Gerald – it had to be though I guess but still stands as the quintessential Acid House track despite it being cursed. A Guy Called Gerald waived a lot of money on this in royalties as he believed this to be true – Ecstacy, Know the score!
All in all this is pretty decent reminder to all that were there and an excellent introduction to those who weren’t. Now The Hacienda is an upmarket housing development for twats with too much loot it’s easy to get bored with the Factory branding and the (adopts LCD Soundsystem voice) ‘I was there…’ ranting of the club’s faithful but these choons stand up brilliantly even today which is in a feat in itself. It’s obvious that if it hadn’t of gone down in The Hacienda it would’ve happened somewhere else but it didn’t. It happened in The Hacienda and that is still something to shout about even now.
