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Northern Exposure, Vol. 1 | 
 enlarge | Artist: Sasha & John Digweed
Label: Ultra Records
Category: Music
List Price: $16.98
Buy Used: $15.00
You Save: $1.98 (12%)
New (1) Used (9) Collectible (2) from $15.00
Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 79897
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.4 x 4.9 x 0.4
UPC: 617465700323
EAN: 0617465700323
ASIN: B000003SFN
Release Date: July 22, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Satellite Serenade - Keiichi Suzuki | | • | Cascade - Future Sound Of London | | • | These Waves - Young American Primitive | | • | Raincry - God Within | | • | Out Of Body Experience - Rabbit In The Moon | | • | I'm Free - MORGAN KING | | • | Ultraviolet - Kites | | • | Obsession - Fuzzy Logic | | • | Water From A Vine Leaf - William Orbit | | • | Liquid Cool - Apollo 440 | | • | Last Train To Lhasa - Banco De Gaia |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com essential recording
The Rolls Royce of trance-house mixes, and every bit as cool as the polar bear on the sleeve, this first edition of Sasha and John Digweed's Northern Exposure sets is the tightest and most effortless of the series. With 11 superbly arranged cuts from the likes of William Orbit, Rabbit in the Moon, and the Future Sound of London, not one moment is wasted. The disc's flavor is decidedly organic and wholly evocative of all-night mountain raves or desert parties. Starting with the early-morning stretch of Keiichi Suzuki's delightfully sunny "Satellite Serenade," the duo swiftly build the tempo up to the breezy ambient plateau of Morgan King's "Free" before heading into harder house territories. The metronomic pulse and atmospheric chanteuse vocals of Fuzzy Logic's "Obsession" form an incremental crescendo with Orbit's "Water from a Vine Leaf." Being a condensed version of the European release, the closing salvo from Banco de Gaia's "Last Train to Lhasa" confirms the since-validated fact that these Exposure journeys have infinite potential; Sasha and Digweed are among the first DJs to create mix sets that tap into earthy, human emotions. It is precisely this unique flavor that will make you yearn for a dance floor, beach, or campsite, packed with deliriously dancing bodies. Yes, really. --Steffan Chirazi
Album Details
Mixed by Sasha and Digweed, 2CD'S featuring 22 Tracks by Fsol, Drum Club, William Orbit, Underworld, Banco De Gaia, Apollo 440 and More.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 115 more reviews...
 A big hello from England! April 29, 2008
T. Clarke (UK)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hiya guys! (and gals)... Northern Exposure - I felt compelled to write a review on this Amazon.Com website after reading some funny reviews about what you all make of it. Indeed, English and American dance music have changed dramatically over the past decade.
So where do we start? Right were it was mixed; Chesson Road in London due to the labelling with Ministry of Sound. Under normal circumstances, this would have been produced 'up here' in the North, but Sasha (Alexander Coe, from Wales) and John Digweed (from Hastings) worked with MoS for this one.
If you are aware of the album "Renaissance: The Mix Collection" from 1994, then you'll no doubt know who Sasha and Digger's are. Both were residents of a night called 'Renaissance' at a club called The Bomb in Mansfield. Northern Exposure, however, attempts something truly ground-breaking. Looking back, this was most likely the first taste of dance music that tapped into human emotions. To even suggest this album is one in which would suit an average club situation is utterly degrading, for this is the only DJ mixed album to date which can be enjoyed for dream-like pleasure. Believe me, it would take a special club to be able to pull these mixes of in euphoric-enough style...
Many of you are probably dazed as to how this album even sounds, judged by the varied descriptions from fellow Amazon reviewers. It's fair to say it has no true genre. This was mixed at the end of an era for music in the UK; 1996. Commercialism came in to play by the end of the 90's due to the circle-movement of the dance genre, and so such beautiful pieces of work contained on this album are not just impossible to find in record shops today... They were hard to find originally! And so such albums were the DJ would search high and low for the appropriate song are no longer existence.
Perhaps this is what's so clever deep down. Sasha and Digger's picked tracks that weren't just white labels in '96. They range from 1990 up until then, which shows you how broad the two young men were thinking. Ranging from subliminal accapella's, to cool break-beats, to the eventual full 4 x 4 beats, this album contains 2 mixes that, although contrast by energy, are together in their seamless mixing.
Sasha starts this experience in a totally unique fashion, beginning with the 10 minute 'Satellite Serenade'; a composition of blissful notes and synth chords accompanied with, the Lord of Nature himself, David Attenbourgh giving a commentary. The first time I listened to it I found it pretty funny, but you soon learn it's all part of this wonderful experience.
Chugging along for many more long and wonderful tracks, his Sasha's mix continues in it's break-beat and dream like vein, with rhyth breaks seemingly all placed in their natural positions. 'Rain Cry' peaks this moment with its beautiful vocals and slow tribal sound that gives visions of places far away, somewhere beautiful.
By the time 'Ultraviolet' comes into light (excuse the pun, if you noticed it...) were now well into the trance beat-pattern which accompanies this phenomenal song. Beautiful female vocals and an utterly emotional rhythm makes this a high point of the album, and leads into other hair-raising sounds we may have forgotten, if we only heard them for brief times, in the nineties. 'Obsession' follows with its terrific synthier sound, followed by 'Water from a vine Leaf', which sounded quite ahead of it's time, considering trance wasn't in full force for another year at least.
Completing this mix are the wonderful 'Liquid Cool' and 'Last Train To Lhasa', which are respectively, both orchestral and percussion based pieces of work, rounding up this CD in a much psychedelic style.
Digger's, in his typical fashion, produces a darker piece of work that hold more maturity than that of the first disc. It's fair to say it falls short of that euphoric feeling the first holds, but Nether the less, it's still a beautiful piece of work that entails some more complete tracks that the first doesn't have... 'Wave Dub' starts the journey in quicker fashion than Sasha's opening track, with a solitary beat pattern being housed around an open and cool synth solo.
Their is perhaps less to analyse on this disc. It is indeed a big grower - more listening is required to take in what is happening as, unlike the first disc, this is faster mix and more suitable for dancing. Perhaps this change in pace is off-putting for those that aren't open minded, but if you broaden your horizons, you'll hear a beautiful CD.
'Phonenix', 'Plan 94', and 'I can't stop' all fill the peak time of this mix perfectly with driving rhythms from so many different styles of percussion and instrumentation. It's fair to say, apart from 'Renaissance', that this is Digger's brightest work! And although I'm a fan of his normal material, I wish he'd mix material more like this.
So while the North Disc is a truly special day-dream experience that will never be battered, the South Disc will get you up on your feet and make you start skanking around the house to Digweeds amazing atmospheric sounds and beats. As a DJ myself, it's hard to listen to such an album and not be jealous of what these guys have achieved. But what amazes me even more is how such albums can be forgotten when people rank 'The Best Album Ever'. If people down-grade such genre's by suggesting it's a compilation and therefore not created by the DJ himself, then who managed to choose those tracks? Without albums like this, "all" the tracks on this album (expect for Dark and Long) would never have been known about. Never. So who's to thank for that? Certainly not the original artist.
The only negative I have with this album is that the card-Digi Pack doesn't stand well to age. Again, just like Renaissance (though that was even fancier!) is the folds are prone to damage, as are the corners. Crazily as it sounds, I actually bought another copy of the album off ebay as I couldn't stand looking at the battered packagin! Set me back 30 quid (that's about 65 Dollars), but believe me, this is one album in you'll buy in your lifetime that's actually worth it for that price.
As a DJ myself, it's hard to listen to such an album and not be jealous of what these guys have achieved. But what amazes me even more is how such albums can be forgotten when people rank 'The Best Album Ever'. If people down-grade such genre's by suggesting it's a compilation and therefore not created by the DJ himself, then who managed to choose those tracks? Without albums like this, "all" the tracks on this album would never have been known about. Never. So who's to thank for that? Certainly not the original artist.
No dance genre can handle this music. Anyone who rates it below 5 stars is out of their mind, as they either don't know what they're listening to, or have no experience as to how this was created. But it's time for me to shut up now - so good bye from the UK! Hows the weather over there by the way?
STILL MY FAVORITE MIXTAPE EVER... March 1, 2008
t3chn012 (Colorado)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's unfortunate for anyone who hasn't had the chance to experience the finest representation of a mixed album to come out of its early "Boom" of the early-mid Nineties...
From Start to Finish, the original Northern Exposure compiled by electronic music veterans Alexander Coe and John Digweed is still my favorite album to ever have taken me on a journey across a countlessly infinite landscape of sound. Each time I pop it in the ol' stereo system - I Still Hear New Sounds and Melodies.
There are no standout tracks contained in this masterpiece... Why? --- Beacause each track is a rare gem on its own...
Not to mention the superb and seamless blending of each track, the overall ambience of the album is unlike anything else out there on the market. (Some people might beg to differ, but I'd say that since I own 47 days, 11 hours, 43 minutes and 32 seconds of "JUST" electronically made music --- I might be a connoisseur...) no lie...
Anyways, nuff' said.
You will not regret obtaining this album.
You will enjoy it for years to come. (11 years old?)
Don't make the mistake of passing this opportunity up.....
-|2yan
 A Ballad of Trance June 5, 2007
Cloudman (Vancouver, BC)
Sasha and John Digweed team up in compilling this novel album although it definitely has more of a "Sasha-feel". A ballad of soft trance that is best suited to lazy Sundays or post-clubbing come downs.
For the most part, the individual tracks and the set overall does not sound that outdated when related to the album's release date of 1997.
I like this album for its sheer creativity. It the album cover and title have any true purpose in conveying what type of setting Sasha and Digweed were going for with their track selection...chilly, untamed, and isolated...then they sure succeeded. I just don't understand why they decided to open with a track using a vocal clip of the BBC's premier documentary narrator, David Attenborough talking about the Amazon instead of the Arctic or Antarctic?
This review is for the single disc album with the tracks featured above. 4/5 stars.
Ten years on and still amazing... April 4, 2007
K. J. Tan (New York)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wow....time flies...I've owned NE Vol 1 for 10 years....and it still doesn't fail to blow me away every time i listen to it. I own all the NEs 1-3 and Vol 1 is still the best. If you haven't listened to it....give it a shot and discover how timeless this S&D mix really is.... Also, I spent all winter listening to the NEs while snowboarding every weekend....it's the closest thing to heaven at 13,000 ft!!!!
Sunsets And Snow February 13, 2007
Mark Eremite (Seoul, South Korea)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
Sasha and Digweed dip their pens into a dark and sultry ink for this lanky, lazy trance mix. It is almost as stirring as their harder house numbers, but without all of the thumping back-beats or aggressive propulsion. Inspired by daydreams and infused with liquid sighs, this album is an attempt at soulful transcendence.
Unfortunately, the record gets off to an almost aggravatingly slow start. The Suzuki number that kicks the disc off is about five minutes too long and features an irritatingly incessant chandelier-and-wind-chime jangling. A later track, "Raincry," succumbs to the deadly repetition of a monkish whine that, after seven minutes, starts to sound like a dying whale. The third track of the album is a Native American-themed chorale by The Future Sound of London; it's suitably sensual (think pan-flutes and fairy-whispers), but the mood is almost ruined by an escalating mish-mosh of weird electro-swoops and kinetic synth.
These minor mishaps, however, are all overshadowed and overpowered by the rest of the record, which is not nearly so twilight-toned. The sound coasts up higher through the angelic sparkles of "These Waves" and then dives down into the cool, murky waters of "Out Of Body Experience."
"I'm Free," "Ultraviolet," "Obsession," and "Water From a Vine Leaf" form the nerve-throbbing core of this record, and they are crafted and coalesced with S & D's usual fine eye for detail. The music picks up speed without losing its airy effervesence. Textured alto serenades, strobe-heavy splashes of sound, urging and sexual half-moans: it recalls bare feet kicking up surf around a beachside bonfire, sweaty and shadow-soaked club couches, or candle-lit house parties.
This delightfully dirty block of trance brilliance is followed by some last-minute theatrics (the up-and-down robotics and the silk-weave organ chords of Apollo 440's "Liquid Cool/Deep Forest Ice Cold") and a steady, patient, Indian-influenced come-down that recalls the life and lushness of the record without any of the awkward false starts. This trip may have a rocky beginning, but it ends, in true S & D fashion, with a dreamily perfect fade.
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