Euphoria (compilations)

(Redirected from Classic Euphoria)

Euphoria is a series of dance music compilations that debuted on the Telstar Records label in early 1999.[1] During the first year, Euphoria focused primarily on trance music until mid-2000 when Euphoria released the first chill-out album in the series and the first hard house album in late 2000.[2] Euphoria was later spun off into a number of associated club nights around the UK, Ibiza and Cyprus. Over the course of three years, in excess of 500 tour dates were chalked up with tour DJs such as Adam White, Robert Van Ryn, Simon Webdale and Darren James. The compilations included box sets usually priced at around £20.00. The Euphoria albums were of high quality and still are highly collectible and the earlier versions are somewhat rare.

The first compilation in the Euphoria series: 'For the Mind, Body and Soul' Euphoria, mixed by PF Project.

Frequent DJs and/or producers who have mixed albums include Dave Pearce, Matt Darey, Lisa Lashes, John '00' Fleming, Adam White, The Tidy Boys, Jay Burnett, Red Jerry and Andy Whitby.[citation needed]

When Telstar Records folded in 2004, the brand went to Ministry of Sound recordings.

Since the debut release, the Euphoria brand has showcased other genres in electronic dance music including hard house, hard dance, progressive and psy-trance as well as releasing some (thus far) "one offs" that cover old skool, funky house, hardcore and the ever-popular "mash up".

Although focusing mostly on "Best of" compilations in recent years under various guises, the Euphoria brand went "back to its roots" in mid-2008 with its first release of new (all encompassing) trance music in 3 years as opposed to the subgenre releases. Summer Euphoria was also the first digital-only release under the Euphoria brand.

With no new releases for nearly 18 months, Ministry of Sound released Euphoria 2011 in September of that year. This was a new direction for the Euphoria brand in that the album contained the latest dance music including the recent fusion of dance beats with R&B.

Telstar also launched the Breakdown (its full name being The Very Best of Euphoric Dance Breakdown) series in 1999, the same year as the inaugural Euphoria album, and this brand also went to Ministry of Sound following the folding of Telstar. Breakdown too focused on electronic dance music, but was never focused on trance music in particular, focusing on a wide range of subgenres of dance music, including non-electronic genres such as a disco edition. The series was computer mixed, but did not list a DJ on its cover, but instead in its liner notes. In the book The Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles and Albums, the Breakdown series is erroneously listed as being part of the Euphoria series.

List of Euphoria albums by Telstar Records (Telstar TV) (1999–2004)

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# Album Name Mixed by Release Year Catalog #
1 Euphoria - For the Mind, Body and Soul[3] PF Project 1999 TTVCD3007
2 'Deeper' Euphoria Red Jerry 1999 TTVCD3064
3 Ibiza Euphoria Matt Darey 1999 TTVCD3078
4 'A Higher State of...' Euphoria - Level 3 PF Project 1999 TTVCD3095
5 Pure Euphoria Matt Darey 2000 TTVCD3118
6 Chilled Euphoria Red Jerry 2000 TTVCD3127
7 Ibiza Euphoria Volume 2 Alex Gold and Agnelli & Nelson 2000 TTVCD3134
8 Hard House Euphoria Volume 1 Lisa Lashes 2000 TTVCD3152
9 'Transcendental' Euphoria Dave Pearce 2000 TTVCD3155
10 Deep & Chilled Euphoria Red Jerry 2001 TTVCD3164
11 'True' Euphoria Dave Pearce 2001 TTVCD3176
12 Hard House Euphoria Volume 2[4] Lisa Pin-Up & The Tidy Boys 2001 TTVCD3177
13 Progressive Euphoria John '00' Fleming 2001 TTVCD3183
14 Chilled Out Euphoria Solar Stone 2001 TTVCD3189
15 Ibiza Euphoria Volume 3 Dave Pearce 2001 TTVCD3199
16 'Total' Euphoria Dave Pearce 2001 TTVCD3220
17 Old Skool Euphoria Altern8 2001 TTVCD3233
18 White Label Euphoria John '00' Fleming 2002 TTVCD3241
19 'Absolute' Euphoria Dave Pearce 2002 TTVCD3251
20 Extreme Euphoria Volume 1[5] Lisa Lashes 2002 TTVCD3265
21 Ibiza Euphoria Volume 4 Dave Pearce 2002 TTVCD3274
22 The Very Best of Euphoria Matt Darey 2002 TTVCD3297
23 Extreme Euphoria Volume 2 Lisa Lashes 2003 TTVCD3305
24 Deeper Shades of Euphoria Volume 1 Jay Burnett 2003 TTVCD3285
25 White Label Euphoria Level 2 John '00' Fleming 2003 TTVCD3327
26 Ireland Euphoria Al Gibbs 2003 TTVCD3334 (deleted)
27 Extreme Euphoria Volume 3 Lisa Lashes 2003 TTVCD3346
28 3CD Limited Edition Euphoria Matt Darey & Adam White 2003 TTVCD3365
29 Extreme Euphoria Volume 4 Lisa Lashes & BK & The Tidy Boys 2003 TTVCD3374
30 Deeper Shades of Euphoria Volume 2 Jay Burnett 2004 TTVCD3383

Unusually, the last installment of the Telstar years, Deeper Shades of Euphoria (volume 2) was a co-release with Virgin Records/EMI, who had been rival labels with Telstar in the past. It has been suggested Virgin and EMI helped support the album as Telstar entered closure.

List of Euphoria albums by Ministry of Sound (2004–2017)

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# Album Name Mixed by Release Year Catalog #
31 Frantic Euphoria Anne Savage & Cally & Juice 2004 EUPCD1
32 Infinite Euphoria Ferry Corsten 2004 EUPCD3
33 Extreme Euphoria Volume 5 BK 2004 EUPCD4
34 The Very Best of Tried & Tested Euphoria Judge Jules 2004 EUPCD5
35 Frantic Euphoria Volume 2 Anne Savage & Andy Whitby 2004 EUPCD6
36 Beyond Euphoria DT8 Project 2005 EUPCD7
37 Tidy Euphoria[6] Lee Haslam & The Tidy Boys & Amber D 2005 EUPCD8
38 Judgement Euphoria Judge Jules, Eddie Halliwell & Trophy Twins 2005 EUPCD9
39 The Very Best of Uplifting House Euphoria Jay Burnett 2005 EUPCD11
40 The Very Best of Frantic Euphoria Anne Savage & Andy Whitby 2005 EUPCD12
41 Classic Euphoria Dave Turner 2006 EUPCD14
42 Lashed Euphoria Lisa Lashes 2006 EUPCD16
43 Classic Euphoria Level 2 Jay Burnett 2006 EUPCD17
44 Hardcore Euphoria[7] Sy & Unknown, Dougal & Gammer, Brisk & Ham 2006 EUPCD19
45 Return to Ibiza Euphoria[8] Jay Burnett 2007 EUPCD20
46 The Very Best of Extreme Euphoria Lisa Lashes 2007 EUPCD21
47 Psy-Trance Euphoria John '00' Fleming 2008 EUPCD22
48 Summer Euphoria Airwave 2008 Digital download only
49 Tech-Dance Euphoria Yoji Biomehanika 2008 EUPCD24
50 Psy-Trance Euphoria Level 2 John '00' Fleming 2009 EUPCD26
51 Mash Up Euphoria The Cut Up Boys 2009 EUPCD25
52 Hard Dance Awards 2009 Euphoria Andy Whitby, Showtek & Ed Real 2009 EUPCD27
53 Euphoria Run-Fit Workout N/A 2009 Digital download only
54 The Very Best of Chilled Euphoria Jay Burnett 2009 EUPCD23
55 Euphoria Trance Awards 2009 Sean Tyas, Simon Patterson & Claudia Cazacu 2009 EUPCD28
56 The History of Trance Euphoria John '00' Fleming 2010 EUPCD30
57 Hard Dance Awards 2010 Euphoria Kutski, Andy Whitby vs. Technikal & Ed Real 2010 EUPCD32
58 A Decade of Trance Anthems Euphoria Jay Burnett 2010 EUPCD31
59 Euphoria 2011 2011 EUPCD33
60 Classic Euphoria Fitness Workout 2012 Digital download only
61 Electronic Dance Music Euphoria[9] 2012 MOSCD304
62 Electronic Dance Music Euphoria 2013 2013 MOSCD333
63 Deep House Euphoria 2014 MOSCD361
64 Electronic Dance Music Euphoria 2014 MOSCD382
65 Euphoria Classics 2017 MOSCD494

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Heath, Harold (15 May 2024). "How 'Euphoria' brought trance to the masses". DJ Mag. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Euphoria Albums". Archived from the original on 7 June 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  3. ^ "EUPHORIA – VARIOUS ARTISTS - Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  4. ^ "HARD HOUSE EUPHORIA - TIDY BOYS VS LISA". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  5. ^ "EXTREME EUPHORIA – VARIOUS ARTISTS - Official Charts". Official Charts Company.
  6. ^ "TIDY EUPHORIA – VARIOUS ARTISTS - Official Charts". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 12 March 2024.
  7. ^ "HARDCORE EUPHORIA". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  8. ^ "RETURN TO IBIZA - EUPHORIA". Official Charts. Archived from the original on 27 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  9. ^ "EUPHORIA - ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC". Official Charts. Archived from the original on 29 September 2023. Retrieved 27 January 2024.