Chillout Sessions is a series of compilations released by Ministry of Sound that focus on songs from the chillout genre. Songs on Chillout Sessions compilations vary in style from lounge to electronica and are released by many different artists.
The Chillout genre of compilations started in the UK and since 2003 Ministry of Sound has released them under different tropes such as "Chilled", "After Hours", "The Morning After..." which has shown MOS to have seemingly ended its branding of the genre as Chillout Sessions.
A similar series started in Australia, where the series changed its name from The Chillout Session to The Chillout Sessions and then simply to Chillout Sessions and continued until 2016 with XIX until the record label rebranded to TMRW following the acquisition of MoS by Sony in the UK.
Some Chillout Sessions albums have become known and distinguishable for the symbol of a turntable (with the Ministry of Sound logo on it) frozen in ice, or in one case (The Summer Collection 2003) the turntable itself is made of ice. In the UK this motif is used on the covers of volumes 1, 2, The Winter Collection (2003), The Summer Collection 2003, and The Very Best of album. In Australia, the image is used for volumes 1–6 except on volume 3. The idea of the turntable with the Ministry of Sound logo on had been used on the covers of the Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide in prior years (and in The Annual IV), the idea of such turntable on the covers was last used on Clubbers Guide albums in early 2001 when The Chillout Session began using the idea.
History
Ministry of Sound, as a label, began in 1993 and its first album was the first volume of a series called Sessions. The series was successful enough for it to generate a spin-off series of The Chillout Session, which began in 2001 with a UK Compilation Chart #1 album. Volume 2 was also very successful. The first and second volumes were released in both the UK and Australia, but the series divided in August 2001, with one series for the UK and the other for Australia.
In the UK, Ibiza Chillout Session was released in August 2001. Although not as successful as the prior releases, it received positive reviews, as did the Ibiza 2002 album. Though the four albums released were part of the Sessions series, the fifth album The Chillout Annual 2002 was part of The Annual series, which was the Ministry of Sound's second series of mix albums, and likewise had Ibiza Annual spin-offs beginning in 1998.
Following the numbered releases (volumes 1 and 2) and both the Ibiza... releases, the albums were themed to seasons, starting with The Winter Collection 2003 (actually released in late 2002, as the sort of style Chillout Annual 2003). The Summer 2003 edition reached #10 in the UK Compilations Chart. A third Ibiza... edition, Ibiza Sunsets, was released shortly afterwards. This series, despite sales success, was suspended in favour of other Ministry of Sound albums in 2003. Its final album The Very Best of the Chillout Sessions was released in late 2003, but did not sell well and until 2011 was the worst-selling album in the series.
Ministry of Sound started the series again in January 2006, with an album titled simply The Chillout Sessions (titled to reflect the fact that it was a reboot for the series). This album had good sales but there were no subsequent releases.
In 2007, Ministry of Sound launched a new series, Anthems, beginning with Anthems 1991–2008. It sold very well and it generated a spin-off album, Chilled 1991–2008. This was followed by a second volume in 2009, a third (suited to acoustic chill-out music) in 2010 and a fourth (Chilled Afterhours, similar to the label's Late Night Sessions albums) in 2011. 2011 was also the year that Ministry of Sound launched its large-scale campaign 20:20, to celebrate 20 years of The Ministry of Sound as a club. One of the associated releases was the box set XX Twenty Years, each disc made up of a different dance genre; the final disc in the box set was Chillout Sessions. Around the same time, Anthems Collection was released, with five discs, each from a different genre, the final one being Anthems Chilled.
Amongst the releases from 2002 to 2004, Ministry of Sound UK also launched spin-off compilations such as Late Night Sessions and Late Night Sessions: Autumn/Winter Collection. With the genre tiring somewhat (the same songs were appearing repeatedly) Ministry of Sound has continued to release Chill Out genre compilations under different guises in the UK. By 2016 these were distinctly split between house-based chillout tracks (Chilled House Sessions 1–7, "Morning After...) to more chart-friendly (compared to the eclectic range of earlier releases) compilations (The Chillout Session (2012), Perfectly Chilled and Just Chillin'). 2016–2017 has notably been a key focus on chillout albums from MoS, much like the early 00s when Dance music had reached its zenith, due to the EDM emergence in America that has moved onto producing slower electronic tracks that combine synths with slower house rhythms or hip-hop beats.
In Australia, the series has been a continued success from Volume 3 in 2002. In a different approach from the UK, the Australian series maintained the numbering system as a suffix in its titles, with only the "Best of..." style album Chillout Classics omitting a number from the title.
In 2016, the Ministry of Sound UK record label was sold to Sony Music. The label is run as an independent and split between A&R and Compilations. The Compilations team were retained when moving to Sony.
Since 2018, Ministry of Sound exclusively moved their Playlists to Apple Music. Many of their well known compilation brands such as Anthems, Fitness, I Love and Chilled have moved to a Playlist format, which accounts for the limited releases of non-streamable Chilled Compilation albums. A notable example is the Chilled House Session series that ran from 2009 to its final release in 2019 (Chilled House Session 9) and is now an exclusive Playlist on Apple Music.
In January 2022, Ministry of Sound released Chillout Sessions (Calm Mixes), an album of three one hour tracks called Ibiza, Energy and Clarity. The album is available to buy from iTunes and streamable (as an album, not a playlist). Each track is a single song and this is not a compilation album.
List of albums in the Ministry of Sound Chillout Genre
UK
The Chillout Session (2001)
The Chillout Session 2 (2001)
Ibiza Chillout Session (2001)
The Chillout Annual 2002 (2001)
The Chillout Session: Ibiza 2002 (2002)
The Chillout Session 2003: The Winter Collection (2002)
The Karma Collection (2002)
Late Night Sessions (2003)
The Chillout Session: The Summer Collection 2003 (2003)
The Chillout Session is the first compilation in the series and was released on 5 February 2001 in the United Kingdom and Australia. Its cover image is used again for The Chillout Guide later in the year. Its cover image was actually first used in 1998 in the booklet of The Annual IV and later as the cover for the Ministry of Sound book The Manual.
The album reached #1 in the UK compilation album chart.
The Chillout Session 2 is the second installment in the series and was released on 3 July 2001 in the United Kingdom and Australia. It reached #2 in the UK compilation album chart.
The Chillout Sessions 3 is the third installment in the series and was released on 30 September 2002. It was the first album to be released in Australia only, and the first to use the name 'Sessions' in the title instead of simply 'Session'
The front cover uses the same image that the UK release The Chillout Session: Ibiza 2002 does.
Chillout Sessions 4 is the fourth installment in the series. It was the first to remove "The" from the title, leaving the series title simply 'Chillout Sessions'.
The front cover uses the same image that the UK release The Chillout Session 2003: Winter Collection does.
Fifth in the series, Chillout Sessions 5 is a two-disc compilation of songs by various artists that was released in 2004. Its front cover uses the same image that the UK release The Very Best of the Chillout Session does. The image is also similar to that used on the front cover of Chillout Classics.
Chillout Sessions 6 is a two-disc compilation of songs by various artists that was released in December 2004. The red B&B Italia UP series "Big Momma" chair & footstool featured on the album cover was courtesy of the Space Furniture site.[1]
Chillout Sessions XI is the eleventh installment of the Chillout Sessions series of compilations, released by Ministry of Sound. It is the first of the Chillout Sessions to use Roman Numerals in the title, instead of standard numbers.
Chillout Sessions XX is the twentieth installment of the Chillout Sessions series of compilations, released by Ministry of Sound and was released in April 2018.
The second sequel, Chilled Acoustic, was released on 17 May 2010. It is themed to chillout songs which use acoustic guitars, following the themed Anthems Electronic 80s release in November 2009.
A printing error was made on every copy of the album. The top half of the Ministry of Sound logo, which appears on the reverse side of the digipack, is accidentally printed upside down. This error, however, has never been corrected for future releases.
Chillout Afterhours
The fourth installment album in the series was released in May 2011, Chilled Afterhours. It is an album designed for "after hours" playing.
Chilled Sessions
Released on the same day as Chilled 1991–2008, a specific download release, titled Chilled Sessions, was released. It can be purchased as an MP3 download on Amazon.co.uk.
The album itself is a download replacement for Chilled 1991–2008, which was never released as a download. It contains twenty-three of the sixty tracks on the album. Its art work is slightly similar, but there is a light blue background rather than a white one, the image is zoomed-in, and the words "Chilled Sessions" appear obviously instead of "Chilled 1991–2008".
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