Classics (Model 500 album)

Classics
Compilation album by Model 500
Released	1993
Genre	Detroit techno [1]
Label	R&S
Producer	Juan Atkins/Model 500
Model 500 chronology

Last updated September 09, 2019

Classics is a compilation album by Juan Atkins under the alias of Model 500. It was released in 1993 by R&S Records.

Juan Atkins is an American musician. He is widely credited as the originator of techno music, specifically Detroit techno along with Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson. The three, sometimes called The Belleville Three, attended high school together in Belleville, Michigan, near Detroit.

R&S Records is an independent record label founded in 1984 in Ghent, Belgium.

Production and music

The album's tracks were initially released between 1985 and 1990.^[2] Select noted that tracks "No UFOs" and "Off to Battle" have been "polished in the studio".^[1]

Select was a United Kingdom music magazine of the 1990s which was particularly known for covering Britpop, a term coined in the magazine by Stuart Maconie. Its 1993 "Yanks Go Home" edition, featuring The Auteurs, Denim, Saint Etienne, Pulp and Suede's Brett Anderson on the cover in front of a Union Flag, was an important impetus in defining the movement's opposition to American genres such as grunge.

Release

Classics was released in 1993 through R&S Records.^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Select	(4/5)^[1]
The New Rolling Stone Album Guide	^[3]

In a contemporary review, Select gave the album a four out of five rating, calling it "a fairly comprehensive collection of the work of Juan Atkins"^[1] The review noted on the album's release that Atkins "has lately become something of a forgotten hero," and that this release should "encourage him to get involved with the present again."^[1]

AllMusic gave the album a five out of five star rating, praising tracks such as "No UFOs", "Sound of Stereo", "Night Drive" and "The Chase".^[2] The review concluded that the album s track "form one of the most consistent, forward-looking discographies of the decade, alternately noisy and sublime."^[2] Tiny Mix Tapes praised the album in 2012, stating that "Electronic music is often stigmatized as having a shelf-life like milk. Some trends from just a few years ago are already dated, yet Classics still sounds fresh. Sure, it doesn’t sound like it came out last week, but I would argue that many listeners would be shocked to hear that some of these songs are over a quarter century old."^[4] The review compared the album to Kraftwerk's Trans-Europe Express , Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children and Bural's Untrue as electronic music "that sounds timeless"^[4] In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), gave the album four stars and noted that "[Atkins's] most important work post-Cybotron came under the moniker Model 500, whose singles including the great "No UFO's", ""Off to Battle" and "Night Drive (Time, Space, Transmat)" are collected on Classics"^[3]

AllMusic is an online music database. It catalogs more than 3 million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musical artists and bands. It launched in 1991, predating the World Wide Web. As of 2015, AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne.

Tiny Mix Tapes is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, as well as its mixtape generator.

Kraftwerk is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered as innovators and pioneers of electronic music, they were among the first successful acts to popularize the genre. The group began as part of West Germany's experimental krautrock scene in the early 1970s before fully embracing electronic instrumentation, including synthesizers, drum machines, and vocoders.

Track listing

All track written by Juan Atkins/Model 500^[5]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"No UFO's (remix)"	6:58
2.	"The Chase (Smooth mix)"	5:42
3.	"Off to Battle (remix)"	6:04
4.	"Night Drive (Time, Space, Transmat)"	6:04
5.	"Electric Entourage"	6:46
6.	"Electronic"	6:00
7.	"Ocean To Ocean (instrumental)"	6:42
8.	"Techno Music (M500 Version)"	5:35
9.	"Sound of Stereo"	6:51

Credits

Credits adapted from Classics liner notes.^[5]

Juan Atkins/Model 500 – writer, producer, performer
Third Earth – art

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References

Footnotes

1 2 3 4 5 Howe, Rupert (August 1993). "New Albums". Select : 84.
1 2 3 4 5 Bush, John. "Classics - Model 500". AllMusic . Retrieved August 18, 2015.
1 2 Brackett 2004, p. 27.
1 2 Bowe, Miles (January 9, 2012). "1985-1990: Model 500 - Classics". Tiny Mix Tapes . Retrieved August 18, 2015.
1 2 Classics (Liner notes). Model 500. R&S. 1993. RS931CD.CS1 maint: others (link)

Sources

Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian David (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide . Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743201698.

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[select-1] 1 2 3 4 5 Howe, Rupert (August 1993). "New Albums". Select : 84.

[allmusic-review-2] 1 2 3 4 5 Bush, John. "Classics - Model 500". AllMusic . Retrieved August 18, 2015.

[FOOTNOTEBrackett200427-3] 1 2 Brackett 2004, p. 27.

[tinymixtapes-4] 1 2 Bowe, Miles (January 9, 2012). "1985-1990: Model 500 - Classics". Tiny Mix Tapes . Retrieved August 18, 2015.

[notes-5] 1 2 Classics (Liner notes). Model 500. R&S. 1993. RS931CD.CS1 maint: others (link)