Madonna Month continues with The Ultimate Dance Collection Volume 2, a mix focused on the house music side of Madonna’s 90s output. This is the era when her songs took on a second life in clubs, often through extended mixes that gave DJs room to work and dancers room to lose themselves.
Shep Pettibone Sets the Pace
The set opens with “Vogue,” “Express Yourself,” and “Like a Prayer,” then returns to “Keep It Together” later in the mix. Shep Pettibone’s work runs through these early selections. His remixes drew out the rhythm and drama already present in Madonna’s songs, helping bridge her late 80s pop hits and the house sounds that would shape the next decade.
“Vogue” remains the obvious landmark. Yet hearing it alongside these other extended mixes shows how much was happening around it. Madonna wasn’t simply placing a dance beat behind a pop song. She was making records that belonged in the club.
Madonna’s 90s, Beyond the Headlines
The decade brought plenty of controversy. The Immaculate Collection introduced “Justify My Love,” while Erotica and the Sex book kept Madonna at the center of a much louder cultural conversation. “Human Nature” would later answer some of that criticism directly.
“I’m not your bitch, don’t hang your shit on me.”
But the music was changing, too. Madonna worked with sounds that ranged from house to trip hop, and “Justify My Love” offered an early taste of the atmospheric direction she would pursue further with William Orbit. Volume 2 brings those shifts back to the dance floor rather than treating the headlines as the whole story.
The later tracks also show what remixers could find in songs that weren’t obvious club records. Junior Vasquez takes “Secret,” “Bedtime Story,” and “I Want You” into different territory, while “Human Nature” and “Deeper and Deeper” keep the set grounded in the decade’s house sound. Madonna’s dance legacy would continue through collaborators such as Victor Calderone and Peter Rauhofer, but this volume stays with the 90s.
Why This Mix Matters to Me
I made small edits where a transition or a section needed tightening, but I wanted the remixes to have room to breathe. These are extended club mixes, and their build is part of the pleasure.
This period also means something personal to me. Madonna’s 90s music was there as I slowly stepped out of the closet. Putting Volume 2 together brought back that time in my life, along with the thrill of hearing these songs take over a dance floor. I spent more time on this set than almost anything else I’d made in the preceding 15 years. I hope you can hear that care in the final mix.
Until the next time…ENJOY!
Album: The Ultimate Dance Collection Vol. 2
Genre: House, Progressive, Trance, Trip Hop
Year: 2022
Total Time: 01:26:46
- Vogue (12” Version)
- Express Yourself (Non-Stop Express Mix)
- Like A Prayer (12” Dance Mix)
- Jusitfy My Love (William Orbit Remix)
- Keep It Together (Shep Pettibone Mix)
- Rescue Me (Ultimix)
- Secret (Junior’s Sound Factory Mix)
- Human Nature (Human Club Mix)
- Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (Extended Journey)
- Bye Bye Baby (Madonna’s Night On The Club)
- Deeper And Deeper (David’s Klub Mix)
- Bedtime Story (Junior’s Wet Dream Mix)
- I Want You (Junior Vasquez Club Mix)
- Don’t Cry For Me Argentina (Miami Mix)
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