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Released independently in 2010, Original Tracks - the first album from French house master and superhero The Phantom's Revenge is seen by many as a classic album from the bloghouse era - it's a seminal album packed with sixteen cracking singles, most of which were either released for free through MySpace - or through music blogs in the late 2000s.
At heart, Original Tracks is a French house album stuffed with fantastic production, thumping beats, extremely heavy club weapons, expert sampling techniques, a crap ton of side chaining (come on, it was the bloghouse days though!) - brilliant (and at times humorous) ideas and just the right amount of quirkiness to make this iconic record one to remember.
Original Tracks is one of my favourite French house albums, not just because it's effortlessly catchy, epic, and genuinely awesome - but also because it is an incredibly varied body of work. Every track on this album feels extremely unique and fun, and for good reason - The album's opening tracks (French Cheese Funk, I Can't Lose, Burn Da Red Dog and Late) are all heavy, crazy club weapons that I play all of the time!
In contrast - Sunset Waves is a chilled out, catchy filter house banger that likely took inspiration from Daft Punk's classic Fresh - Just Like Old Times feels like something you'd hear on Crydamoure or Roule if those labels were around for modern audiences - 3 Minutes with Apollo Creed feels very idiosyncratic, yet it's super funky - and 3 Minutes Ninja Pizza Making is a genuinely insane, yet swift track which is criminally underrated - the sample technique is insane!
I mentioned earlier in this review that Original Tracks has a lot of quirkiness to it - and I'd say this is achieved not only through sample selection and the varying moods and styles which switch up consistently across the album - but also through it's fantastic use of movies and pop culture. When listening to the album in full, listeners will notice samples stuffed in from The Karate Kid (per se - Johnny Lawrence of The Cobra Kai!) - various French films, Alan Braxe, Justice and even Michael Jackson - making the listening experience just that little bit more fun and cool (not that it isn't already!)
Those that know their bloghouse well will also know that this album is full of killer reworks of TPR's older tracks - there's the Auto Edit of Absolute Ego Riot (the original mix released on Idiot House back in November 2008!) - turning the original into an epic, grand outing - there's a sweet, extremely funky rework of Money Money Money (which I remember being obsessed with at the end of last year!) - the second version of upbeat classic Moondancer, which I personally adore - and also Late - the dope rework of For Those Who Come In Late which was initially released on Discotexas in December 2008.
To end this review out, I thought I'd talk about the significance this album has to me - without this album, I wouldn't be making French house music - and furthermore, this album was my gateway drug into the whole scene in general - so in a sense - there's a slight chance this blog wouldn't be around if I hadn't discovered this epic record back in November 2024 - so all I have to say is - huge shoutout to TPR!
In short, this album truly is an absolute classic of the bloghouse era - and if someone asked me - "What would you consider to be a great record to get people started with the late 2000s era of French house?" - this would be my ultimate pick - due to it's versatility, fantastic production, replay ability, and above all - it's so, so much fun.
Rating: 9.5/10
There you have it, everyone!
You can find Original Tracks on YouTube.
As always, keep enjoying your stay at the discotheque!
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