By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

A few years ago the legendary Chicago-based Trax Records label released a series of compilations acknowledging and celebrating its house music legacy.

Chicago being the home base for an abundance of house artists, producers and such, it was only a matter of time before other similar sets would be organized, once again aiming the spotlight on the Second City. “Silk and Skip present Chicago’s Finest: The Chicago LP/CD” (S&S) is one such release. Thirty-three tracks stretching out over the course of two discs, “The Chicago LP/CD” includes many names that will be familiar to house-heads, including Maurice Joshua, Bad Boy Bill, E. Smoove and, of course, Steve “Silk” Hurley, the “Silk” in the Silk and Skip of the title. According to Hurley, all of the recordings for the compilation were made specifically for the set, with the exception of “Runnin’ Away” by Voices of Life, featuring Sharon Pass, which was released on Silk Entertainment Records in 2003 on vinyl only.” In another interesting twist, the 1984 demo of “Baby Wants to Ride” by Jamie Principle, “has been re-created for this CD, but actually was never available commercially,” as only “bootleg cassette tapes” were circulated in Chicago.

As one might expect, divas rule here, beginning with Shawn Christopher’s vocals on Ricky Bradshaw’s remake of the Stephanie Mills dance classic “Never Knew Love.” And so it goes with star turns by Harmoné on “What’s This FX?” by Jesse Saunders, Terry Dexter on Roy Davis, Jr.’s “Magic,” B. Laurén on both Mr. K-Alexi’s “I Got Love” and “Just A Feeling (That I Get)” by Marshall Jefferson & Steve “Silk” Hurley, and the marvelous “Peace Pipe” by Syleena Johnson, to name a few. Some of the selections even exhibit an appreciation for dance music history. “The Hustle of Life” includes a sample of the early disco hit “The Hustle” and the aforementioned “Never Knew Love.” House infused hip-hop is represented on the name-dropping Freaky Mix of “Chicago House Scene” by Fast Eddie and Silk, as well as “Wouldn’t You Like To Ride” by Malik Yusef, featuring Common, Kanye West & J.V. Although it’s not continuously mixed, a nice flow exists regardless, making this a worthy soundtrack to your next dance party.

Speaking of Common and Kanye West, West’s handiwork is all over “Finding Forever” (G.O.O.D./Geffen). Naturally, that has an effect on the sound of the release, and as you can guess, provides the pride of Chicago, Common, with a certain degree of production quality. Where the rapper stumbles is on some of the messages of the cuts, where he moves from being the thinking man to the man who is thinking with his genitals.

Colette, who has established herself in the decreasingly male-dominated DJ domain, cites her “house music upbringing” as the inspiration for her latest artist album “Push” (Om). Her residency at Chicago’s legendary Smart Bar as well as her international appearances at a variety of venues has given Colette her own unique identity within the dance and electronic communities. “Push” is a fitting name for this disc as Colette both propels listeners directly towards the dance-floor on club-crafted selections such as “About Us” (both in the original version and the Chuck Love remix), “Call It Out” (from which the album’s title is drawn), “If,” “Think You Want It” and “Running Around,” while broadening her own horizons.