The Sound Of UK Garage

I've been a fan of UK Garage since 1996 and can honestly say it's had its share of ups and downs. It hit its peak for me in the late 90's but I have trouble listening to anything post 2002. I'm very much an old skool underground UKG fan and cringe when I hear most of the nu skool sound that's being produced. A perfect example of this is Ministry of Sound's "Sound of UK Garage 2011" album. Mixed by Fiskin, it's a combination of old and nu skool tracks which most times really don't lend themselves well to on another. It's difficult to go from bumpy Todd Edwards cut-up to anthem sounding bassline garage which begins to border more along the lines of house. As I've stated in previous reviews, I don't look to Ministry of Sound releases to be anything less than commercial and this one is no exception. Here are my thoughts and track ratings on Ministry of Sounds - Sound of UK Garage 2011;

CD1
1 What a Feeling (Sunship Remix) [feat. Kelly Rowland] - Alex Gaudino 7/10 (Sunship always decent)
2 Unorthodox (Wideboys Remix) [feat. Example] - Wretch 32 1/10 (Wideboys cheese)
3 Finish Line (The Mike Delinquent Project Remix) Yasmin 6/10 (Okayish vocal 2-Step)
4 Seek Bromance (Danny Dubbz Remix) Tim Berg 6/10 (More okayish vocal 2-Step)
5 Take It Back (DJ Q Mix) [feat. Shola Ama] - Toddla T 5/10 (Not as good as old Shola Ama stuff)
6 Love Shy (Club Asylum Mix) - Kristine Blond 8/10 (Classic anthem)
7 It Ain't Enough (Dub Mix) [feat. Craig David] - Artful Dodger & Dreem Teem 8/10 (Another classic anthem)
8 Gotta Have It (feat. Digga) - MJ Cole 1/10 (MJ what happened? Worst Cole track I've ever heard)
9 Imagine (Club Asylum Remix) - Shola Ama 10/10 (Now this is the Shola Ama and remix that I remember!)
10 Break Me Down (Sunship Mix) - The One Hundred 6/10 (Sunship meets Control-S and not in a good way)
11 Shopaholic (Future Garage Mix) [feat. Sway & McLean] - Wideboys 1/10 (Horrible! Wideboys, go back to your roots please!)
12 Something On Your Mind (Control-S Remix) [feat. Kelsey] - GTE 6/10 (Control-S is beginning to all sound the same, enough with the rewinds and 2-Step beats)
13 Breaking Up (Artifact Remix) - Fredrik Nyberg 8/10 (Nice remix)
14 Something In Your Eyes (K Warren Mix) [feat. Shelley Nelson] - Ed Case 9/10 (Classic Anthem)
15 Enough Is Enough - Y-Tribe 10/10 (UKG Classic)
16 Borrowed Time (Wookie Mix) [feat. Taio Cruz] - Wookie 9/10 (Wookie's still got it! Excellent.)
17 Naked (Control-S Mix) - Kele Le Roc 10/10 (Control-S masterpiece)
18 Fallin' (Delinquent Remix) - Donae'o 5/10 (Bleh, very boring)
19 Master Blaster 2000 (Oracles Mix) [feat. JJ & MC Neat] - DJ Luck 8/10 (Classic)
20 Friendly Pressure (Sunship Into The Sunshine Remix) - Jhelisa 9/10 (Bumpy anthem)
21 Louder (Paleface Remix) [feat. Sian Evans] - DJ Fresh 1/10 (Can't we leave the Robin S beats alone?)
22 Changed the Way You Kiss Me (Submerse Remix) - Example 1/10 (Terrible modern bassline crap)
23 In Pieces (The Mike Delinquent Remix) [feat. Dee Freer] - J. Majik & Wickaman 6/10 (Average modern day 2-Step)
24 Badman Riddim (Jump) [Dem 2's Late Nite At Mandy Mix] [feat. Foreign Beggars] - Vato Gonzalez 5/10 (Dem 2 attempts a remix at a ragga track. Not impressive.)
25 Want You Back - Ez 8/10 (Classic EZ but a rather poor audio recording)
26 Need to Know - Submerse 3/10 (Terrible nu skool bassline. About as commercial sounding as you can get.)
27 Nothing Left (Organ Mix) [feat. Sarah Etheridge] - TS7 1/10 (More commercial sounding bassline garbage complete with gunshot samples)
28 Traktor (Mike Delinquent Project Remix) [feat. L] - Wretch 32 1/10 (Annoying catchy lyrics makes you hate this song)
29 Source 16 - Redlight 3/10 (Bland, repetitive bassline)
30 Cheque One Two (Remix) [feat. MC RB] - Sunship 9/10 (Classic track with a brilliant Sunship remix)
31 Roll With It - Fully Loaded Project 7/10 (Bumpy 4x4 reminiscent of Todd Edwards disco mixes)
32 What About Us (GE's Wha Bout Uz Dub) - Livin' Out Loud 8/10 (Skippy cut-up 4x4)
33 Someday I Will Find - Todd Edwards 10/10 (Classic cut-up Todd!)
34 So Sweetly (CJ Reign Steppers Vox Remix) - Shaun Escoffery 8/10 (Great 2-Step Mix)
35 Destiny (Vocal Mix) - Dem 2 9/10 (Absolute classic! Dem 2 where are you?)
36 Right Before My Eyes (Remix Feat. MC Neat) [feat. Kallaghan & MC Neat] - N'n'G 9/10 (Norris and Grant classic!)
37 Where I Wanna Be (feat. CeCe David) - Paleface 5/10 (Bland vocal track)
38 Dirty Room (Dirty Dub) [feat. 8 Bit] - Club Asylum 8/10 (Bass heavy 2-Step track. Not the best Club Asylum I've ever heard however.)
39 You Belong To Me (MJ Cole Remix) - Sumeet 9/10 (Absolutely brilliant nu skool UKG remix! Although the Will Philips remix is better.)
40 Tell Me (if You Really Love Me) (feat. Robbie Craig) - DJ Para 8/10 (Uplifting Robbie Craig vocal track, hard to go wrong.)

As with most Ministry of Sound collections I found this one to be a disappointment, mainly because I'm not a mainstream dance music listener. That being said, there are still many key tracks on this release (mostly older releases) that most UKG fans will enjoy. If only the veteran UKG producers like MJ, TuffJam, Todd Edwards etc. could teach the newer generation some tricks we'd have some better music out there. But, unfortunately in this case it seems you can't teach a new dog old tricks.