''Classics'' is a compilation album by

Juan Atkins Juan Atkins (born September 12, 1962), also known as Model 500 and Infiniti, is an American record producer and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. ''Mixmag'' has described him as "the original pioneer of Detroit techno." He has been a member of the Belle ...

under the alias of Model 500. It was released in 1993 by

R&S Records R&S Records is an independent record label founded in 1983 in Ghent, Belgium. R&S represents the initials of Renaat Vandepapeliere and Sabine Maes, the couple that created the label. R&S Records has had several subsidiaries, most notably Apollo R ...

Production and music

The album's tracks were initially released between 1985 and 1990. '' Select'' noted that tracks "

No UFO's "No UFO's" is a techno song by American record producer and DJ Juan Atkins under the alias of Model 500, released in April 1985 on Atkins own label Metroplex. The song was the first track released after the split of Atkins' previous group Cybotr ...

" and "Off to Battle" have been "polished in the studio". Juan Atkins has stated that George Clinton's bands

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

and

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

were important to his musical awakening. He grew up listening to

The Electrifying Mojo The Electrifying Mojo (born Charles Johnson in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American radio personality. He is a disc jockey based in Detroit, Michigan whose on-air journey of musical and social development shaped a generation of music-lovers in D ...

's radio shows. He also acknowledged

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

as one of the influences on his music.

Release

''Classics'' was released in 1993 through

Reception

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" 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."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the album a five out of five star rating, praising tracks such as "No UFOs", "Sound of Stereo", "Night Drive" and "The Chase". The review concluded that the album s track "form one of the most consistent, forward-looking discographies of the decade, alternately noisy and sublime."

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') 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, ...

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." The review compared the album to

's '' Trans-Europe Express'',

Boards of Canada Boards of Canada are a Scottish electronic music duo consisting of the brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. Signing first to Skam Records, Skam followed by Warp (record label), Warp Records in the 1990s, they received recognition following th ...

's ''

Music Has the Right to Children ''Music Has the Right to Children'' is the debut studio album by Scottish electronic music duo Boards of Canada, released on 20 April 1998 in the United Kingdom by Warp (record label), Warp and Skam Records and in the United States by Matador Rec ...

'' and Burial's '' Untrue'' as electronic music "that sounds timeless" In ''

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide ''The Rolling Stone Album Guide'', previously known as ''The Rolling Stone Record Guide'', is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from ''Rolling Stone'' magazine. Its first edition was published in 1 ...

'' (2004), gave the album four stars and noted that " tkins'smost 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''"

Track listing

All track written by

/Model 500

Credits

Credits adapted from ''Classics'' liner notes. *

/Model 500 – writer, producer, performer * Third Earth – art

References

Footnotes

Sources

* {{Refend 1993 compilation albums Model 500 compilation albums R&S Records compilation albums