Strictly Rhythm

My first SR record was Dance To The Rhythm/The Swing Doctor from The Untouchables back in '91 (SR1249). Together with Photon Inc. (SR1251), Beatboxx (SR1253) and Phuture's Rise From Your Grave (SR1273) made me collecting all 12" releases of Strictly Rhythm. Including the LP, EP and SR Blue release vinyl. Back in the day (beginning of the 90's) it was hard to get a hold on the older releases. I'm proud to say that I'm an owner of almost every Strictly Rhythm's12" release making an important foundation in today's world of electronic dance music . 700 records an counting ;-)

A few good records, a LOT of bang average ones.

Apparently Gladys Pizarro was a mason before she went into music. That's were the famous bricks on the logo come from..

The remastered 12s that appeared around the 2005/06/07 time - are the pressings & masters decent? Are they consistent, or is it pot luck?

I think the late 90s like 98 99 and early 2000s were underrated years with tracks like “what you need”, “that sound” , “pow pow pow” , “just me and you “ ,“get it up the feeling” and more that are some of my favorites from strictly.

Ah yes. Strictly Rhythm. My favorite house music label of all time. Let me get started on why I consider this the best label. There are many songs that I heard that I didn’t know they were in this label. Reel 2 Real - I Like To Move It which appeared in Madagascar in a cover version. Aly-Us - Follow Me which I heard it at a barbecue. Yolanda by Reality when I heard it I believe in one of my relatives car. Point being that this label basically made me become a huge House head. Unfortunately for todays standards, it’s not as known much, but it had a huge impact in the house music community and artists alike. I own like around 24ish Strictly records. I do have a con which isn’t much of a major issue, but why did they remove the 33 1/3 RPM after S.R.-1 - Da Rhythm (SR1283) and add the barcode on Black Orchids Rockin-N-Rhythm (SR1284)? It doesn’t make sense how they remove it since it can get confusing… Those are like my only cons. There are huge load of records that I still need to collect and explore.. My dream is to own every single Strictly record possible. I own the Strictly sweater which is great, but expensive. Anyways I hope this review is good enough for you to form your own opinions. LONG LIVE STRICTLY RHYTHM! Thanks!

I have about 160 Strictly EPs. I class Strictly as one of the pioneers of American house music for sure. There isnt 1 single DJ from back in the day who hasnt dropped the needle on a Strictly track and thats a fact. I knew of 1 dDJ who played After Hours-Waterfall over and over until the record had no grooves left, then the record got used as a frisbee somewhere over Blackpools Central Pier. Who knows might still be there! lol. For me its Rhythm Warfare-Two Notches, Boriqua Posse,House 2 House-Boom is a proper mellow one, Tribal Confusion! or you might LUV DANCIN or have an OBSESSION with FLESH or like to TIME TRAVEL and turn off the light and listen to VOICES IN THE DARK, others might TAKE A CHANCE and UNLEASH THE GROOVE, one night he might take too many pills and say GOT ME BURNIN UP, or pills might be shite so he will say GIMME SOME MORE lol.theres loads. Classic Record Label!. All those crap comments about mediocre records etc lol theres mediocre records on every label. Discomagic out of Italy had classics and mediocre, even shite tracks on. Strictly is a classic in its own right 89-95 defo. I wouldnt know about the bullshit that came after 95 as i love underground not chart.

My first encounter with Strictly Rhythm (SR) as a label was when Belgian record company Reel 2 Real Featuring Erick Morillo - The New Anthem in its Union City mix was more like it. But at that time, SR already released more than 100 vinyls, most of them ignored by our country, and it seemed to me that apart from aforementioned label departments and record shop crews, the only person in our country showing a slight bit of interest for the label was me...

Early 1993, Fresh Fruit started their business and it became one of my favourite labels. I went on listening to Rave Radio where Ronald Molendijk was mixing for an hour; among the tracks I recognised were tracks from the Deep Soul - The Rhythmz in its Native mix. This was a track that, edited down to 3-4 minutes, I would love to hear a couple of times a day on the radio! The year would provide many more interesting SR tracks, but I had to wait until 1994 before they got released.

1994 was SR's breakthrough year in our country, with a tsunami of excellent releases: to begin with This Is Strictly Rhythm (2).
The aforementioned Fresh Fruit were causing a boomerang effect when SR themselves were releasing an album full of Brazil-flavoured tracks (Armand Van Helden - Witch Doktor, the perfect blend between the New York sound and the Dutch sound seemed to be made.
And the year ended with pretty much all highlights included on Loop 7 - The Theme in its Legend version; I do not understand why this was not picked up in other countries.

1995 started with me digging up the compilation Ruffneck Featuring Yavahn - Everybody Be Somebody.

1996 started with one of the label's highlights: Reel 2 Real - Are You Ready For Some More? and two other singles, but it seemed as if we did not need more.

1997's highlight was undoubtedly The Funkjunkeez - Got Funk?. It seemed as if the Dutch got the funk, SR was no longer responsible for it. People like Daft Punk and Olav Basoski were gradually taking over the dance landscape here, and follow-up singles of Ultra Nate failed to make impact.

Between 1999-2002, several tracks of the label made impact here, but unlike the early years, they were not primarily associated with SR's name. Some examples are New Vision - (Just) Me And You. Although the label went on focusing on quality instead of quantity, it was only a matter of time when acitivities came to a halt, which was the case in 2002.

In 2007, the label was given a reboot an although there is certainly material that is interesting, the most attention is made with remixes of the old classics. These tracks, roughly between 1989-1997, are what SR will be ed for, and although the label also released quite some under-par material, the number of outstanding tracks is large enough to put other labels in the shade.

Wow, what happened to the SR comment section?
Early 90's SR is some of the very best house music put on plastic for my money. And yeah, there's cruft to sift through in the catalogue (ittedly more since the frequently mentioned hey-day). Still, for me, there are releases up to the modern ones that make their way into heavy rotation, usually capturing some of the magic of that early sound. As other's have noted, it's worth digging. I agree- one of the best house labels of all time- a lot of this stuff is timeless.

This is one of the best house music labels of all time. From 1989-1994 is where Strictly was at. I also want to ask a question. Why did they get rid of the 33 1/3 RPM after Sr1283 (SR-1 - Da Rhythm) and I know this might be a silly question, but why did they removed the bricks and add the barcode?