When does the Jewish Sabbath begin? Who are Vishnu and Shiva? What are Buddhism's Four Noble Truths? What are the Five Pillars of Islam? These questions are more than an academic exercise.

Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.

Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.

These are the roots of my career in music. These tracks have determined the path to follow and many of them where revolutionary and truly progressive at the time they where originally released. I have taken the greatest care to come up with the best possible masters, sometimes comparing up to 5 different versions to find out which one sounded the best and most pure. And sometimes even baking the analog master tapes to make them playable again. The heat evaporates the moisture in the coating of the tape. The otherwise moist backing will clog up all parts of the tape recorder the tape touches, leaving a dark glue like substance grinding everything to a halt. After the backing process, the tape becomes playable again and the transfer to digital is performed. Some tracks feature a combination of vocal and dub version just as I used to perform that combination in a live DJ-set. Such a combination features the best parts from the vocal and dub version, capturing the complete feel of what that track meant to me.

This collection, distributed by Sony Music (the sound quality is excellent) is a 12" collector's dream. Full mixes, not beat mixed. There are some noticeably curious choices here, alongside the obvious. The original 12" of Mighty Real by Sylvester is much different than the version most people are used to. "forget Me Nots" is listed as the original 12" version, so I guess the 7 minute version I have elsewhere was a follow up 12"? Rapper's Delight is the long version that fades rather than the one that ends cold. Not sure why we get an acappella version of Last night a DJ, or both versions of I Feel Love, considering most dance collectors are likely to have the original 12" on some of Donna's own releases. I've never been a fan of the noisy Patrick Cowley remix, with improvised keyboards thrown on top that drown out the perfection of the original. Let the Music Play by Shannon is not the "remix" from the original album, which had sort of a dub feel at times, but more of an all out extended vocal version (is it just me, or is there really a need for a thorough 12" collection on CD of her 1980s tracks?). IOU appears in its longest 12" form (the original 12" was 7:40, the remix is a minute longer!). As usual, we get the 12" choice mix of Finally on CD, where as what we really need on CD is the other side of the US 12", which is actually the more popular version that omits the annoying soft house piano on this mix. Get Ready for This features both the rap and the female vocal chorus-this extended version is rare on CD. Blue Monday is the original album version. Situation by Yazoo is a treat, because it really is the ultimate "extended" version of the ORIGINAL mix, not a remix. Don't miss volume 2 also!

Without words, cameras show us the world, with an emphasis not on "where," but on "what's there." It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred monks do a monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky.