The hard hoovery rave stabs of the New Beat sound of Belgium, the offbeat basslines of Hi-NRG, and the attitude of Acid House culminated in a genre of music that, depending on your preference, is referred to as hard house, progressive trance, acid trance…or just music.

The React imprint (alongside the also recently re-booted Hooj Choons label) played a pivotal role in the formulation of this sound, licensing the tracks they heard in European clubs for release in the UK, alongside the music of their own artists, led to this mish mash of hard electronic sounds becoming hard dance, doing groundwork for labels that followed such as Nukleuz, Tripoli, or Tidy Trax.

React’s much loved Reactivate series acts as a time capsule, this was the sound of hedonistic nightclubs such as Troll, FF, Sherbet, The Garage, and the infamous, and recently departed after hour’s club, Trade. Starting in ’91, and ending with their eighteenth in the series a decade later, they compiled the primitive sound of early ‘90’s rave, the druggy 150BPMs of hard house and ended with a euphoric trance sound. This whole period is covered on Reactivate Classics ’91 to ’01, making it a near perfect journey through the poppers drenched history of more discerning dancefloors who preferred the hard stuff.

The 42 unmixed digital download comes with two expertly mixed CDs by Rachel Auburn which provide an excellent trip through the classics. The no nonsense techno throb of GTO’s “The Bullfrog”, the still haunting “Energy Flash” by Joey Beltram, which Auburn totally hits the money by mixing it into the breakbeats of Zero B’s “Lock Up”, the trancey breakdown of which is impossible to refrain from wooping and throwing your hands up in the air to, is a legend of her trade showing off her knack of a slow but effective warm up.

The jacking acid rave of “Rubb it In” by Fierce Rulin’ Diva’s, the unforgettable hoovers of “Let’s Rock by E-Trax, and the unmistakable robust beats of sorely missed hard house icon Tony De Vit’s mix of SJ’s “Fever” come in quick succession to pick up the pace, and by the end of CD one the BPMs have moved into Hard NRG territory in the shape of Baby Doc and Blu Peter. It’s impossible to catch breath here.

The second CD is full of stone cold classics. Marmion’s “Schoenberg”, the track which will forever be known as that which closed the last ever Trade at Turnmills, the genre defying, legendary self-titled track by Age of Love, a piece of music so ubiquitous even the most snobbish of electronic music fans get misty eyed while chewing their face off to it, the synth strings and piano led emotion of “Loops and Tings” by Jens, and the perfect dark trance of Cygnus X’s “Orange Theme” and “Push” by Universal Nation, two tracks it was actually made illegal to dislike upon release in the mid-Nineties, are all genuine landmark tracks.

After laying dormant for a few years React have made a huge statement of intent here, this is by far their best compilation, a soundtrack to a decade-long third summer of love. If you remember it, you probably weren’t there, but Reactivate Classics ’91 to ’01 more than stirs up these dormant memories and makes you want to do it all again - only not three nights on the trot this time.