I think the original vocal house classics are pretty easy to identify - post-2000 it becomes much harder, simply because fewer original vocals appear on records and record labels proved increasingly unwilling/unable to pay out for quality session singers. The nature of dance music changed with people either listening to very generic commercial hits or totally out there european techno with fewer and fewer outlets for the uplifting quality dance music, I grew up with. But certain producers continued to make outstanding vocal tracks for the dancefloor over the decade (across different genres) and I've listed 10 here which mean a lot to me:
1. blaze/barbara tucker - most previous love (the original/dennis ferrer - not the version which charted) - true house music - caused pandemonium everywhere I went in 2005
2. michael watford/jamie lewis - it's over - pure SOUL
3. tracey thorn / martin buttrich - it's all true - the vocal mix was very hard to get hold of on 12 at the time, but anything with tracy thorn's voice I generally grab on sight - haunting, deep, beautiful
4. hercules & love affair - blind - frankie knuckles vocal - some peeps prefer the instrumental but I think Anthony's melancholic voice is totally unique - a real, feelgood end of nighter - and an instant classic. Knuckles back on form
5. depeche mode - the sinner in me - villalobos mix - it's an stunning tune heard in full, dave gahan adding real warmth to might have been a fairly cold record. Still gives me shivers
6. ben westbeech - so good today (yoruba soul mix) - this is as deep as the hills, shame his career never took off, despite Gilles Peterson's support, but this tune was an absolute dancefloor killer for me in 2006, definite echoes of jamiroquai at their best.
7. moloko - forever more - francois k/eric kupper mix - another end of nighter of which I have very fond memories - her voice is unreal. Emotional music.
8. goldfrapp - strict machine - ewan pearson stripped down vocal - one good thing good to emerge from the illfated electroclash scene was a number of producers making robo disco-esque tracks heavily influenced by the likes of Giorgio Moroder and Alexander Robotnick. This was devastating, an "I feel Love" for a new generation and it helped (for better or worse) to usher in the nu-electro age
9. felix da housecat / miss kittin - what does it feel like - royskopp remix - like the depeche mode remix, this also exposed me to the new european minimal sound, it was house but not house, techno but not techno and blurred all sorts of genre boundaries. Miss Kittin's cold yet charming, metallic voice sounded amazing the first time I heard this at the key. It was the sound of the future.
10. underworld - two months off - as the world's second biggest Underworld fan (there's a guy in Canada I found out is even more stalker-y) I usually grab anything they release (not the recent release though!) and this was the standout from their noughties output. It NEEDS to be heard live. YOU BRING LIGHT IN! YOU BRING LIGHT IN! as karl prances around the stage looking like an overanimated chimp. An anthemic, titanic call to rave arms.
)