Pete Tong + Friends: Ibiza Classics

The name Pete Tong has been synonymous with the dancefloor hedonism of Ibiza ever since he became the first BBC Radio 1 DJ to host his show live from the White Isle in 1995. Since 2015, Tong has celebrated this special relationship, alongside conductor Jules Buckley and his Heritage Orchestra, with a series of live shows and albums reimagining house classics made famous in Ibiza super-clubs. The resulting three albums, sold out shows and a BBC Prom have revitalised everything from Inner City’s “Good Life”, to Moloko’s “Sing It Back”. Spurred on by a pandemic-induced global club shutdown, here Tong presents a self-described “maxi EP/mini album”, centering on the theme of Ibiza Classics in collaboration. “I wanted these projects to be more than just cover versions–they’re adaptations,” Tong tells Apple Music. “We’re being creative with the production and each track on this record has a collaborator with a personal connection to the original.” The resulting eight tracks span everything from the majestic orchestrations of Hans Zimmer’s “Time”, taken from his score for Inception, to the raucous trance energy of System F’s “Out Of The Blue”, and an original composition with Danish producer Kölsch , “When We Move”. Read on for Tong’s thoughts on the record, track by track. “Hideaway” (with Eats Everything & Vula, feat. Jules Buckley) “This is a track from our live show that we never got around to recording, but it’s really taken on a life of its own over the few years we’ve been playing it. The De’Lacy original was never a commercial hit and we’ve made the chorus more of a singalong moment now. Eats Everything has been to many of our shows and he’s always texting me that he wants to do a track with us. He’s well versed in house music history and this was one that he really wanted to get involved in. Vula is also the lead singer of the Heritage Orchestra and has organised all our vocalists since day one. It felt only right to make her the lead vocalist for this.” “Ghos