One of my favourite dance tunes is N-Trance’s Set You Free!
Set You Free was originally released in 1994, peaking at Number 39. Back then I would pride myself on finding little known dance tracks in Sphere, the local music shop. But I’ll be honest, I don’t think I had found Set You Free until it was re-released in 1995.
It feels like such a strange concept in 2022 – re-releasing songs. Songs don’t get re-released any more, they just get released and at some point hopefully they get discovered. But back in 1995, Set You Free kind of actually followed this sort of pattern, taking three years to make it big.
Set You Free was recorded in 1992 with vocals from the amazing Kelly Llorena. According to Wikipedia, she and the members of N-Trance drove all around the country performing the song. Clearly there was an appetitite for it as it was released in 1994. Popularity seemed to grow and the record label re-issued it again in 1995 just after Christmas.
It entered the chart at Number Six and then seemed to hover round the charts for months. That moment when the Rain and Thunder sounds at the start of the song is so instantly recognisable. Kelly belts the vocals out like this is her one chance to sing on a hit record (to be fair, this was her biggest chance, but not her only one!)
The remixes were strong and I particularly loved the TTF Edit (The Time Frequency, a Scottish group who produced one of the most underrated songs ever, The Ultimate High).
A remember discussing with friends about there existing a rap version of the song. Every so often it was on the radio. On the CD this is known as the Pop Edit and the rap is performed by Ricardo Da Force. I always wondered how N-Trance went from this to Stayin’ Alive, but actually the Pop Edit bridges that gap. Da Force is brilliant on both records – I’m serious as cancer.
Set You Free was remixed in 2001 by Rob Searle, peaking at Number Four. It was a delight to see the song back in the charts. This version was great but not quite as strong as the original version.
Set You Free was recently covered by Sam Ryder and his version is brilliant. I can’t believe that no one has tried to blend this into a dance version.
Set You Free is the song that convinced me of my love for dance music. Released at the start of 1995, the truth is that my love of the genre began that year and Set You Free was the first huge dance hit of a vintage year of dance songs. It is one of my favourite songs ever and is rightly thought of as a classic.