It was September 2000, when Hitz Melbourne released one of their final compilation CDs – HitzFour Ampfarm. Like most CDs released by hopeful FM stations in that era, it had plenty of dance tracks.
But this one offered something more.
Before I get into that ‘something more’ let’s have a look at the artwork.
Ants?
Well it was just over a year since the release of these two films, and I suspect there might have been a little inspiration in the air. What do you think?
Getting back to the CD itself, AmpFarm is the last of the double-CD Hitz FM compilations. Each volume (starting with HitzOne in 1998) featured an array of club, hip hop and pop hits, plus a megamix of songs.
Speaking of megamixes, after James Ash did the honours for the first 2 times, this 4th CD features a megamix by the men of the moment (back in 2000) – Smash n Grab. Andy and Glen released a bunch of singles and remixes under that name, before moving onto other groups and releases in the coming decade.
Following on from HitzThree’s mix of house, trance and Eurodance – HitzFour continues in a similar vein. 99/Y2K staples like Madison Avenue, Fragma and Amber appear, alongside artists like Soulsearcher, Timo Maas and The Vincent Price Project.
If anything I would have preferred a bit more pop/hip hop/indie stuff in the mix (like HitzOne’s track listing or The Original Hitz Volume 2). But later Hitz CD’s went very much in a house/trance direction, so there’s no point crying over… spilt… beats.
HitzFour Ampfarm – the documentary
But after all the music talk – this feature is about something else. A documentary. A ten minute CDROM documentary, called A Slice of Hiztory. It appeared on disc 1 of the release – and to get around those year 2000 technical limitations, had to be split into 2 halves.
The doco was hosted by Matt Orchard (The Australian Music Show) and produced by Rod Cuddihy (aka “The Talking Man”). It featured a number of (then) present and past Hitz volunteers, along with news clips featuring the station. They speak candidly about the early days of Hitz and the frustrating later years as lobbying and delays started to take their toll.
Here, for the first time – I present an updated version that combines the 2 halves into a single viewing.
Hope you enjoy this genuine.. ‘Slice of Hitztory’.
