This Rhino Collection Moves to an Electronic Dance Beat

Unless you are familiar with the nuances and categories of dance music, it’s easy to be intimidated by the title of Rhino Records’ “Machine Soul: An Odyssey Into Electronic Dance Music.”

But there’s no need to be. This two-disc retrospective, which is drawn from almost 30 years of music, goes to great lengths to make sure you are never far from a record or an act that infiltrated the mainstream--be it music from the ‘70s (Kraftwerk and Donna Summer), the ‘80s (Gary Numan and New Order) or the ‘90s (Prodigy and the Chemical Brothers).

To make the album even more consumer-friendly, the album’s 40-page booklet opens with an endorsement from pop man of the moment Moby, who assisted producers Craig DeGraff and Johan Kugelberg on the project.

While noting that electronic music hasn’t lived up commercially to the “next big thing” predictions that swept the record industry in the late ‘90s, Moby still declares a victory of sorts for the style.

“If one defines electronic music as that made primarily with nontraditional, nonacoustic electronic instruments, then one sees that the vast majority of music made and sold in the Western world is, indeed, electronic,” he writes.

“Everything from hip-hop to drum & bass to trance to reggae to house to pop music is made with this instrumentation. In this sense, electronic music certainly seems to be the dominant musical form in the Western world.”

“Machine Soul” doesn’t necessarily showcase the best of electronic music, but it does find room among the bestsellers for such original and influential acts as Throbbing Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire, the Orb and Underworld.

*** Various artists, “Machine Soul: An Odyssey Into Electronic Dance Music,” Rhino. You can quarrel with the album’s choice of material--Gary Numan’s flimsy “Cars,” for instance, rather than anything from David Bowie’s “Low” album, which certainly served as Numan’s model.

You also might prefer different selections from the acts represented--say, Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn” or “Trans-Europe Express” rather than “The Robots,” or Prodigy’s “Firestarter” instead of the more novelty-minded (and dated) “Charly (Alley Cat Mix).”

But there’s no reason to play the “what if” game when there’s so much to enjoy on “Machine Soul,” including Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force’s “Planet Rock,” a landmark 1982 single that combined rap with European techno sounds, notably “Trans-Europe Express.”

“Machine Soul” is also rich with delightful pop-electronic experiments, including Sparks’ “The Number One Song in Heaven” and Moby’s own “Go.”

Whether you favor the mainstream material or some of the more demanding tracks, chances are that the album will encourage you to move deeper into the adrenaline-rush world of electronic music--which seems to be a goal of the producers.

One good and timely starting point for that exploration is “Movement in Still Life,” the invigorating new album by BT, the 28-year-old Maryland-born electronic music star (real name Brian Transeau) whose “Godspeed” (from the “Movement” album) closes the Rhino set.

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