***1/2 PACHA IBIZA 1998

(Max Music)

This 30-track compilation highlights the vocal glories of house music. Remixed by DJ Pippi, who works the turntables in Ibiza -- one of the world's most joyous disco sites -- the set brims over with diva style and fast-paced Eurohouse from Italy and New York. If Jestofunk featuring Cinda's "Stellar Funk" and Fire Island featuring Loleatta Holloway's "Shout It to the Top" don't getcha, perhaps you'll fall for the righteous sweat of Ultra Nate's "Found a Cure," Barbara Tucker's unstoppable "Everybody Dance," or Cevin Fisher's definitive "The Freaks Come Out."

The set's truest treats, however, are its unknowns. Eurodance soars in I.D.F.'s "Kam'a Sutra"; the fey voice of Dance or Die's "1 2 3 4" epitomizes sweet opulence. Paul Main Project featuring Renee's "I Need Love" pushes hard-house groove to the max; Azure's cover of Lillo Thomas's pop hit "Mama Used To Say" recalls disco's knack for creating female versions of male hits. So what's going on here? Eddie Amador tells it in "House Music," as he croons, "Not everybody understands house music, it's a spiritual thing, a body thing, a soul thing," over one of those dark-smooth, deep-beat tracks in which house music tells its secrets to those who choose to listen.

-- Michael Freedberg