New Jill Swing 1988-94 (Double LP)

New Jill Swing was a cheeky response to the very male, late 80s world of new jack swing, and it was the dawn of a golden age for female R&B in the 90s. The original source of new jack swing - or swingbeat - could be found in key records such as Janet Jackson's Control, produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, which mixed hard beats with soul, real R&B with 808s and a tough shuffle. Producer Teddy Riley took these sounds a step further at the end of the 80s, blending them with hiphop because - strange as it now seems - hip-hop in the 80s was barely integrated into R&B.

Compiled by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley, this is historically significant as the first ever compilation of the genre. New jill swing may have borrowed from hip-hop but it was more smartly stylized and consciously retro-modern in its look, whether that was in En Vogue's Old Hollywood references, the Good Girls' plaid skirts or Jade's baseball caps and braids. It would also unwittingly lay down the groundwork for the ultra-modern sounds to come later in the decade from the likes of TLC and Missy Elliot.