‘Octomnipent Zeitgeist’ - loosely meaning ‘THE spirit of 1985′, apparently - was the brainchild of mixing engineer Glenn Cattanach, along with Greg Lee and Jeff McKeehan, a pair of DJs from Lexington, Kentucky (that’s in the USA, fact fans). Everything was laid down using two turntables, a ¼-inch track 15 IPS reel to reel recorder, a cassette deck with dbx noise reduction and a variable speed 7½ IPS reel to reel recorder. No samplers, no effects and no multi-track recorders. To call these guys sadists would be an understatement!

600 man-hours in the making, the original mix ran 35 minutes long but was split into two 17 minute mixes (an inclusion of the Wizard Of Oz theme being the obvious inspiration for naming the two parts OZ-I and OZ-II). OZ-I is presented for your listening enjoyment in all it’s glory, and you’ll surely agree it sounds fantastic for an all-tape cut-n-splice effort. Rich Color seems to think so: “possibly the best mastermix of all time.” High praise indeed. Download link and tracklist after the jump.

Cattanach, Lee & McKeehan: Octomnipent Zeitgeist (17mins, 16MB) [rapidshare]

Tracklisting

1. Prince - Pop Life
2. Alison Moyet - Invisible
3. France Joli - Does He Dance
4. Tears For Fears - Shout
5. Mai Tai - History
6. Alisha - Too Turned On
7. Scritti Politti - Perfect Way
8. Jenny Burton - Bad Habits
9. Belouis Some - Imagination
10. Skipworth & Turner - Thinking About You
11. Stevie Wonder - Love Light In Flight
12. The Pointer Sisters - Dare Me
13. Jeff Lorber - Step By Step
14. Kaja - Turn Your Back On Me
15. Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok
16. Robey - One Night In Bangkok
17. Billy Ocean - Lover Boy
18. Simply Red - Money’s Too Tight To Mention
19. Aretha Franklin - Who’s Zoomin’ Who
20. Angela Bofill - Can’t Slow Down
21. Nuance - Love Ride
22. Chaka Khan - This Is My Night
23. Shannon - Do You Wanna Get Away
24. Rene & Angela - Save Your Love (For #1)
25. Simple Minds - Don’t You (Forget About Me)
26. Steve Arrington - Feel So Real
27. Belouis Some - Some People
28. André Cymone - The Dance Electric
29. Hall & Oates - Dance On Your Knees
30. Five Star - All Fall Down
31. Video Kids - Woodpeckers From Space
32. Tramaine - Fall Down
33. Fancy - Come Inside
34. Madonna - Into The Groove