John Digweed named Soundsation – “Do You Feel It?” as one of his favourite records of 1996 during Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection — Best of 1996 on 27 December 1996.
Listen to Soundsation – “Do You Feel It?” (Full Length Trance Mix, SOS 002)
That precise wording matters: the surviving broadcast does not establish it as his sole or number-one favourite. Pete Tong subsequently described it on air as “John Digweed’s big tune of ’96.”
“1996 has been a great year for me… as well as that I’ve been promoting the Northern Exposure album in America and the UK, which has both been really successful. I think one of my favourite records of this year is a track by Soundsation and it’s called Do You Feel It?. Hope you like it, have a good Christmas and a happy new year.”
Hear the actual Essential Selection — Best of 1996 clip.
“I do believe that was John Digweed’s big tune of ’96 actually — Soundsation ‘Do You Feel It?’. Mainly because he was the only one that had it, but we can all have it now.”
Hear the subsequent BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection broadcast.
The version circulating during 1996 was the Full Length Trance Mix on SOS Recordings promo 12 SOS-002. This was a limited pressing of 1,000 copies that was subsequently withdrawn/banned, explaining both the record’s scarcity and Tong’s remark that Digweed had been the only person with it.
12SOS003 followed later as the available SOS edition. Tong’s 7 February 1997 Essential Selection introduction captures that change directly: the formerly scarce Digweed record could now be obtained by other DJs and listeners. The Stress Records edition followed as a later licensed release.
The record’s UK chart appearance belongs to a separate, later commercial phase. The 1998 Stress Records release, 12STR 88, was led by the Chris & James Solar Power Remix and also included the Original and Big C mixes. See the Stress release and remix credits.
On 7 June 1998, almost two years after Sasha’s Cream performance, Soundsation entered the Official UK Dance Singles Chart at number 39. The Official Charts Company preserves both the song’s individual chart record—under the “Soundstation” spelling—and the complete chart for 7–13 June 1998.
This distinction prevents the chart date from obscuring the earlier history: the record was already circulating through the SOS promo, being played internationally by Sasha and endorsed by Digweed in 1996. The Chris & James-led Stress release brought it into the documented UK sales chart two years later.
A useful way to understand the relationship is that Northern Exposure captured the home-listening and after-hours journey, while “Do You Feel It?” documents the club-floor side of the same 1996 Sasha and Digweed moment.
Sasha and Digweed later explained that the 0°/North disc drew on records they listened to after a night out, including music that was not appropriate for a club set. The compilation reshaped those home-stereo selections into a continuous journey. Read the account and their 1997 comments.
By contrast, a surviving tracklist from Sasha at Cream, Liverpool, on 15 June 1996 places Soundsation’s “Do You Feel It?” at approximately 88 minutes in his club set. This was just over three months before Northern Exposure was released on 27 September 1996. See the dated Sasha at Cream tracklist.
The record appears again in the surviving Better Days/Good Life recording from Toronto on 28 November 1996. The detailed tracklist assigns “Do You Feel It?” at 58:40 to the Sasha section, before the recording moves into the John E or possible back-to-back portion. See the timed Toronto tracklist. An independent tracklist archive also identifies it as track 11.
Together, Cream and Toronto document the record in Sasha’s club sets on both sides of the Atlantic during the Northern Exposure year. Both performances used the version then in circulation: the scarce 1996 Full Length Trance Mix on the 1,000-copy SOS Recordings promo, catalogue 12 SOS-002. The publicly available SOS 003 and licensed Stress editions followed later.
| Date | Evidence | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| 15 June 1996 | Sasha plays “Do You Feel It?” at Cream, Liverpool | The record was part of Sasha’s club sound during the Northern Exposure year |
| 27 September 1996 | Northern Exposure is released | The home-listening document of the same progressive-house period |
| 28 November 1996 | Sasha plays “Do You Feel It?” at Better Days/Good Life, Toronto | Canadian club support during the Northern Exposure campaign |
| 27 December 1996 | Digweed selects “Do You Feel It?” on Pete Tong’s BBC Radio 1 Essential Selection: Best of 1996, immediately after discussing the Northern Exposure campaign | A direct contemporary link between the record and Digweed’s 1996 |
| 7 February 1997 | Pete Tong calls it Digweed’s “big tune of ’96” on BBC Radio 1’s Essential Selection | Independent on-air confirmation of its standing in Digweed’s sets |
| 7 June 1998 | The later Stress release led by the Chris & James Solar Power Remix reaches number 39 on the Official UK Dance Singles Chart | Commercial chart recognition almost two years after the original club support |
This is a documented cultural and chronological link, not a tracklisting claim: “Do You Feel It?” did not appear on Northern Exposure. The evidence supports describing it as a club-side companion to the mix-CD era, as well as one of John Digweed’s favourite records of 1996.