Chillout Sessions is a series of compilations released by Ministry of Sound that focus on songs from the chillout genre. Songs on Chillout Sessions compilations vary in style from lounge to electronica and are released by many different artists.
The Chillout genre of compilations started in the UK and since 2003 Ministry of Sound has released them under different tropes such as "Chilled", "After Hours", "The Morning After..." which has shown MOS to have seemingly ended its branding of the genre as Chillout Sessions.
A similar series started in Australia, where the series changed its name from The Chillout Session to The Chillout Sessions and then simply to Chillout Sessions and continued until 2016 with XIX until the record label rebranded to TMRW following the acquisition of MoS by Sony in the UK.
Some Chillout Sessions albums have become known and distinguishable for the symbol of a turntable (with the Ministry of Sound logo on it) frozen in ice, or in one case (The Summer Collection 2003) the turntable itself is made of ice. In the UK this motif is used on the covers of volumes 1, 2, The Winter Collection (2003), The Summer Collection 2003, and The Very Best of album. In Australia, the image is used for volumes 1–6 except on volume 3. The idea of the turntable with the Ministry of Sound logo on had been used on the covers of the Ministry of Sound Clubbers Guide in prior years (and in The Annual IV), the idea of such turntable on the covers was last used on Clubbers Guide albums in early 2001 when The Chillout Session began using the idea.
History Ministry of Sound, as a label, began in 1993 and its first album was the first volume of a series called Sessions. The series was successful enough for it to generate a spin-off series of The Chillout Session, which began in 2001 with a UK Compilation Chart #1 album. Volume 2 was also very successful. The first and second volumes were released in both the UK and Australia, but the series divided in August 2001, with one series for the UK and the other for Australia.
In the UK, Ibiza Chillout Session was released in August 2001. Although not as successful as the prior releases, it received positive reviews, as did the Ibiza 2002 album. Though the four albums released were part of the Sessions series, the fifth album The Chillout Annual 2002 was part of The Annual series, which was the Ministry of Sound's second series of mix albums, and likewise had Ibiza Annual spin-offs beginning in 1998.
Following the numbered releases (volumes 1 and 2) and both the Ibiza... releases, the albums were themed to seasons, starting with The Winter Collection 2003 (actually released in late 2002, as the sort of style Chillout Annual 2003). The Summer 2003 edition reached #10 in the UK Compilations Chart. A third Ibiza... edition, Ibiza Sunsets, was released shortly afterwards. This series, despite sales success, was suspended in favour of other Ministry of Sound albums in 2003. Its final album The Very Best of the Chillout Sessions was released in late 2003, but did not sell well and until 2011 was the worst-selling album in the series.
Ministry of Sound started the series again in January 2006, with an album titled simply The Chillout Sessions (titled to reflect the fact that it was a reboot for the series). This album had good sales but there were no subsequent releases.
In 2007, Ministry of Sound launched a new series, Anthems, beginning with Anthems 1991–2008. It sold very well and it generated a spin-off album, Chilled 1991–2008. This was followed by a second volume in 2009, a third (suited to acoustic chill-out music) in 2010 and a fourth (Chilled Afterhours, similar to the label's Late Night Sessions albums) in 2011. 2011 was also the year that Ministry of Sound launched its large-scale campaign 20:20, to celebrate 20 years of The Ministry of Sound as a club. One of the associated releases was the box set XX Twenty Years, each disc made up of a different dance genre; the final disc in the box set was Chillout Sessions. Around the same time, Anthems Collection was released, with five discs, each from a different genre, the final one being Anthems Chilled.
Amongst the releases from 2002 to 2004, Ministry of Sound UK also launched spin-off compilations such as Late Night Sessions and Late Night Sessions: Autumn/Winter Collection. With the genre tiring somewhat (the same songs were appearing repeatedly) Ministry of Sound has continued to release Chill Out genre compilations under different guises in the UK. By 2016 these were distinctly split between house-based chillout tracks (Chilled House Sessions 1–7, "Morning After...) to more chart-friendly (compared to the eclectic range of earlier releases) compilations (The Chillout Session (2012), Perfectly Chilled and Just Chillin). 2016–2017 has notably been a key focus on chillout albums from MoS, much like the early 00s when Dance music had reached its zenith, due to the EDM emergence in America that has moved onto producing slower electronic tracks that combine synths with slower house rhythms or hip-hop beats.
In Australia, the series has been a continued success from Volume 3 in 2002. In a different approach from the UK, the Australian series maintained the numbering system as a suffix in its titles, with only the "Best of..." style album Chillout Classics omitting a number from the title.
In 2016, the Ministry of Sound UK record label was sold to Sony Music. The label is run as an independent and split between A&R and Compilations. The Compilations team were retained when moving to Sony.
Since 2018, Ministry of Sound exclusively moved their Playlists to Apple Music. Many of their well known compilation brands such as Anthems, Fitness, I Love and Chilled have moved to a Playlist format, which accounts for the limited releases of non-streamable Chilled Compilation albums. A notable example is the Chilled House Session series that ran from 2009 to its final release in 2019 (Chilled House Session 9) and is now an exclusive Playlist on Apple Music.
In January 2022, Ministry of Sound released Chillout Sessions (Calm Mixes), an album of three one hour tracks called Ibiza, Energy and Clarity. The album is available to buy from iTunes and streamable (as an album, not a playlist). Each track is a single song and this is not a compilation album.
List of albums in the Ministry of Sound Chillout Genre
UK The Chillout Session (2001) The Chillout Session 2 (2001) Ibiza Chillout Session (2001) The Chillout Annual 2002 (2001) The Chillout Session: Ibiza 2002 (2002) The Chillout Session 2003: The Winter Collection (2002) The Karma Collection (2002) Late Night Sessions (2003) The Chillout Session: The Summer Collection 2003 (2003) The Chillout Session: Ibiza Sunsets (2003) The Very Best of the Chillout Session (2003) Late Night Sessions Autumn Collection (2003) The Karma Collection Sunrise (2003) The Chillout Session (2006) Chilled 1991–2008 (2008) Chilled II 1991–2009 (2009) The Chilled House Session (2009) Chilled Acoustic (2010) The Winter Sessions (2010) The Chilled House Session 2 (2011) Chilled Afterhours (2011) Chillout Session (CD4 in XX: Twenty Years, 2011) Late Night Sessions (2011) Anthems Chilled (CD5 in Anthems Collection, 2011) The Chilled House Session 3 (2012) Chillout Session (CD4 in XX Volume 2, 2012) The Chillout Session 2012 (2012) The Chilled House Session 4 (2013) Chilled House Classics (2013) Chilled House Ibiza 2013 (2013) The Chilled House Session 5 (2014) Chilled House Ibiza 2014 (2014) The Morning After The Night Before (2014) The Chilled House Session 6 (2015) Chilled House Ibiza 2015 (2015) Chilled (2015) Perfectly Chilled (2015) The Morning After... (2015) The Chilled House Session 7 (2016) Just Chillin (2016) Chilled Electronic 80s (2016) Chilled House Ibiza 2016 (2016) Recover (2016) Chilled Reggae (2016) Chilled Hip Hop (2016) Chilled House Winter (2016) Chilled House Session 8 (2017) Recover 2017 (2017) Laidback Beats 2017 (2017) Chilled House Ibiza 2017 (2017) Sunset Chilled (2017) Chilled House Session 9 (2018) I Love Acoustic (2018) Chilled 60’s (2018) Throw Back Chillout (2019)
Australia (The Chillout Session) (2001) Available only in UK import in CD The Chillout Session 2 (2001) The Chillout Annual 2002 (2002) The Chillout Sessions 3 (2002) Chillout Sessions 4 (2003) The Chillout Sessions : Summer Collection 2004 Late Night Sessions (2003) Chillout Sessions 5 (2004) Chillout Sessions 6 (2004) Chillout Sessions 7 (2005) Chillout Sessions 8 (2005) Chillout Sessions 9 (2006) Chillout Sessions 10 (2007) Chillout Classics (2007) Chillout Sessions XI (2008) Chillout Sessions XII (2009) Chillout Sessions XIII (2010) Chillout Sessions XIV (2011) Chillout Sessions XV (2012) Chillout Sessions Classics (2013) Chillout Sessions XVI (2013) Chillout Sessions XVII (2014) Chillout Sessions XVIII (2015) Chillout Sessions XIX (2016) Chillout Sessions XX (2018)
Other releases The Chillout Guide (2001) The Chillout Annual 2002 (2001) – Different track listing to UK album Chilled Sessions (2008) – Download album Anthems Acoustic (2016) – A "chilled" complication but not by name Stripped: Acoustic R&B (2017) – A "chilled" complication but not by name Chillout Sessions (Calm Mixes) (2022) - A three track album of original tracks
Issues (Australian series)
The Chillout SessionThe Chillout Session is the first compilation in the series and was released on 5 February 2001 in the United Kingdom and Australia. Its cover image is used again for The Chillout Guide later in the year. Its cover image was actually first used in 1998 in the booklet of The Annual IV and later as the cover for the Ministry of Sound book The Manual.
The album reached #1 in the UK compilation album chart.
Disc One Badly Drawn Boy – "The Shining" Fatboy Slim feat. Macy Gray – "Demons" Chicane – "No Ordinary Morning" Groove Armada – "Dusk You And Me" Nightmares on Wax – "Les Nuits" Sneaker Pimps – "6 Underground (Nellee Hooper's Edit)" Rob Dougan – "Clubbed To Death" World Party – "Is It Too Late? (Pete Lorimer Remix)" The Beloved – "The Sun Rising (Toms D&B Mix)" LTJ Bukem – "Horizons" Tim 'Love' Lee – "One Night Samba" Thievery Corporation – "So Com Voce" Lemon Jelly – "In The Bath" Kinobe – "Keefe's Quest" Bonobo – "Kota" Moby – "Natural Blues" The Stone Roses – "Shoot You Down (The Soul Hooligan Remix)" Basement Jaxx – "Being With U"
Disc Two Jakatta – "American Dream (Radio Edit) (3:26) York – "The Awakening (Mellow Mix)" (5:15) Sasha & Emerson – "Scorchio (Emerson's Late Night Dub)" (2:34) Medway – "Resurrection" (6:28) Underworld – "Cups (Salt City Orchestra's Vertical Bacon Vocal)" (7:36) Etienne De Crecy – "Prix Choc (Alex Gopher's Free Tax Mix)" (3:56) Afro Medusa – "Pasilda (Afterlife Mix)" (4:07) Wamdue Project – "King of My Castle (Original Radio Edit)" (3:32) Alex Gopher – "The Child" (4:18) Bent – "Swollen (Beloved Café Del Marsh Mix) (4:24) Sumsonic Presents... – "Falling" (6:09) Amber – "Sexual (Afterlife Mix)" (4:26) Bedrock – "Beautiful Strange (Acoustic Mix)" (4:01) Leftfield – "Melt" (3:52) Orion – "Eternity (Acoustic Mix)" (4:20) Watergate – "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Heart of Asia) (Astro Heavenly Mix)" (3:35) Energy 52 – "Café Del Mar (Michael Woods Remix)" (3:47) William Orbit – "Barber's Adagio For Strings" (1:47)
The Chillout Session 2
The Chillout Session 2 is the second installment in the series and was released on 3 July 2001 in the United Kingdom and Australia. It reached #2 in the UK compilation album chart.
Disc One Dido – "Here With Me" (4:13) The Avalanches – "Since I Left You" (3:58) I Monster – "Daydream in Blue" (3:19) Groove Armada – "At The River" (4:14) Massive Attack – "Weather Storm" (4:54) Chicane – "Offshore" (4:47) Jakatta – "American Dream" (4:13) Zero 7 – "Give It Away" (5:06) Smoke City – "Underwater Love" (3:47)