Various
Head To Head (Kickin Vs Vinyl)

Listening notes

Head To Head (Kickin Vs Vinyl) is a 1990 CD compilation released on Kickin Records under catalog number KV 1 CD. Spanning eight tracks across approximately 44 minutes of total runtime, the release brings together material drawing from the breakbeat, electronic, hardcore, and techno genres that were circulating through UK club culture at the turn of the decade.

The tracklist opens with "The Exorcist (Visual Mix)" at 6:43 and moves through a sequence of mix variants and alternate versions, suggesting the compilation was conceived at least partly as a showcase for extended and reworked material. Several tracks carry designations — Club Mix, Hyper Mix, Club Mind, X-clusive Mix — that indicate these are not necessarily the versions that appeared on earlier single releases. Track three, "White Light," is specifically labeled as a Previously Unreleased Mix, distinguishing it from the others in that regard.

"Crack Train (Club Mix)" runs 6:02, as does "Soundclash (Hyper Mix)," while "Inner Mind (Club Mind)" and "X-static" sit close together at 5:08 and 5:06 respectively. "My First Memory (X-clusive Mix)" clocks in at 4:52, and the compilation closes with "5, 6, 7, 8 (Original Mix)" at 5:43, the only track on the release bearing an Original Mix designation.

The title frames the release as a head-to-head between Kickin Records and Vinyl, though the specific nature of that framing — whether competitive, collaborative, or purely nominal — is not elaborated upon by the available information. What the format and tracklist do confirm is a document of a moment when these converging electronic genres were being packaged for a format audience alongside the club and rave circuits where the music was finding its most immediate audiences.