Angels and superstars.

Usually, when a dance mix CD aimed at gay folk sports wall-to-wall hits, you can bet it's a bootleg. The money earned on all those "DJ remix service" discs sold at your local gay bookstore or T-shirt emporium doesn't go to musicians and songwriters--much less to charitable causes--but to opportunists nervy enough to slap gay pride slogans on top of their thievery.

Centaur has made a specialty out of mimicking the bootleggers while doing things properly. Compilations like the circuit-fave-intensive Winter Party 1998 and a best-of by the enduring English epic house act Sun-screem prove it's possible for a legit independent label to create club collections that can compete with both the majors and the bedroom DJs.

Its latest, Dance With Angels, is by far its highest-profile release, one you don't need to feel devilish about buying. Circuit DJ Julian Marsh smartly mixes 16 tunes that include recent superstar smashes (Janet Jackson's "Together Again," Madonna's "Frozen"), endearing gay faves (Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder's 1997 Grammy-winning "Carry On," a rare revamping of Barry Manilow's "Could It Be Magic"), and hi-NRG remakes of recent pop hits ("You're Still the One," "My Heart Will Go On").

All the net profits will benefit the American Foundation for AIDS Research and the Florida-based Community AIDS Resource Inc. If mainstream gay club pop is what you crave, then Dance With Angels will send you to dance floor heaven.

Walters is a pop-music critic for The Advocate.