I bought it on Friday on my way home and played it straight away after leaving HMV. The last Trance compilation I got was 3 years ago (White Label Level 2) since I'm not interested in trance compilations at all but I always kept J00F as an exception, and this time (like it's always been) I wasn't wrong about him.
One Word: W I C K E D!
I shouldn't have given a second thought about buying a J00F CD compilation keeping in mind that John is my very favorite DJ and I bought it with high expectations not only concerning track selection and John's very unique sound; but also his unmatched mixing skills. Nobody (and I take full reponsibility for this word) mixes and delivers a set like John 00 Fleming does. No, I haven't seen all trance DJs out there, but from the pile that I crashed at a gig of their's, had a set of their's, or read any review concerning a certain set that they may have thrown for a radio show or at any gig (including the very top DJs in the trance scene), John '00' Fleming stands ahead of the rest. Unfortunately, it hasn't been a good year for the Brit that is getting once again underated on an international aspect, contracted compilation mixing, and even festivals such as Godskitchen Global Gathering that he didn't play at this year thanks to last year's prestigous DJmag Top 100 Poll that pulled him down to the 52nd position though he had the most hectic and busiest year of his career (2004) plus the horrible accident two months ago that he miraculously survived that also influenced his summer bookings.
CD 1:
01- Cell 'X-Press Morning' [08:38] : Cell is Alexandre Scheffer from Germany signed up to Montera Music whose this progressive tune was chosen to boost the first CD with. A dreamy melodic start with some trippy effects and light 136 BPM. The tune progresses slowly towards the end becoming a bit faster to perfectly blend with the 2nd tune. A well chosen tune for an intro.
02- Incolumis 'One with Sanctuary' [04:34]: One of the very best progressive trance tunes of the year by the Fin producer Jani Rantanen from J00F Recordings. A very melodic (that I don't usually enjoy) and magical masterpiece at 140 BPM. A preference to keep things pretty quiet and smooth at the first tunes of the compilation.
03- SBK 'Nightfly' [03:47]: A dark and mystic proggy tune from Sweden was J'00F's third selection. Produced by Sebastian Kruger at Avalanche Records at 140 BPM this tune entitles the twisted and hard-edged trance just starting and what's coming up next. It is sadly short: I would've liked it more if J00F played more of it.
04- RPO & Thomas Penton 'Perfect Storm' [02:12]: Rough, hard-edged piece of progressive trance written by Rick Perry O'Neill and Thomas Penton from RPO Recordings delivering a sexy melody and echoing chants along with a bangy 140 BPM was the begining of the faster and harder sound in the compilation. Guess the rough sound was Penton's deed rather than O'neill's since the later is more melodic in his productions (well, at least in tune 06) I would have loved to listen to it for longer, yet those two minutes of this beauty kept me hyped about it and eager to get in full as soon as it's out. Beautiful!
05- Alex Stealthy 'The Way it Shouldn't be' [06:20]: John recorded the vocals from Perfect Storm and looped them into this lovely melodic yet rough gem from the Brit Mr. Stealthy of Nascasent Recordings. The tune's breakdown is absolutely stunning and catchy with the 140 BPM cut dead in a sudden keeping a magical melody floating across your brain, the basslines are then brought back with no graduate build-up for a few seconds to stop again, then hit back again till the end of the tune: lovely teaser!
06- Super8 vs DJ Tab 'First Aid' (Perry O'Neill Remix) [06:53]: TH's beloved Perry O'Neill remixed this melodic Fin piece from Miika Eloranta and Janne Mansnerus at Anjunabeats Recordings. I don't know if you all got it already on single or yet, but it sure is worth listening to although it didn't totally appeal to me: I found it very melodic with no other elements to make it up for that with a smooth 136 BPM and an intro - melodic breakdown - outro: a very typical and predictable sound. Average tune.
07- Bjorn Small 'In a State of...' [06:54]: This tune alone is an enough reason to buy the whole compilation. It is by far the best progressive trance tune I've had through my ears since a very long time. Written by the Swed, Bjorn Kleiner from Banshi Worx, it surely delivers a driving energetic and twisted proggy sound that you might spend a few days (if not weeks in my case) looping in your head over and over again. When I was listening to this tune I was on the bus and I couldn't stay in my seat. I was so excited and blown away that I had to stand up and bang my head off what made my glasses fall off.. lol.. I looped it for 7 times back then and still couldn't get enough of it. As soon as the tune starts it gathers up its pieces like a scrambled jigsaw. Soon enough you'll have a pumping 144 BPM, a catchy echoing feminine distorted vocal repeating 'In a State' over and over again, a 1.5 second long FX divided into three sectors: one to hit the right ear, the other in the middle of your head, and the third on the left ear: the FX simply walks across your brain. The breakdown's melody is achingly memorable still looping the vocals and drops the beats gradually leaving you in the middle of the tune with nothing but 'In a State' echoing every corner of your brain and rising keyboards. A fat bassline drops in while the vocals and melody fade gradually to re-introduce the beat again to the tune with the catchy vocals till the echo slowly fades further and further then shaking every single cell of your head with that plain pure bangy beat. The vocals rise again and the beats kick in with that magical FX towards the end of the tune. Splendid, stunning, artistic... absolute perfection in deep progressive trance.
08- Oliver Prime 'Radiance' [06:38]: Although it's a release from last year, J00F gave it a share in his compilation and it fell in the best slot it could ever fill. The Austrian rough progressive trance producer at Resent Records (that you all are familiar with) wasn't the only artist here: J00F allowed a driving 4/4 beat and 144 BPM to hit dry in the 1st minute of the tune therefore keeping it pretty intense from 'In a State of...'. Tunes 07 and 08 were born to be mixed into each other and J00F simply nailed it! Radiance is one of my very favorite tunes from last year: hard, fast and bangy with a primary focus on the basslines. Lovely stuff!
09- Chakra 'Opacity' [05:54]: The switch from 'Radiance' to 'Opacity' is a masterpiece! J00F pulled one of the best mixing skills in this transition between those two tunes: perfectly matched elements (needless to say 'beats') between both tunes like a thick rich burger with all the goodies perfectly stacked to deliver the best taste you could ever imagine. Israel's Rami Shapira from HOMmega was J00F's 9th victim and decided to start his progg-psy sector of his compilation with this tune of his. The tune however from Chakra is slightly different from Sub6, Domestic and Pixel's styles that are in turn much more psy influenced in their progressive: Rami rathered keeping it more melodic and pumping at 144 BPM rather than a storming bangy psy structure and for that, he omited the 4/4 beats and used a vocal instead and some keyboards in the breakdown and towards the end of the tune. Unbeatble mixing from John!
10- Lish 'On The Edge' [06:47]: Should be one of the biggest rising names from Israel in the progg-psy trance scene that grew to the UK and Scandinavia at the speed of sound. I got their limited edition promo album a few months ago and J00F chose the very best of that album for his compilation: 'On The Edge'. A massive 144 BPM progressive trance tune with a touch of driving 4/4 beat and light simple melodic FX. Excellent!
11- Violet Vision 'Cellophane' (Sub6 & Domestic Remix) [07:23]: HOMmega's Ido Ophir (Sub6), Golan Aharony, and Ohad Aharony (Domestic) seem to be hanging out from quite a while. They've produced a load of tunes together and remixed more than I could count at the minute and this time Violet Vision's tune was their selection for a sexy psychedelic remix that skillfully stayed as progressive as it should to fit in the first CD of this compilation. The tune is very colourful and I found it highly addictive: progressive yet psychedelic with breakbeats for a breakdown. I've had this tune on single since a few months now, but I'm not sure if it was released or not (it's most likely to be released though at Yoyo Recordings). Another beauty from the progg-psy's finest.
12- Delirious 'Innerface' [07:14]: This tune saw light for the 1st time earlier this year in Delirious' debute album 'Break Point'. I had the album since then and I fell in love with their remix of Day Dream, Paradise City, and Innerface and yet J00F's choice to include 'Innerface' in this CD participated in strenghtening and fueling my passion for this duo. Big fan of HOMmega's Avi Harush and Arik Mimone with lovely productions, remixes and collaborations with various Israeli psychedelic trance artists such as, GMS, Wrecked Machines, and Astrix in Day Dream plus their wicked remix for Astrix's Life System... This tune is just another chapter in Delerious' book of fame.
13- Sub6 featuring Michele Adamson '7th Son' (Ticon Remix) [05:44]: Michele is the exclusive psytrance vocalist with featured tunes next to Astrix (Closer to Heaven) and Sub6 from last year (Ra He Ya) plus Domestic and Pixel. The original was totally different than what Sub6 normally delivers, this sexy remix though brought things back a bit into context. Good stuff under the giant label HOMmega for an outro.
CD 1 stood up to my fullest expectations. J00F is known for his different take on trance and truely proofed to be once again the UK Trance God with his driving energetic unique progressive sound that dominated the 1st CD with some psy influenced tunes and pure psychedelic yet trippy tunes towards the end. Simply amazing. That's what real progressive is, that's how progressive should be, that's what other DJs should be playing more often: this man has been DJing since 1983 and all those years of experience literally made him a school. Putting the psychedelic tunes and Perry O'Neil's (that shouldn't have been in the CD) aside, J00F chose the very best, released, and unreleased tunes to blend in this 1st CD. Outstanding!
CD 2 though wasn't a blast. It was a very good 2nd CD, but I was hoping for better from J00F especially after all the energy he pumped in the 1st CD. I was looking for a more energetic mix, faster, and euphoric in CD 2 and personally thought it would have been much better if he took away the average tunes of Tikal and Indica as well as the most horrible tune Astrix ever produced (Closer to Heaven), swaped Wizzy Noise's tune (10 O'Clock) with somethine newer and unreleased (mind you, he included it in his coverment CD for DJmag back in December of last year), and moved Whirloop's 'Blue Objects' to the 1st CD or simply took it off the tracklist because it's very melodic and uplifting... it just doesn't suit the second CD. He did, however, introduce a number of monstrous tunes like his intro of 12moon's 'Analogue Haste', MFG's 'Shining Faces', The Digital Blonde's 'Requia', Protoculture's 'Magnetic', and his tune with Astrix '3rd Time Lucky' that simply blew me away.
The album is an overall success with a positive feedback from both Mixmag and DJmag though there's been some hardships: its release date was changed for a number of times (it first was schedualed to get released last November, then got postponed till February so it won't go unoticed between the Christmas commercial compilations, then May, but then finally got released in August) as well as the fact that the 3rd CD was pulled out of the compilation because some territories in the world bans triple CDs - wierd but true - (it was supposed to be a triple CD). I simply loved it - a truely timeless set!
Tracklist:
-------------
CD 1:
01- Cell - 'X-Press Morning'
02- Incolumis - 'One with Sanctuary'
03- SBK - 'Nightfly'
04- RPO & Thomas Penton - 'Perfect Storm'
05- Alex Stealthy - 'The way it shouldn't be'
06- Super8 vs DJ Tab - 'First Aid' (Perry O'Neill Remix)
07- Bjorn Small - 'In a state of...'
08- Oliver Prime - 'Radiance' :shocked:
09- Chakra - 'Opacity'
10- Lish - 'On the Edge'
11- Violet Vision - 'Cellophane' (Sub6 & Domestic Remix)
12- Delerious - 'Innerface'
13- Sub6 featuring Michele Adamson - '7th Son' (Ticon Remix)
CD 2:
01- 12Moons - 'Analogue Haste'
02- OOOD - 'Free Range'
03- Tikal - 'Welcome'
04- Whirloop - 'Blue Objects'
05- The Digital Blonde - 'Requia'
06- Wizzy Noise - '10 O'Clock'
07- MFG - 'Shining Faces'
08- Astrix featuring Michele Adamson - 'Closer to Heaven'
09- Protoculture - 'Magnetik'
10- Electric Universe - 'Supreme Space'
11- Indica - 'Visions of Tomorrow'
12- John 00 Fleming & Astrix - '3rd Time Lucky'
Dion: GET IT if you haven't done that yet! (and ignore what samer's got to say about it) I don't care how, d/l, buy it, borrow it.. just get it! I know you're not into compilations (we share the same negligence), but you MUST get this one.. it's worth every penny (at least CD 1 and '3rd Time Lucky'). you know how is it when two bombs collide and blow up? ever noticed how when they blow up, everything around gets wiped out? Same case with '3rd Time Lucky'... two gods: the UK Trance God (J00F) clashed with the Psy-God (Astrix) creating this jaw-dropping, mouth-watering piece of trance wiping out everything else around... Trance never gets better than in this one! Loved it!!! 100000000/10.
I want more.. I want more!!!
Can't get enough of it!
