Classic Trance Nation - Various Artists

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Classic tracks, no fillers
Disadvantages:	Adagio for Strings is missing !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

If you've ever found yourself in a hot, sweaty nightclub at midnight with your hands in the air, lost in the thumping bassline and melodic vocals of a trance track, you're gonna love this! Those clever people at Ministry of Sound have put together al collection of trance tunes spanning the past ten years or so, and they've picked some absolute corkers. Three discs of classic offerings to bring those memories flooding back, covered in more detail below...glowsticks optional!

So how would you kick off such a collection? Something a few years old, huge at the time and still sounding as good eleven years on perhaps. Step forward Underworld - Born Slippy, the Trainspotting anthem and a great opener for the next 53 tracks.

I'll incude the full track listing further down and cherry-pick a few favourites to avoid boring you all to sleep!

Disc One's stand out favourites for me include Storm's Time To Burn, Cosmic Gate's Fire Wire, IIO's Rapture, Angelic's It's My Turn (Angelic being Amanda, wife of DJ Judge Jules), an amazing Tiesto remix of Delirium's Silence, and one of my all-time favourite tunes, Sandstorm by Darude. So many memories of Ibiza and a brilliant, high-energy opening full of mainly chart hits and possibly the most recognisable tunes for the average listener.

The second disc, although still full of recognisable hits, is a little more obscure and is possibly more familiar to the seasoned dance music fan. Again chock-full of trance anthems, Salvea Mea by Faithless builds the momentum, Planet Perfecto's Bullet in The Gun has you dancing like a loon and ten songs later, Lost Witness's Happiness Happening has you needing a quick sit down to recover before getting to the final disc (okay that may have just been me...I'm not as young as I was!)

And so to disc three - thankfully more of a chilled out vibe here as the melodies lengthen and the beats become less frantic. Olive's You're Not Alone heads the cool-down, with Solar Stone's Seven Cities shining through (another of my all-time faves), Chicane's Saltwater and Art Of Trance's Madagascar coming close behind, and Sluslik Luna's Sun ending over a decade's worth of the finest dance anthems I've ever seen on one collection.

My thoughts in a second, for those that are interested here are the track listings in full;

Disc: 1
1. Born Slippy - Underworld (1)
2. What Ya Got 4 Me - Signum
3. Kernkraft 400 - Zombie Nation
4. Time To Burn - Storm (4)
5. Warrior - Warrior (4)
6. Drill - Dirt Devils
7. Fire Wire - Cosmic Gate
8. Sandstorm - Darude
9. 9PM (Till I Come) - ATB
10. Better Off Alone - Alice Deejay
11. Encore Une Fois - Sash
12. Resurrection - PPK
13. Silence - Delerium & Sarah McLachlan
14. Don't Give Up - Chicane & Bryan Adams
15. Beautiful - Darey, Matt & Marcella Woods
16. It's My Turn - Angelic
17. Arms Of Loren - Evoke (1)
18. Rapture - Iio

Disc: 2
1. Forbidden Fruit - Van Dyk, Paul
2. Salvea Mea - Faithless
3. I Feel Love - CRW
4. Lizard - Picotto, Mauro
5. Out Of The Blue - System F
6. 1998 - Binary Finary
7. Bullet In The Gun - Planet Perfecto
8. Universal Nation - Push (2)
9. Nightmare - Brainbug
10. Orange Theme - Cygnus X
11. Gamemaster - Lost Tribe (2)
12. Carte Blanche - Veracocha
13. Invisible - Tilt (2)
14. Airwave - Rank 1
15. Fiji - Atlantis & Avatar
16. Skydive (I Feel Wonderful) - Freefall & Jan Johnston
17. Love Stimulation - Humate
18. Happiness Happening - Lost Witness

Disc: 3
1. Finished Symphony - Hybrid
2. You're Not Alone - Olive
3. Heaven Scent - Bedrock
4. Your Face (In The Mirror) - Slacker
5. Stella - Jam & Spoon
6. Seven Cities - Solar Stone
7. Good Shot - Hands Burn
8. Everytime - Lustral
9. Meet Her At The Love Parade - Da Hool
10. Salt Water - Chicane (2)
11. Diving Faces - Liquid Child
12. Eternal - Jose Amnesia
13. El Nino - Agnelli & Nelson
14. Synaesthesia (Fly Away) - Thrillseekers & Sheryl Deane
15. Holding On - DJ Manta
16. Madagascar - Art Of Trance
17. Vision - Piu, Mario & DJ Arabesque
18. Sun - Slusnik Luna

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The Verdict

Put simply, I loved it! Over the past few years as I've settled down and gone out less I've swayed more towards Indie but this collection had me dancing around thinking of all those times I'd been out clubbing and the fun I'd had. There are no fillers on this album, just a fantastic collection of top tunes from great DJs such as Paul Van Dyk, Jam & Spoon, Mauro Picotto and Agnelli & Nelson.

There are a few surprising omissions, most notably Tiesto's Adagio for Strings, Energy 52's Cafe Del Mar and BBE's Seven Days and One Week, but these are just my opinion and in no way spoil my enjoyment of the album.

Not surprisingly, if you're not a dance music fan you're not going to like this album. But if at any time in the last ten years you've been part of the clubbing scene it will bring back memories, get you on your feet and leave you with a big grin on your face.

Thanks for reading xx