'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
Member since:15.07.2000
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Gosh – is it really four months since I last invested in a good ride? Back in July of this year, I stumbled across a rather funky little dance compilation called Clubland – The Ride of Your Life. It transpires that Clubland Volume One has sold more copies than any other dance compilation this year, so it comes as very little surprise that a second volume has graced the shelves in the feverish market that exists prior to Christmas.
The formula on volume two is exactly the same as it was on volume one, and I guess that’s what makes it so good. Clubland 2 is another double disc compilation with 39 tracks that have been released very recently – or are due for release imminently. The compilation was released on Monday 11th November and contains all manner of tunes, ranging from the really rather good, through the hilariously camp and out the other end to the back of the box rejects. Clubland 2 is unashamedly unpretentious, and for me, this is probably the greatest appeal of the series. I’ve spent loads of money over the years on Ministry of Sound and Cream compilations, but they have this unspoken air of arrogance about them, as though they are dictating to you what it is that you should like and what you should not. Clubland works the other way round – this album features all the sounds that sell by the bucket load. Admittedly, this means that the finished product is probably too commercialised for many tastes, but if you’re like me and just like to get sweaty and smile, I suspect this might be just what the doctor ordered.
It seems that the pop/trance sound is back again with a vengeance, with that DJ Sammy song having just beaten off Madonna and Nelly from the number one spot. Clubland 2 is therefore released in a rather timely fashion, because nearly every song on this album sounds just like Heaven. Even some of the more mainstream pop songs that are featured on this album tend to have been remixed by someone
so that they get that trance-like sound that you either love or hate. The pace of this album is utterly relentless, with one thundering tune after another. This doesn’t make for very easy listening – don’t play this when Grandma has her weekly hangover. You WILL want to play it when you’re prancing around on a Saturday night waiting to get ready though – and I’ve heard about five pre-pubescent youths pumping this out of the stereos in their little Nova GTEs already. It’s a classy thing, for sure.
Like the first volume, Clubland 2 is a rarity, in that the tracks are NOT mixed in together. I would have been in there with the rest of them a year back and would have turned my nose up at anything that wasn’t mixed by one of the big DJs. The trouble is, I don’t know about you, but I find that I grow tired of those mixed compilations much more quickly than a traditional “one track after another” album. I often like to programme the CD player to play the tracks that I want to listen to, in the order that I want to listen to. If you do that with a mixed CD, it all sounds very silly. There is an absolutely minute gap between the tracks on Clubland 2, but it’s enough to allow you to do what you want – and with commercial music, I think that’s really important. Most of the tracks are the short radio versions, so you’ll also find yourself listening to the version that you’ve been listening to all day, rather than the Out For A Duck Bill Platter Plus Dub Mix that sounded good on Saturday, but now sounds quite crap.
Clubland 2 isn’t perfect by any means. The same criticisms apply of volume 2 as per volume 1. AATW records has too much of a bias here, with Flip & Fill all over the place. They have two songs of their own plus a selection of remixes and it’s all a bit much really. Volume one had quite a few classic tracks that had been recently remixed, but a much higher proportion of this album is devoted to those pop/trance cover versions of old song, and some of these are quite disastrous – Pascal’s cover of I Think We’re Alone Now springs to mind. I don’t know whether it’s my imagination or not, but this album has a much more “gay” feel to it, and I think this might put some of the buyers of volume one off. Once again, there are also one or two songs that just don’t fit – Underworld and Paul Oakenfold are particularly out of place here – and where is DJ Sammy?
I’m not going to do a track by track review, I couldn’t think of different things to say about forty very similar songs, but I thought I’d highlight my favourites.
LAZARD – 4 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING
Remember that Beverley Craven record from a few years back called Promise Me? Well, it’s back, but this time it ain’t no ballad. Strip out the chorus, add a roaring trance arrangement and you’ve got an unbelievably good tune. The whole idea is quite clever really, because where the words once talked about romance, they now talk about clubbing:
“It’s 4 o’clock in the morning and it’s starting to get light. Though I’m right where I want to be, losing track of time. But I wish that it was still last night.”
Geddit?
MADELYNE – BEAUTIFUL CHILD
This REALLY is a beautiful song – I don’t whether to get up and dance or just weep quietly into my wine. Released on the effortlessly classy Xtravaganza label, this is really an old school Ibiza anthem. A ghostly, female vocal sings about some old nonsense over a thumping beat with a strange sort of string breakdown. I don’t get excited about music that often, but in spite of my better nature, this is probably my favourite track of 2002. Sadly, it’s only three minutes long, but there you go.
IAN VAN DAHL – TRY
Single number four from the best selling dance album of 2002 is Try. The album version of this is long, drawn-out and frankly quite dull, but for the single they’ve cut it down a bit and given Ian a good hard beef injection. The result is another radio-friendly song that I’m sure will do well for itself. The bonus is, of course, that the single isn’t even out yet – so Clubland 2 has given you a bit of an exclusive.
REZONANCE Q – SOMEDAY
It must be the gay man in me, but this tune is so awful it’s completely infectious. Someday is a cover version of the Mariah Carey song that was number 1 in America years ago (it made about no 38 here). It runs at about eight hundred miles an hour, and has this high-pitched bitch vocal that just has to be heard to be believed. I can just see the song being performed on TOTP now – some buxom blonde miming, in a leather cat suit, surrounded by four greased up hunky go-go dancers in shorts. You mark my words – it WILL happen.
PAFFENDORF – BE COOL
Is it just my imagination, or does this sound rather like that Cappella song from about ten years ago? Anyway, it’s a simple, and yet effective formula that gave them a top 10 hit a few months ago, and I like it. Basically an instrumental, this tune simply contains a female and male sample telling everybody to “Be Cool”.
If you’re super quick, there is also a limited edition version of Clubland 2 that comes complete with a third remixed CD of tracks from Clubland 1 and 2. The free CD is one long mix, and it’s OK, but nothing particularly special. At least it’s free. The second CD also features free PC DJ software that you can download onto your PC. I haven’t bothered – I don’t buy music CDs to make my own with, but I’m guessing Anthony McNerd would love it to bits.
If you’re really silly, you can go into HMV et al and buy a copy of this for £15.99. If you have a little more credence, you can pick up a copy for £13.99 in Sainsbury’s and Tesco. I paid £8.99 for mine from Vinyl Exchange. Dean’s still jealous, you know.
Recommended
Full track listing:
CD One
1. Kelly Llorenna – Heart of Gold 2. Pascal – I Think We’re Alone Now 3. DJ Lee’s Appollo – Dance 4. Lasgo – Alone 5. Milk Inc – Walk on Water 6. Lazard – 4 o Clock In The Morning 7. Flip & Fill – Field of Dreams 8. Disco Tex – Cast A Spell On You 9. Paffendorf – Be Cool 10. Cisco Kid – Pizzaman 11. Aquagen – Hard to Say I’m Sorry 12. Q-Tex – Power of Love 13. Lucy Car – Missing You 14. Xpansions – Move Your Body 15. Madelyne – Beautiful Child 16. Shakedown – At Night 17. Appleton – Fantasy 18. Mad’House – Holiday 19. Paul Oakenfold – Starry Eyed Surprise 20. Las Ketchup – The Ketchup Song
CD Two
1. Flip & Fill – I Wanna Dance With Somebody 2. Rezonance Q – Someday 3. Ian Van Dahl – Try 4. Deja-Vu – Face Down Ass Up 5. Miss Peppermint – Welcome to Tomorrow 6. Northstarz – Children of the Night 7. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Music Gets The Best of Me 8. Shelley – I Will Follow You 9. Liberty X – Got To Have Your Love 10. Milky – Just The Way You Are 11. Rockik – Memories 12. Cosmos – Take Me With You 13. Underworld – Two Months Off 14. PPK – Reload 15. Jurgen Vries – The Theme 16. Energy 52 – Café Del Mar 17. Eyeopener – Open Your Eyes 18. Starsplash – Free 19. Scooter - Posse
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