Ibiza - The History Of Trance - Various Artists

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Lacking inspiration
Lyrics	Standard
Quality and consistency of tracks	Mixed
How does it rate alongside the competition	Unmemorable
Value for Money

Advantages:	3 CDS  -  good value, lots of tracks
Disadvantages:	Bad mixing, no vibe, soulless

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I do like my club music, you know. At 7.30 a.m., sat in the solitude of the office before everyone comes in, I’m sat there with my headphones on, pumping out one tune or another. It’s an acquired taste of course – you’re either that sort of person or you’re not – but I’ve been out clubbing since I was about 14 and I think it’s in my blood. Well, something certainly is, anyway.

I do find, however, that I get very bored of compilation albums very quickly and I seem to buy them by the ream. As fast as the Ministry of Sound can bring them out, I’m buying them, along with all the Clubland ones and anything else I can lay my hands on. The History of Trance is a newish compilation from Warner Dance, and is the latest in a series of triple set CDs. I’ve been listening to it fairly religiously for the last few weeks now, but in that time it has failed to make any impression on me whatsoever. In fact, reluctantly, I must confess that it’s shite.

The recipe seemed so good. Fifty (yes fifty!) tunes arranged across three discs charting the history of trance music as we know and love it. A cursory examination of the track listing revealed some classic numbers as well as couple of recent favourites and there was even a nice picture of a man with no T-shirt on the front cover. So why did it all go so horribly wrong?

Well, the album’s biggest problem is that it has no soul whatsoever. What I mean by this is that despite the fact that it is supposed to be telling the “history of trance music” it seems to have no order or method to its madness. Disc one bounces tunes from 1998 into 2001 back to 1999, forward to 2002 and then back to 1999. This means that there is no progression. The album isn’t really telling a story at all. It’s a mixed up collection of random trance tunes thrown together in no particular order whatsoever. This is made worse by the inner sleeve, which features a paltry couple of paragraphs of trite nonsense about a handful of the better-known tracks on the album. It doesn’t tell you anything about them, like where they came from, why they were so popular or anything quirky like that. Here’s an example of what I mean:

“But through it all, the aim remained the same, to transport the trancer beyond their daily cares courtesy of some seriously banging tunes.”

Oh purleease! Who wrote that? Kevin and Perry?

The identity crisis continues across all three CDs with a clumsy mixture of sounds and styles, made all the more clumsy by the dull and lifeless mixing employed to stitch them all together. The beats per minutes seem far to low to me and as one song drifts into another, you do struggle to stop yourself drifting into a coma. Despite the very uplifting nature of the music, the whole experience is somehow very down beat and moody. “Where Do We Go Now? I don’t know”, sings Dannii on track seven and it’s a sentiment clearly echoed by the mixmaster.

The next problem is that the compilation suffers from record label bias. There are notable absences from the whole collection. One example is anything from the classic Positiva stable. There’s no DJ Sakin, no Ayla, no Marc Et Claude, no Brainbug – the list just goes on and on. The thing is, if you’re going to do a retrospective collection then you really need to be able to pick whatever you want, not just those tracks affiliated to your record label. This is like History of Trance with a chapter missing. Or three.

Call me sexist, but the whole thing is definitely given a hot hettie injection and is significantly down played away from the gay scene. There’s a notable absence of some of the gay-friendly trance tunes that, like them or not, have been hugely popular over the last few years. I can’t help thinking that’s why the whole thing seems just that little bit dour-faced. I think the creators have decided that they want to go for something credible, but have unwittingly just gone for heterosexual chic instead. The whole package has a decidedly cheap and commercial feel about it, so I have to say that if that was their intention, then they’ve failed.

It’s such a shame, because there are some of my all-time favourite records on this compilation. Hell – that’s why I bought it in the first place! Every disc features some absolute classics, including ResuRection by PPK, Castles In The Sky from Ian Van Dahl, Iguana by Mauro Picotto and Ultrabeat’s Pretty Green Eyes. Sadly, it’s not all so good. There’s a horrific mix of Matt Darey’s Liberation, an odd version of Age of Love by Age of Love and a dodgy version of Communication by Mario Piu as well.

Some of the choices on the album are rather puzzling. Milk Inc’s In My Eyes seems a bit out of place with its very commercial sound and DB Boulevard and Boogie Pimps just aren’t trance, sorry. Also, Push’s Tranzy State of Mind is pretty cool, but I would have expected the more triumphant Strange World to reside here. Some of the tunes are dreadfully old, overplayed news as well. Kernkraft’s Zombie Nation just sends me to sleep, as does Darude’s Sandstorm.

If I were to pull my consumer pants on tighter, I would comment that the compilation is pretty good value. You can pick up a copy for around £12.99 now, which for three CDs of decent-length tracks, you can’t really grumble.

But I’m going to anyway. The History of Trance does nothing for me. It’s like a night out with a male model. Dull, lifeless and frankly very disappointing.

Not recommended

Track Listing- Oh, go and look on www.hmv.co.uk. I ain’t typing it all out here.