Ministry of Sound Club Nation 2001 - Various Artists > Reviews > I DO BOTH JAY AND JANE

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Not applicable
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Outstanding
Value for Money

Advantages:	Pumping, sweaty action
Disadvantages:	That cardboard sleeve  -  grrrr !

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

One thing that you can normally rely on is for Ministry of Sound to produce a quality cd compilation. I’ve been an avid follower of their Trance Nation series for ages now, but with the lack of a new one in the shops lately, my attention was drawn instead to the Club Nation 2001 cd. (It wasn’t hard to spot – check out its red and pink stripy cover - groovy!

Dance music compilations can often be a sorry state of affairs – my definition of dance music seems to differ somewhat compared to the Now Dance Music series – but Club Nation 2001 is a veritable work of art. I simply haven’t stopped listening to this lately – either in the car, at home, or even on the personal cd player – if this were a vinyl record I’d have worn the grooves out by now.

The Low down
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Club Nation 2001 contains 41 tracks, split between two discs. Each disc is mixed by Steve Canueto (not a name I’m particularly familiar with) and the total running time of the two discs comes to well over two hours. Club Nation 2001 is the twenty eighth compilation to be released on the Ministry of Sound record label, and comes complete with a painfully irritating cardboard sleeve that doesn’t quite cover the whole plastic case.

Vibe
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Both cds venture heavily into the territory of trance music – indeed you could be forgiven for thinking that this was another volume of Trance Nation. The emphasis is on pumping club tunes – there are no ambient moments or chill out zones and like all good things in life, these cds throb from the moment you start playing with them. The track listing offers a mixture of more commercial, radio-friendly tunes, as well as the stuff you would only hear in clubs, but this collection will probably appeal to most clubbers. It’s typical “hands in the air” kind of stuff – nothing too pretentious, but much more credible than a Now Dance compilation.

The Mix
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As with most of these compilations, the mixing wouldn’t win any awards, but it does the job. Some of the tracks just don’t fit in at all – Basement Jaxx proving that Romeo might sound good on the radio, but mixed into the cd it just sounds clumsy. Most of the remixes used on the compilation are either the radio mix, or the normal club mix, so most of the vocal tunes retain their vocals, and will remain familiar to all.

CD One
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CD One opens with the disco friendly Starlight by Supermen Lovers, and continues in a housier frame of mind for the first four or five tracks. Notable mention goes to 21st Century by Weekend Players – an awesome record that seems to have been missed out in the commercial charts, and also to the Mirwais remix of Jean Jacques Smoothie’s Two People. After a couple of garage anthems, the cd gradually picks up pace, with the Queen sampling Raven Maize track, and the American Beauty anthem from Jakatta. Before long, you hit the euphoric anthem of Sublime by Drax & Scott Mac, and there’s a bit of a tribal workout before the cd runs out of breath.

This cd is the slightly less energetic of the two, with more vocal tunes and house mixes. I was highly disappointed to see yet another remix of Darude’s Sandstorm on there (will that record ever go away?) but apart from that and the Basement Jaxx mishap, this is a pretty solid cd.

CD Two
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The second cd is definitely the stronger of the two for me, with non stop trance and hard house from word go. The brilliant Hide U by Kosheen opens the cd up, closely followed by a couple of commercial monsters (Ian Van Dahl and N Trance). There is a superb remix of the trance classic Skydive by Jan Johnston and then the haunting Tall Paul reworking of the INXS anthem Precious Heart. The criminally bad remix of Love Parade by Da Hool, and a rather dodgy remix of Cosmic Gate’s Firewire rather bring things down for a while, but it’s only an interval, because soon after we are treated to a duo of classy trance epics. Orion’s See Me Here gets things going before the (simply beautiful tune) Seven Colours by Lost Witness. My favourite track on the whole compilation comes next – Larissa’s pumping anthem for bisexuality I Do Both Jay and Jane.

The second cd is pretty good, although it’s not totally flawless – the mix of Schiller’s Das Glockenspiel is disappointing and simply fades the album out. The choice of The Legacy by Push seems ill-informed – Strange Nation was much more successful on all counts, and would have been a better choice.

The Verdict
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The best clubbing compilation on sale this Christmas – simply a brilliant set of cds. Fantastic value for money – double cd, 41 tracks – and there aren’t any really dodgy ones. If you like things funky and smooth, this won’t be your thing, but if you like it sweaty and nasty you’ll love it.

Highly recommended!

You can order online at www.ministryofsound.com but cheapest deal is probably Sainsbury’s where it’s £12.99.