Lemmiwinks

well at least make a top 10 and release further statistics later... I've lost touch with the scene latley so I'm really instereted in seeing what 2007 had to offer

yes but simple is beautiful And I don't agree with "if you tell normal people to say when a tune is made they will say it is new or a few years old"... cause oldschool CAN be defined without a doubt as having been made between 1996 and 1998, looking in restrospective it had some VERY stereotypical sounds and melodies. On the other hand, stuff like Dance 2 Trance, Age of Love or Humate might be more simple yet the wide variety of sounds and melodies make it less easy to define the exact period they were made... further proof of this being that most classic trance tracks were regularly re-released for a decade and people still loved them whereas with most electronic music if you try re-releasing classics a few years later people are like "man this is so ooooold". Now I'm NOT saying I don't like oldschool goatrance, far from it, just that if I were to play some oldies in a set today I'd be more inclined to put in some classical trance rather than goa.

well I can understand that people say that cause it was WAY overplayed by DJs around the world. Still when you keep in mind it was released at least 2-3 years BEFORE what are considered to be the first trance tracks it is amazing IMO. but to each their own I guess BTW does anyone else around here find that classic trance has aged less badly than oldschool goatrance?

yep 100% agree. I'm not really into mixing and actually I've quite lost touch with the scene recently but I remember back in the days I was amazed by the number of people praising some flat uncreative release ("wow this is so dj-friendly, it mixes perfectly with the other stuff")

Transwave - The Rezwalker (Black Thunder Mix) (1995) SFX - We Are Controlling Transmission (1993) Zyon - No Fate (Back From Goa Mix) (1992 - PS the VERY first reference to Goa in a trance track AFAIK) Electrotête - Alcatraz (1994) Dance 2 Trance - Hello San Francisco (1992) Jam & Spoon - Odyssey to Anyoona (1994) Humate - Love Stimulation (1993) ... and of course THE mother of all trance tracks IMO: Age of Love - Age of Love (it sounds so fresh even by today's standards that very few people realise it was actually first released in 1990!! and it was a Belgian act BTW ) ah the memories

A1 Find Me (Odyssey To Anyoona) A2 Die Kraft Der Vier Herzen B1 The Tribe B2 Odyssey To Anyoona Jam & Spoon have a very contrasted history: on one hand they were among the pioneers of trance with Stella and their remix of Age of Love... but later on they've signed up singer Plavka and started making pretty commercial tracks that passed on daytime radio... Well on this EP both origins show: Find Me would be a great track if it wasn't for the singing on top... but B2 Odyssey to Anyoona is just that: an extended instrumental version of A1 and it's GREAT!! Almost 10 minutes of pure bliss, but also a SAD track, actually the bassline and general feel of the track is very similar to another early trance classic: Humate - Love Simulation. Ah those were the days Die Kraft Der Vier Herzen and The Tribe are nice instrumental tracks... but not classics... 8/10 PS Markus Löffel (the "Spoon" in Jam&Spoon has died in 2006 RIP)...

A Spiritus B Gobi Desert yet another golden oldie to look out for... This is one of the very first releases by one of the best goatrance labels ever IMO Matsuri records, and it has the debuts of Tristan and Andy Guthrie (better known for his Medecine Drum project). A-side is a really explosive track, the typical "this is so intense that I feel like pulling my hair out" feeling that only old goatrance tracks manage to give you. The B-side is less good, but it's certainly not a downer, simply that Spiritus is so explosive it kindof shades the b-side... 9/10 PS interestingly enough the official title of this EP is "Desert Music Part 1", but AFAIK there never was a part 2...

A No Fate (Brainfood Mix) 5:25 B No Fate (Back From Goa Mix) (6:40) This is one of my favorite oldies! Most of you who are familiar with Eye Q know the original No Fate, which IMO is one of the best classic trance tunes ever (although some say it's rather simple and repetitive, ah well, to each their own I guess...) For me that main melody will always bring tears to me eyes, no matter how many times I listen to it Anyway, in case you're not familiar with Zyon, it's a collaboration between trance icon AC Boutsen (better known for his Cygnus X project) and THE godfathers of classic german trance, Stevie B-Zet and Ralf Hildenbeutel. Furthermore, the A-Side is remixed by yet another early trance god DJ Dag and side B is mixed by a none other than Sven Väth himself... It's incredible so many well-known names have come together for just one EP! AND, any diehard goatrance collector would immediatley notice the appearance of the word "Goa" on the track name making this one of the first releases EVER to distinctly have references to goatrance... So collector-wise you can't go wrong with this one So then, how does it sound? Well, to be honest the DJ Dag mix isn't that great, it keeps the rapping from the commercial version intended for radio play (although it's EQ-ed down to only a whisper in the background so it's not that bad). BUT the cherry on the cake is Sven Väth's remix on the B-side. This tune is a DREAM! The typical No Fate melody is present, but played with different synth sounds giving it a wonderful airy feeling. I actually find it better than the original! Really, if you can get your hands on this one it's well worth it!! 9/10

A Amanita Muscaria (7:45) B1 Stropharia Cubensis (7:07) B2 Theonanacati (6:23) Behind this generic name lies a collaboration by none of than german trance guru Oliver Lieb (better known for his LSG project) and Pascal Dardoufas. A-side is a very trippy track, pretty repetitive with some tribal elements and, of course, 303 acid lines. The track never seems to climax, it has a quite linear trance-inducing progression, it's the best track on this EP IMO Stropharia Cubensis has more of a commercial acid house feeling, don't like it very much and it seems VERY dated by today's standards... Theonanacati is a bit better but still it's no classic material... So this EP gets a 7/10 from me. Not the best of Oliver Lieb's collaborations but still a pretty nice one. And of course, it makes a pretty interesting collector's item since it's one of his first releases

A Crying Universe B1 Trunklucator B2 Coming Back 2U Releases like this are the reason why you shouldn't throw away your grandma's turntables yet Cause if, like me, you're an oldschool goa freak and are tired by all the classics and find that only 2 new releases per year from Suntrip is not enough then this is the only alternative you're left with: scouting through old vinyl releases that never made it to CDs. Agreed, most of them are crap BUT if you search well (and have enough money lol) then your patience will be rewarded Crying Universe is a KILLER tune!! I'm amazed it never got more mainstream attention. It's melodic oldschool all the way but it has a kindof sad feeling to it (hence the name "crying universe"). It's a real stormer, kindof reminded me of UX - Masters of the Universe in a way. Sadly though the B-side isn't as good, Trunklucator is a so-so track, nice to listen to but nothing special and Coming Back 2 U is pure filler material... so I give this 10/10 for the A side and 5/10 for the B-side.. PS little technical note: A-side should be played at 45RPM while B-side is 33...

A1 Tatoo (Radio Mix) A2 Colours (Deep Needle Mix) A3 Tatoo (Original Hardcore Mix) B1 Tatoo (Nosebleed Mix) Featuring The Overlords B2 Tatoo (Ionizer Mix) Let me start by saying that this is an acid house EP and a bad one at that... it contains crappy samples like "You're gonna get your/ You're gonna get your.../ TATOO!!". Moreover the Radio mix actually has rapping on it... So why am I reviewing it here? Because the B-Side has inputs from The Overlords (B1) and more precisely Ian Ion (B2) of later KoxBox fame. The only worthwhile track of this EP is the Ionizer mix... actually it starts out just as crappy as the other mixes BUT the last part is pure morning trance!! AFAIK this is one of the first dwellings of Ian Ion into the realms of trance so from a collector's point of view (and especially for die hard KoxBox fans) this is worth gold. So from a collector's point of view 10/10 from a musical point of view 2/10... don't say I didn't warn you

enjoy it while it lasts mate... I loved it as well at first, but I found it got old really really fast there just aren't enough layers in there to keep you interested for long...

ok mates thanks for your replies

well yeah but normally vinyl costs more than CD, no? I've also sold a CD version of Project II Trance a while ago for 15 euros which was actually a bit above the average asking price. The main reasoning is that you can eventually burn a copy of a CD (be it of an original or an MP3 converted to wav). So in the end you wont have the nice cover and CD-print but it will play just as well on your CD-player. BUT you can never another vinyl copy of a vinyl hence the greater value of vinyl vs CD... at least that's what I've always thought...

So I've had the Project II Trance double vinyl LP (NOT the similarly named EP which only has 4 tracks on it) in my hands for quite a while now and I must admit I'm kindof torn between keeping a part of psy history in my hands and letting it go for a profit. On discogs this is offered for 85 GBP minimum but since I've read the topic that discogs sellers are greedy bastards I was wondering how much would YOU offer for it? mind you I didn't say that I'm actually gonna sell it (I MIGHT but not sure...), just interested in your reactions...

yep I've been toying around with the idea of making a website on early psy and freely distributing music (at least samples and/or RA format) simply for historical purposes, showing kids in the scene today how it used to be. But aparently if I do such a thing I'm risking having a lawsuit on my hands because of copyright rules (what copyright if the album's been out of print for years?? ). Anyway, personally I think that such a move would ENCOURAGE people to buy old stuff since that way they could listen to it in the first place. Who'd want to buy an album if they've never heard of the artist or seen reviews of it before?

hum that's not exactly what I meant... if I understand correctly, the main point of his post was that you can buy most of the stuff available on discogs for less elswere. That maybe true when the advertised release is a "false classic" (like my example on people selling VW Golf 1s as "classics") but when you speak about TRUE classics like the Project II Trance comp for example then IMO the rule of "this is rare and old so it's expensive" holds (especially on vinyl). For me for a release to be a real classic it must have quality music that has aged nicely, is still in good condition and very few copies are still available. In that case the "ridiculous price" is more than justified. So just because something is sold expensive on discogs doesn't necessarily mean that the seller is greedy and trying to make a quick profit...

mate all those links are for crap releases that you can find for free on p2p sites anyway... now find me a way to buy TRUE old rarities (especially the kind that was released on vinyl and never on cd) and then I'll applaud your initiative PS this way to sell crappy stuff for ridiculous prices under the pretense that it's "old and rare" isn't new at all... take a look at the classic car market and you have the same thing, people trying to sell a rusty old VW Golf 1 for a ridiculous amount because "it's a classic"... just because it's old don't make it a classic, get what I mean? IMO if some people are stupid enough to buy such crap for such a high price they DESERVE to be swindled

what the...?

well you really should listen to the last third cause IMO it's the best part of the album!

well you could add a few reviews on this site while you're at it...

well first off, I haven't criticized YOU in this thread, why is it that you seem to feel afected by what I said in the first place?... second off, I was just venting out a little steam, I've already said over and over again in this topic that the main problem was that the scene has changed and I haven't... third off, I was simply replying people who kept on comenting on what I said, my initial reply to this thread was just a one-line post... fifth off, I guess I've already complained too much in this thread anyway so I'll just bid you farewell and log off now

ok my thoughts now that I've listened to it a few times... nice... BUT it's chill-out, NOT trance. Anyway, my absolute fave is the track starting around 51:00. Trance elements, D&B kick, drifting melodies ahhhh I'm in heaven

Funny, I thought this series of comps was long extinct but a random check on discogs proved me wrong... aparently the guys behind the comp are still at at, making it AFAIK the longest series of psy comps ever!!! Funny how noone mentions them that often... Goa-Head Vol. 23

PS not to be mistaken with the R&B group also called LSG lol