Lemmiwinks Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 1. Bolivia - BULLET PROOF 2. Status - BLACK AND WHITE 3. Painted Dove - SAVE THE ROBOT 4. Oranda XI (Xerox and Illumination rmx)- ASTRIX 5. Anjuna Beach - X-NOISE 6. Marauder (rmx) - LOGIC BOMB 7. W.S.D. - PHONIC REQUEST VS TERRAFORMERS 8. Testers Choice - SANDMAN 9. Same Same But Different - JOHANN 10. Intercorporal Stimulator (The Delta 2005 rmx) - X-DREAM I really can't understand this label... OK, so they decided to promote uninvolving mediocre full-on rather than their ultra-quality releases that established their reputation. Given that in today's scene anyone who DOESN'T make full-on is set aside I could understand them. But why tarnish the memory of such long-lasting quality series of comps by filling them with this crap? They already did it with the colour series, the Stashbag series... so how bout the Nations series? This will surely spark up your interest for 2 things: it revives a series of comps that were considered "instant classics" at the time and you will also notice the return of long-lost names in the goatrance scene like Logic Bomb , Johann and Sandman . So you'll probably pick this up hoping for some glimpse to the "good old days". And you will be utterly dissapointed once again. Do not get fooled by the name "Part 1 : Night". It doesn't have anything nightish in it, it's morning full-on all the way save a few exceptions. So then, on to some track-to-track commenting: Bullet Proof is a Dino Psaras side-project. It delivers his usual blend of energetic full-on, good for the dancefloor but not really a quality track IMO. Black & White deliver one of the most striking examples of just how uninvolving full-on can be. Yes this is as typical a full-on clone as full-on clones can be... nuff said Save the Robot (wierd name huh?) continue the awful trend of remixing crappy 80s tracks. As the trackname hints, this is a remix of Soft Cell - Tainted Love . The whole structure REALLY reminds me that of Eskimo - Popcorn : beautifull dreamy melody at the beginning and the end and a hint to the original here and there. Actually the end result is quite nice. The hints to the original are very discrete and limit themselves to a climax around minute 3:00. And rest assured, there's no singing in here then Astrix delivers some pretty nice full-on... nothing groundbreaking but one of the better tracks of this comp. Some nice melodies and a very involving loud bassline near the end. Definatley good for some stomping if not anytyhing else X-Noise delivers some darkish atmospheres (actually this is basically a full-on remix of The Delta - As a Child I could Walk on the Ceiling ) . Nice for stomping at a party but again, I can't really call this quality... Although I must say that it's interesting to hear a crossblend between "the Delta sound" and full-on on with the revival of Logic Bomb and a remix of Marauder ... err to tell you the truth I never was a big fan of these guys in spite all the positive critical aclaims. And this track is no exception... maybe you'll like it if you're into Logic Bomb... and yes, the full-on basline is there... Terraformers Vs Phonic Request are next with a more tribal track (there's a djembé in there and a sound that resembles a didgeridoo). This is the oddest track here, it also has almost no melodies, sounds like some techtrance with a full-on bassline. But I don't like it now on the comeback of... Sandman !!! Hey it's been a while... Sadly though whereas he was worldwide known for his unconventionality this time around he gives us some plain full-on. Ah well all my cherished oldschool artists ended up going down the drain and this is no exception Interestingly enough this track sounds more like Dino Psaras than Sandman... then yet another comeback: Johann (aka Johann Bley aka former member of Juno Reactor ). Actually this is the darkest track here, he delivers once again his crossblend with industrial (remember the Johann remixes of Killing Joke ?), there are some very dark guitar melodies reminding me of Tim Schuldt's style. This one's definatley the most refershing track on the comp. Well I guess not ALL oldschool artists went down the drain after all And then the comp ends with a remix of Intercorporal Stimulator . This one fits in like a square peg would fit into a round hole... Whereas the whole comp is filled of full-on and melodies all of a sudden we end up with some dark gritty techtrance... you can't stop wondering just why did they decide to put this track in here? anyway it brings us the trademark dark mechanical atmosphere. Nice but The Delta has made better tracks before... Conclusion OK, so this isn't as big a failiure as the conituation of the colour or stashbag series and shows that even TIP World can still deliver some quality tunes. Sure, most of it is nowadays full-on but there also are some pretty impressive gems in there which make buying this comp worthwhile IMO. 8/10 fave tracks: 3, 4, 9(!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenRealm Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 Thanks for reviewing, but the point I don't get is why this compilation gets an 8 if the rest of the review tells us it's quite a mediocre release! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted July 3, 2005 Author Share Posted July 3, 2005 because some of the tracks are so good that they pull up the general average And let's not forget that in todays world it has become common to have just a few good tracks and the rest fillers so I'm trying to keep up with the "nromal" trend Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAH Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 besides x-noise i could really just skip the whole thing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trolsk Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 because some of the tracks are so good that they pull up the general average And let's not forget that in todays world it has become common to have just a few good tracks and the rest fillers so I'm trying to keep up with the "nromal" trend 289981[/snapback] You've just lost all your reviewing credibility. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted July 3, 2005 Author Share Posted July 3, 2005 *bows head in shame and heads for the nearest window* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trolsk Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 Try to break the Imagi:nations compilation in the fall, it deserves it the most. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonflier Posted July 3, 2005 Share Posted July 3, 2005 because some of the tracks are so good that they pull up the general average And let's not forget that in todays world it has become common to have just a few good tracks and the rest fillers so I'm trying to keep up with the "nromal" trend 289981[/snapback] So because most compilations are crap we should up the ratings because it's no worse than what's normal? That makes sense...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted July 3, 2005 Author Share Posted July 3, 2005 So because most compilations are crap we should up the ratings because it's no worse than what's normal? That makes sense...... well it makes sense to me... I already said this before: if I were to compare every comp released these days to the ones released in the golden days of goatrance (96-99) then none would deserve more than 6/10 (except for Apsara ). But then what would be the use of having a 10/10 rating system if no comp would go higher than 6? Times change and so do I... anyway, write your own damn reviews and stop complaining about mine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 But then what would be the use of having a 10/10 rating system if no comp would go higher than 6? No comp at all? It makes sense if the vast majority of releases score 4, 5, or 6 out of 10. That's average! But you can't be serious that there are no really good compilations coming out these days - every once in a while anyway. A Day After comes to mind... that one's brilliant. As for this one... it's better than what they've been putting out for a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonflier Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 well it makes sense to me... I already said this before: if I were to compare every comp released these days to the ones released in the golden days of goatrance (96-99) then none would deserve more than 6/10 (except for Apsara ). But then what would be the use of having a 10/10 rating system if no comp would go higher than 6? Times change and so do I... anyway, write your own damn reviews and stop complaining about mine 290058[/snapback] If it only deserves 6 give it a 6, fair and square. The better ratings should be saved to those which really deserve it. But hey, do what you like.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAH Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 this is exactly why i don't assign 'ratings' to reviews... who the hell (we non producers) are to assign a number out of ten?? what are you grading? art? what is your benchmark?? what is a 10? it's all so subjective anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basilisk Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 this is exactly why i don't assign 'ratings' to reviews... who the hell (we non producers) are to assign a number out of ten?? what are you grading? art? what is your benchmark?? what is a 10? it's all so subjective anyway 290529[/snapback] Newsflash: reviews are subjective. Some people have a better yardstick than others. I stand by mine. Ratings are useful considering there are many more reviews than there are releases out there - and that number is already quite high. They aren't the most important piece of content - otherwise why write any words at all? - but they serve as a valuable guideline and quick reference for review readers. If I give a release an 8 or higher, people should pay attention Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAH Posted July 4, 2005 Share Posted July 4, 2005 Newsflash: reviews are subjective. Some people have a better yardstick than others. I stand by mine. Ratings are useful considering there are many more reviews than there are releases out there - and that number is already quite high. They aren't the most important piece of content - otherwise why write any words at all? - but they serve as a valuable guideline and quick reference for review readers. If I give a release an 8 or higher, people should pay attention 290545[/snapback] i just opened a thread on isratrance on this exact dilemma > http://forum.isratrance.com/viewtopic.php/...c/66188/forum/1 feel free to voice your opinions there as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trolsk Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 well it makes sense to me... I already said this before: if I were to compare every comp released these days to the ones released in the golden days of goatrance (96-99) then none would deserve more than 6/10 (except for Apsara ). But then what would be the use of having a 10/10 rating system if no comp would go higher than 6? Times change and so do I... 290058[/snapback] If you give a mediocre release 8/10 then what does 9/10 or 10/10 resemble? A ten grade system is useless if you do not use the entire span. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 I never said it was a mediocre RELEASE... I just said that some of the tracks were mediocre... a mediocre RELEASE gets a 5 or 6/10. An album with a few mediocre tracks but also some very good ones deserves more, don't you think? After all, what would you buy if you had to chose between an album full of good but not great tracks and one with 2-3 absolutley killer tracks and the rest fillers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
esu Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Someone else than me who thinks the Bulletproof track ROCKS? For me that track is the highlight of the compilation. Otherwise I agree quite alot with the above review. I give it 8/10 also. One thing is the end of the logic bomb track, it sounds like it's just cut off! Very weird. The Johann Bley track is really good too. Still think this is a step forward for Tip and look forward to the Day party of the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trolsk Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 I never said it was a mediocre RELEASE... I just said that some of the tracks were mediocre... a mediocre RELEASE gets a 5 or 6/10. An album with a few mediocre tracks but also some very good ones deserves more, don't you think? 290765[/snapback] As far as I can tell from your review it's a mediocre release: Bullet Proof: not really a quality track Black & White: this is as typical a full-on clone as full-on clones can be... nuff said Save the Robot: continue the awful trend of remixing crappy 80s tracks Astrix: nothing groundbreaking, good for some stomping if not anytyhing else X-Noise: Nice for stomping at a party but again, I can't really call this quality Logic Bomb: I never was a big fan of these guys, And this track is no exception Terraformers Vs Phonic Request: I don't like it Sandman: this time around he gives us some plain full-on Johann: This one's definatley the most refershing track on the comp. X-dream: Nice but The Delta has made better tracks before... Astrix, Johann and X-dream, that's the good stuff, right? Three good tunes out of 10, that's pretty mediocre to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonflier Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 As far as I can tell from your review it's a mediocre release: Astrix, Johann and X-dream, that's the good stuff, right? Three good tunes out of 10, that's pretty mediocre to me. 290982[/snapback] Based on the comments on each track this comp deserves a 4/10 or max 5/10 rating IMO. One or two good tracks can't justify a 8/10 rating as long as the rest is crap. As Trolsk said, what would you do if all the tracks were good? Give it 14/10? Just to make it clear, I have nothing against your reviews, actually I think they're pretty good, it's the rating system that doesn't make sense to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oili Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Hi all That's my first post here. It seems like there's a nice litle community here, one I hope to become a part of. Regarding this album I'll just say it's not near a 10. (and there IS a ten) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenRealm Posted July 5, 2005 Share Posted July 5, 2005 Welcome dude! and I agree.. it's not that good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmiwinks Posted July 5, 2005 Author Share Posted July 5, 2005 ARGHHH!!! look first of all, a review topic's for reviewing, I'm more than glad to continue this discussion on the general or off-topic section... second of all, and I'll finish posting in this section with this, there are 4 pretty good tracks: Save the Robot (I said they continued the awfull trend but that the end result was GOOD!), Astrix, Johann and X-dream. This is 4 good tracks out of 10 + 2 tracks that are good for the dancefloor but not for home listening (Bullet Proof and X noise) + 1 track that deserves mentioning for it's originality even if I didn't like it much (Terraformers Vs Phonic Request). That makes a total of 7 tracks out of 10 worth something. And that my friend in my world deserves an 8/10 as in "good but not great". And yes, if a comp had 10 out of 10 killer releases (which BTW only happened with Apsara after a LONG wait) then I give it a 10/10, naturally... I really don't see why you people keep complaining on my rating system, it's pretty logical to me... now like I said, I'm more than happy to continue this discussion in an aprorpiate section, just not this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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