Astral Projection- Unmixed (2000) (2xLP)

[rino]

Astral Projection- Unmixed

 

 

Artist: Astral Projection

Title: Unmixed

Label: Transient Records

Year: 2000

 

Tracklisting:

A1 Axis V0.99 (8:15)

A2 Dancing Galaxy (On A Mission Remix) (8:29)

B1 Virtual Booster (7:51)

B2 Searching For UFO's (Bright Light Remix) (9:44)

C1 Life On Mars (Domestic Remix) (11:26)

C2 Electrostatic (7:38)

D1 Flying Into A Star (Ast-Roid Remix) (9:51)

D2 Free Tibet (Free Spirit Remix) (7:45)

 

His Story:Astral Projection. They came. They saw. They conquered. But just like the once great Roman empire, their realm got "invaded" by various barbarian civilisations, and it was time to milk the psy/goa trance scene for all it's worth while they were still in the position to do so. By the year 2000 these two outstanding israeli producers have done everything there was to do: they released four must-own albums, they catapulted themselves into superstardom, thus becoming the most famous and demanded goa trance act ever and they managed to stay on top of their game and the psy trance scene for around five years. Not an easy task, but they pulled it off. No doubt about that. And then the trouble started. In 2000, they released a mixed double CD, which is generally considered as their "greatest hits" album (although I am still one of those peeps waitin' for a proper A.P. "best of"). On that release we had a mixture of some of their old classics, some new tracks, amongst which a god awful euro trance tune, which was a result of a studio collaboration between them and their greatest influence, Trilithon. And then we had a slew of their old classics remixed. Or so to say. Because listening to those so-called remixes, I never noticed any major improvements or changes being done to those tracks. Actually, I never thought of "In The Mix" to be anything more but a weak attempt to cash in on their fame. And then came "Unmixed".

 

The Album: Now, what you have here are eight tracks released previously on "In the Mix", but here they come in their unmixed form, as the title implies. And I have to be completely honest here, this is nothing to be excited about. Say what? An Astral Projection release and you call that nothing to be excited about? Yes, I do. No matter how much it hurts to write anything negative about these guys, considering myself a huge fan of theirs, this release is just pointless. Why? Well because what you have here is five remixes of previously released classics, and only three new tracks, which are nothing to brag about... Two of these new tracks, Virtual Booster and Electrostatic, are fast paced, hard hitting and pumping floor orientated tunes. But the problem with them is that they both have very stomping and hard bass drums, the kind that makes you put your fist in the air and just jump around, but that's about all they have to offer. You know, that kind of "put your hands in the air and wave 'em around like you just don't care" attitude. Wait, wasn't that the Sugarhill Gang? Whatever. But these tracks are just hollow and shallow, as they don't even scratch the surface of psychedelic music. Electrostatic has no melodies whatsoever, just a bunch of what are supposed to be psychedelic effects thrown over a stomping beat. It surely didn't take them more than half an hour to complete that one. Virtual Booster, on the other hand, has some melodies, albeit weak ones. The track is uplifting, sure, and the melodies are as well, but the whole thing is uplifting in a way that it will engage your body when you hear it in a club, blasting out of some big ass speakers. And that's the only time it really comes across as worth your time. I heard it on many o' parties, and it always hits the crowd like a tsunami on a wild run. For home listening though, it could work only if you got a diving board in your bedroom. It's light years behind Astral Projection's previous work, which by the way, was perfectly apted for the dance floors, while still being nicely crafted and highly psychedelic. This is stripped down of each and every psychedelia element and just trying to lure you on the dance floor. And those background whistling effects on Virtual Booster... Yuck! If this track had been released last year, AVB would have included it on his "A State Of Trance" compilation. Speaking of AVB, he would have loved Axis V0.99, which is practically Astral Projection flirting with club trance, something they would fully accomplish on their fifth studio album, Amen.

And now the remixes. Which are even worse than the new tracks. Now, don't get too wrong here, these remixes are not that bad on their own. The problem with these remixes is that they resemble the originals so much, that if you haven't been listening to your old A.P. albums for a while now, you could even be mistaking them for originals! Just look at the remixes of Dancing Galaxy, Searching For UFOs and Free Tibet- they seem almost identical to the originals. In fact, while listening to this, I could swear that these tracks are just shortly altered versions of previously released gems. And this really irritates me, as it only brings the real purpose of this release to the forefront: make money, make money, money, money... All Astral Projection fans already have these tracks on CD, and they have thoroughly enjoyed them dozens of times, so why go and cop this useless vinyl release and get weakly "remixed" classics. And I especially don't get Searching For UFOs, which seriously seems like a 40 second shorter version of that 1999 classic! And Dancing Galaxy, which is one of my all time favorite Astral Projection tracks, is not much different. I just don't get it. Actually I do. Yeah, money gets to people, and speaks to them as well. And I bet those green bills spoke a lot to Avi and Lior. And they told them to make a dull release to get some more of those green bills. And that is just what they did. Oh yeah, and the remix of Life On Mars, courtesy of Domestic, has one of the most annoying bass kicks I have ever heard. And is that Darth Vader having an astma attack I'm hearing on this track? And it almost eleven and a half minutes long. If you can go through it, you're in the top ten list of the world's most patient people! These remixes are so lame, and so effortlessly carried out, that the remix of Kabalah from "The astral files" will now seem like pure gold in your ears. This is a shame...

And this leaves me with Flying Into A Star (Ast-Roid remix) which is without further ado and exaggeration the finest remix ever of any Astral Projection track! Vavoom! Ooops, wrong review, that one should be in Mista Freelandhaaz, as Arnold Schwarzenegger would pronounce it, thread! Well, ka-boom then!!! I have virtually no idea how this track found itself here, as it is truly amazing on its own, while keeping all the elements of the orginal. Damn, if you liked the original even a bit, you're bound to like this one. This one has it all: amazing, furious and mad full on (you know what I mean) melodies, a crowd moving beat, and a very raw and psychedelic attitude. It is so fine that I'd almost dare say that this release is worth tracking down for this one alone. But, that would be taking things too far as there isn't much to enjoy here with the exception of this excellent remix. I don't know how they've done it, but I'd put this one right up there with the original, and believe me that on a good day, the remix impresses me more! My biggest regret is only that this one has never been released anywhere else but here. It never appeared on any CD, except in its mixed form on the "In The Mix" album...

 

The Verdict: So to conclude here, there really aren't any intelligent conclusions to draw. With "Unmixed" the best thing you can get is a lethal weapon. Meaning that after listening to this, the only thing in my mind was to slit my own throat with the vinyls. It really isn't easy to write negative comments about Astral Projection, and even I usually prefer not writting a review at all to writting a negative one. But I had to do it this time. And if you read my reviews of the older A.P. albums, you'll notice that I'm as far away as possible from being a hater. I simply love their music. But that does not mean that I will blindly praise anything with their name stamped on it. No way! IMO, this has to be the most pointless release in the history of psychedelic trance music. It has one, and only one sole purpose: get the cash yo! The dolla dolla bills!!! And that is highly frustrating, and especially when coming from Astral Projection. I mean, wasn't "In The Mix" enough? Two preposterous releases during the course of the same year? Just how far can you go? If this was at least a proper remix album, like "Ten" was! But no matter how bad that one is, it's still a remix album, and sounds like one too. This really sounds like a paying desk, being constantly open and just admiring the money gently flowing in it. I guess the money making industry really knows no limits! This album, if I can even call it that has one track truly worth owning out of eight total tracks. I can't even see the most die hard Astral Projection fan praising this. The only ones I could recommend this to are, well, DJs. I guess tracks like Electrostatic and Virtual Booster, and the above mentioned remix would work very nicely if played during peak hours of any party. Even though each and every of A.P.'s older tunes would work much better. A shame for the damn fine remix of Flying Into A Star, for that one deserves to be separately released as a maxi-single CD with the original. I'd be the first one to buy it! I seriously cannot recommend this to goa/psy trance fans. What I can tell you though is to go and buy their first four releases, if you haven't already. Buy two copies of "Dancing galaxy" if necessary, but stay clear of this. Ya heard? Avoid this. Maybe not such a bad release standing on its own, but only if you miraculously succeed in forgetting and neglecting everything these guys have previously done and released. But as a cheap and lazy way to continue an amazing legacy, this is a shameful attempt to pull themselves out of the quagmire they slowly started to sink into. This is to be avoided. I am inexplicably sorry Avi Nissim and Lior Perlmutter, but y'all hit rock bottom with this one!

 

Final Vote: 4.5/10