DJ Dag - 20 Years Of DJ Madness

[Lemmiwinks]

CD1

1 Unknown Artist: Jingle (Intro) 0:06

2 Stefano Sorrentino: Sans Egal 6:44

3 Future Breeze: Cruel World (X-Pact Mix) 6:54

4 Dance 2 Trance: We Came In Peace 4:52

5 Nikolai: Ready To Flow 5:07

6 Urban Voodoo: Humanity 9:13

7 DJ Dag: Give Me A Break 7:17

8 16. Bit: Too Fast To Live 5:43

9 Ramirez: Hablando 6:21

10 Saccoman: Pyramid Soundwave (Sunshine Dance) 4:52

11 Quadran: Eternally (Dance Mix) 5:43

12 Snap: Do You See The Light (Dance 2 Trance Mix) 7:01

 

CD2

1 Ramin Vol. 2: Brainticket (Original) 7:14

2 Progressive Attack: Hypnotic Harmony (Part 2) 7:03

3 4Voice: Eternal Spirit 6:52

4 Central Love II: Traum 6:04

5 Unknown Artist: Jingle 0:06

6 Peyote: I Will Fight No More Forever (Wolf-Dance Mix) 6:53

7 Pete Bardens: In Dreams (High Velocity Mix) 8:45

8 Killing Joke: Love Like Blood 6:35

9 Icehouse: No Promises 8:16

10 The Odd Company: Swing In Trance 5:22

11 DJ Dag: A Trip To Marrakesh 8:17

 

 

This is an anniversary comp made to celebrate Dag Lerner's 20 years of DJing around the World... and since this guy is one of the pioneers of early trance (member of Dance 2 Trance in case anyone needs reminding), any person interested into how all this trance movement started should be VERY interested by this.

Well the first thing that comes to mind is... 20 years of trance history in JUST 2 CDs is by far not enough, I would've rather went with some 20 CDs (maybe 200? ). Anyway I guess that it's still better than nothing.

 

So then, how does it sound? Well, basically he starts off with some relatively recent tracks, but which still keep the spirit of classic trance and then he slowly works his way down memory lane to end with some VERY early late 80s industrial that doesn't really have its place on a trance comp IMO, BUT which are extremely usefull to see exactly how the sound progressed from that to what eventually became trance music.

 

The opener is Stefano Sorrentino - Sans Egal which is relatively new (released in 2001), but still remains pretty fithful to old trance with a lot of djembés and synth melodies that reminds 80s synthpop.

 

Then comes Future Breeze - Cruel World, again a relatively new track (1999), but which also is pretty faithful to the old sound, however I don't really like this one, it all sounds a bit to clubby to my ears.

 

Of course, DJ Dag couldn't have made an anniversary comp without what is considered by many to be THE first proper trance track ever Dance 2 Trance - We Came in Peace. This is not the original version, it was a bit speeded up to fit in the mix with more modern tracks, however I am impressed to see just how fresh this still sounds even today, more than 20 years after its original release.

 

And now we are back down memory lane with Nikolai - Ready to Flow (released in 1993)... I don't think that anyone who was into trance in the early 90s doesn't know this track. What can I say: a dreamy floating melody that I know by heart but still brings tears to my eyes today.

 

Urban Voodo - Humanity is the newest track here (2002), bringing all the flavors of new (well OK, not-so-new) trance. Of course, it's on the more commercial side of things but still a nice add-on to any trance fan's collection.

 

Then comes a track by the man himself, DJ Dag - Give Me A Break, also a relatively new track (released in 2001) but which has all the trademarks of DJ Dag's classic style, not the least being a nice guitar melody that integrates nicely into the electronic soundscape.

 

Now you'd probably wonder who the hell is 16 Bit?? Well they are none other than the first project by Luca Anzilotti and Michael Münzing, who later went on to create Snap. This particular track was co-written by another early trance pioneer: Sven Väth. I don't know the exact release date of this one, but it sounds like something made in the late 80s: industrial which had those synth melodies and elements that later were borrowed by trance. I don't really like this, but it is VERY interesting from a historical perspective.

 

Then comes another early trance classic that I suppose just about everyone into the trance scene in the early 90s knows by heart already: Ramirez - Hablando (originally released in 1992). What can I say, if you don't know this track already, you definately should rush to a store and buy a copy

 

Then we come to Saccoman - Pyramid Soundwave, (originally released in 1996) which I didn't know, and am quite suprised to see it given the title of "classic" since it plays as some pretty generic trance from the time, with a sample from The Korgis - Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime (which I guess most 90s kids will know as being used in Baby D - Let Me Be Your Phantasy).

 

Then comes a Bonzai classic that most Belgians probably know (to be frank I didn't even know that this enjoyed such a wide audience outside of Belgium) Quadran - Eternally. Originally released in 1995, this is more on the vocal side of things, but still good IMO, one of the rare vocal trance tracks that still stay in my collection. BTW if you like this, you should definately check out Honey C - Stop The Disease, it has the same singer (Catherine Mees).

 

Then comes a remix of another classic that I suppose any 90s kid knows by heart Snap - Do You See The Light (released in 1993). The remix is VERY different from the original, obviously on the more trancy side of things, and it fits perfectly with Quadran's Eternally, although not quite my cup of tea.

 

 

CD2 starts with yet another timeless classic that I guess everyone knows already Ramin Vol.2 - Brainticket. This was originally released in 1992 and it still sounds fresh today! I haven't listened to this track a long while but it still sounds sooo good. A real classic here!

 

Then comes Progressive Attack (original release: 1993), aka Ralf Hildenbeutel which was involved in a LOT of early trance projects like Earth Nation, Cygnus X, Odysee of Noises etc. Nice track but IMO DJ Dag could've but a MUCH better track by Hildenbeutel than this...

 

Then comes yet another timeless classic that has been spinned around millions of times around the world: 4Voice - Eternal Spirit (originally released in 1993). The main melody got an even wider audience when it was ripped off by DJ Jurgen aka Alice Deejay in Better Off Alone. Obviously, the original is 100 times better

 

Then comes Central Love II, a project by Frank Tomiczek (aka DJ Hooligan or Da Hool) from 1994. This is VERY representative of the oldschool Mayday "rave sound": a VERY catchy melody on a trancy background, I admit I ended up whistling this melody for days after first hearing this

 

Yet another of DJ Dag's (very) early trance projects: Peyote, is up next with a dance remix of I Will Fight No More (released in 1991). Again, I suppose everyone knows this one already, although personally I prefer the original "non-dancy" version more.

 

Now it's time to go REALLY oldschool: Pete Bardens - In Dreams was released in... 1987... so as you can imagine, this doesn't have much to do with trance, just that it has some elements that were later used by trance music.

 

Same goes for Killing Joke - Love Like Blood from 1985 - note that this is the year that DJ Dag first started spinning music so I suppose that this must be one his the VERY first records he ever played. Trance lovers (and 90s kids) will probably skip this one although it's interesting to see that pad melody in the background that was later on picked up by trance.

 

Last of the dinosaurs: Icehouse - No Promises (also from 1985), which is the track that doesn't really fit here at all, if not for the interesting djembé percussions near the end.

 

Another one of DJ Dag's early projects next: The Odd Company - Swing In Trance, originally released in 1992. This is Rolf Ellmer & Dag Lerner's most obscure sideproject, but also the most a-typical (with samples from old jazz music) and also the one I like least...

 

The closer is a previously unrelesed bonus track by DJ Dag, which is some classic trance with some rapping on top... not quite my cup of tea...

 

THE GOOD: A history lesson of trance taught through music! There are only a handfull of CDs out there that do this so for any person interested into how trance music started this is a definate must-have!

 

THE BAD: 20 years of music in ONLY 2CDs! Obviously this only skims through the surface and will make many people involved in the early trance scene a bit frustrated not to see some classics featured here.

 

CONCLUSION This is a GREAT idea for a comp and will bring back many memories for people going out in the early 90s, and make people new to the scene familiar with some great tracks. I only hope that Dag will make a special 25CD edition in 2010, when he commemorates 25 years of DJing