Listening to entire collection...

[dhollmusik]

Nice thread idea from @thanosp81 and @Ormion - even if the forum's not so active posting-wise these days, I guess people still like to read about random old goa albums.  Plus listening with the intent to report may just extend life, expand consciousness and enable space travel.

I'll give this a go then.  No real concept to it other than randomly pick a psy-related cd I feel like hearing, and writing some words on it while listening.  Maybe inspiring some of yous to check it out.

First one...CD1 of A Voyage Into Trance vol. 6: Transient. 

Reason for picking: not played this CD yet.  Looking at the tracklist I fancy hearing known favourites: Life on Mars & Exit Eternity, probably my favourite tracks from AP & Chi AD, plus the CD also features the title track from Dancing Galaxy.  So am curious what the rest of it sounds like. I don't think I know the others from just looking at the song names.  Will probably have heard one or two before...let's see.

1:  Cosmosis - Gift Of The Gods.  Cosmosis might be the most regular name we see on comp CD's...he appears on this one three times!  This isn't a good start: forgettable piercing-acid lines fare, doesn't hold much interest.  Verdict:  SKIP.

2:  Astral Projection - Life on Mars.  This is the stuff!  Top 10 all-time goa tracks.  My first acid trip was at an AP-gig around 2000-ish at the Brixton Academy.  This dissolved my brain.  Then bagged it on a 4-CD collection which housed another all-time great with Psychaos - Chaos to Order, also contained a fun Gargano track with acid lines and a repeating Hellraiser sample, but otherwise was a mediocre comp with lots of average trance-filler.  Recently (finally) got Dancing Galaxy on CD, and Life on Mars just gets better with age.  Listening to it again on this comp is as pleasurable as ever.  Proper goa.  Verdict:  HIGHLIGHT.

3:  Disco Volante - Contact.  The artist name rings a bell, and I feel I've heard this before somewhere.  It's pleasant enough: nice agreeable soft sound.  Would fit fine as a decent filler track in a mix set.  Inoffensive, tho'...nothing amazing.  Verdict:  OK.

4:  Slide - The Search.  More harsh resonance frequencies which just make this a little headache-inducing to endure.  I do love some good 303-action, but sometimes producers don't smooth out or mix the sound in properly.  Verdict:  SKIP.

5:  Cosmosis - San Yacid.  This is better from the Cosmosis.  The acid lines are smoother, and the rhythm has more drive.  There's an urgency which focusses the listener, as if he's steering a spaceship through a complicated asteroid belt and wondering which trajectory best to take.  The musik will surely tell him!  Verdict:  GOOD.

6:  Christof and DJ Mael - KLM.  Oh I know this, heard it lots of times on other comps.  Musically pretty fun but the voice-sample is super-cringe, ruins the whole thing.  Quoting Pulp Fiction is not very psychedelic for a start, and it was the go-to film for voice-samples for many unimaginative EDM-producers in the years following its release, so hearing it even back then just resulted in rolling one's eyes.  Incidentally, Mystica also mystifyingly put a really long Pulp Fiction sample in the otherwise-promising Ashes to Ashes from their Age Of Innocence album.  Verdict:  SKIP.

7:  Chi A.D - Exit Eternity.  Oh so many feels!  Tho' oddly I also sense the 4/4 beat feeling a little out-of-time in places towards the euphoric end, a little jerky.  Not just in this CD's copy, all appearances of Exit Eternity has this.  Sometimes my hardware sequencer does this if I put too much stuff in.  The entire sequenced-Song is ruined as the master clock will always have this barely-perceptible jerky feel to the 4/4-timing.  Weird hardware behaviour.  I wonder if something similar happened here and Dave/Hannah just wasn't arsed.  We can be thankful he wasn't arsed, as this is a beautiful piece of work from a synth/melody/emotion-perspective which might not have seen the light of day.  Verdict:  HIGHLIGHT.

8:  Astral Projection - Dancing Galaxy.  The one with the Spice sample from Dune, and a lesson for Christof & Mael in how to use voice samples.  Any track from arguably AP's best album will be a strong entry on any comp.  Verdict:  HIGHLIGHT.

9:  Lumen - Toffee in my Teeth.  Hang on, wasn't there supposed to be three Cosmosis tracks on this CD?  According to the Discogs entry, track 9 isn't an oddly-titled Lumen, it's Moonshine by Cosmosis.  The track length does indeed more support our resident Discogs expert, as do quick youtube checks.  These goofs do happen, track 5 of this comp is an infamous (for me, anyway) example.  What about Cosmosis and his Moonshine?  Well, I think I'd have preferred the Lumen track here, to be honest.  It's meh-Cosmosis rather than exciting-Cosmosis.  Verdict:  SKIP.

 

Overall Verdict:  three Highlights on one CD is a pretty decent return, tho' I expect many goa fans will already have these tracks elsewhere.  There's that one good Cosmosis and an ok Volante, with four skippable numbers.  The track-order didn't flow all that great, and unlike some comps there was no nice fade between the tracks either.  It feels like not much thought was put into the compiling.

Rating:  7/10.  Worth a listen, deffo.  Some folk may even enjoy the skip entries.  Worth buying if you don't already have those highlights.  There is a CD2, tho' the tracklisting doesn't look very exciting (not heard of any of those names before).

 

[RTP]

hey man good idea ... and well written = this text could easily go in the review section  

[staffan]

Haha, we don't have the same opinions on this record. =)

I would highlight Gift of the Gods and KLM, Slide is good.

Sometimes KLM reminds me of Trashish, an absolute stomper. Sure Synergy is Cosmosis masterpiece, but GotG is a beautiful track.

The Chi A.D. track can we agree on, magical.

Is Dancing Galaxy the best AP album? Pfft... not even close imho. =) I prefer Trust in Trance and Astral Files. With Enlightened Evolution as my favorite track.

[dhollmusik]

2 hours ago, staffan said:

Haha, we don't have the same opinions on this record. =)

I would highlight Gift of the Gods and KLM, Slide is good.

Sometimes KLM reminds me of Trashish, an absolute stomper. Sure Synergy is Cosmosis masterpiece, but GotG is a beautiful track.

The Chi A.D. track can we agree on, magical.

Is Dancing Galaxy the best AP album? Pfft... not even close imho. =) I prefer Trust in Trance and Astral Files. With Enlightened Evolution as my favorite track.

haha yeah, opinion are like bodily orifices...we've all got 'em   did you also notice a slight timing-fart in Exit Eternity?  It's present in pretty much all the second-half.

[dhollmusik]

9 hours ago, RTP said:

hey man good idea ... and well written = this text could easily go in the review section  

oh yeah, maybe it's more useful to put these there as they're reviews more than anything.  Well, for what it's worth I struggled through CD2 after all:

 

It's clear now why I haven't heard of these names before.  CD2 is mostly this cool-styled prog-psytek which bored us out of our minds around the turn of the millennium, and when it's not the likes of The Delta etc a lot of those 'artists' are long forgotten.  Here a bunch of samey producers invent different aliases to fill out this comp.

1 - dark chugging minimal style, good chunky relentless beat, would work well in a club set but doesn't do much else for the head listener.  OK.

2 - big crisp-impact kick drum, the rhythm has an urgency, tho' like with so much prog-minimal that sense of urgency doesn't go anywhere, in the end it just feels like a stressed person who can't get no relief.  Fine as a short appearance in a proggy techtrance mix.  OK.

3 - starts of interesting: dark droney minimal with some atmosphere.  Unfortunately descends into samey tame über-minimal barely-there tech-trance.  Simply boring.  SKIP.

4 - starts off with that samey minimal-tech we all know and dislike.  But then an agreeable moist LFO-driven synth-lead comes in.  I've deffo heard this before, but it's not appeared on any other comps so maybe long ago at parties.  It would fit nicely in a techtrance set, but again it's not particularly good overall, just not bad.  OK.

5 - christ, this is getting tiring to listen to.  Just the same boring crap, let's be honest.  But not even any drive about it to cautiously consider in a set.  SKIP.

6 - after a couple of minutes of lifeless soul-destroying minimalism, this at least comes somewhat alive with some brighter sounds and a bouncy bass.  Predictably, it doesn't do much with it.  SKIP.

7 - another one i've heard before somewhere.  Has a decent drive about it, another one to file under 'mix set filler'...but with so many fillers that would make for a dull set.  If I had to choose just one track from this CD it would probably be this one.  OK.

8 - some life in the form of jazzy interplays among the optimistic proggy rhythm.  Gets a little deep too.  Would fit The End (now-defunct London club) style of tech-house set.  OK, tho' arguably the best track on the CD if deep housey vibes are called for.

9 - that overused croaky frog voice gets a run-out here.  Not to any great effect.  The rest is deathly dull.  SKIP.

 
Overall CD2 verdict:  well, that was a chore.  3/10.  Because techno-aimed trance is relatively simple to make, it means there's less rank bad tracks which we wanna skip.  It also means there's less highlights we treasure.  In the end, it's just mostly boring.  Not enough ambition, musically or conceptually.  If you are a fan of this sound, then you'll find some OK filler here, but honestly there's tons of better-made tech-trance out there.  CD2's content sounds home-made (i.e. you and yer mates mucking about on electribes).

Overall comp rating: 6/10.  If you find it cheap and don't have much of a collection yet then CD1 does offer enough gems to make it worth your while.  But if you already have the good stuff, then there's nothing much else going on here.

[dhollmusik]

Got good old Goa Head 3 on to recover from that...

This is already established as one of my favourite old-school comps, it's not quite all killer no filler (is there even such a thing?) but the filler isn't soul-destroying, and the killers are fine stuff indeed!  Listening while compiling thoughts may bring a new perspective or two.  Let's see.

CD1:

1:  Astral Projection - Ionized.  Typical high-end quality with the urgent hypnotic drive which we all know from AP, tho' the main synth-line borders on being grating.  GOOD.

2:  UX - Dominion.  This is what I would call truly progressive psychedelic goa trance.  It has unusual structures, sci-fi industrial sounds and a heavy atmosphere, it also retains the urgent story-telling we love from goa, while remaining deeply psychedelic throughout.  HIGHLIGHT.

3:  Electric Universe - Astral Voyage.  I often get this confused with Out of Time.  They're very similar, and both excellent.  Fantastically energetic, but misses out on a highlight as it's a short edit, ffs.  GOOD.

4:  Prana - Taiyo (Chakra remix).  Very messy.  Harsh resonance, lazy electric guitar sounds...bit of a turn off, really.  SKIP.

5:  The Secret - Pagan Dance.  This famous tune straddles the cheese border, and depending on your mood is either too pungent after all, or it makes you smile and dance loads.  I understand why some won't like it, and sometimes I even skip it myself.  But when I'm in the mood it is a very positive anthem.  Let's be positive and call it a HIGHLIGHT.

6:  Multiplex - Audio Engine.  Has an agreeable tone, but is a bit mild and inoffensive with it.   OK.

7:  Shakta - The Neuromancer.  Good chunky synth sounds, the story itself takes a while to get going, then there's a nice break & resume before suddenly it fades out.  Another short edit.  Shame, felt like it was going somewhere.  OK.

8:  Beach Buddha - A Million Miles An Hour.  This sounds like proto-forest psy, ala Ka-Sol.  Deliciously-eccentric vibes hypnotically telling us a story about the time those elves came into the woods and blew giant mushrooms out of their mouths.  HIGHLIGHT.

9:  Miranda - Green Man.  I enjoy a lot of Miranda's work, tho' this one I would rank in her bottom-half oeuvre.  It's all very competent but nothing of note really grabs you.  OK.

10:  Talamasca - Jungle Storm.  An all-time great here!  Top 10 material.  It skilfully skirts the cheese border and heads straight to euphoric-world.  The energies building up to that epic key change are almost unbearable, the tension then gleefully released as we go a few notes higher.  It's like a dormant E kicking in.  Wonderful.  HIGHLIGHT.

 

CD2:

1:  Sundog - Ancient Forest (Yantra Mix).  Slow start, then we get a fine flute, worldly vocal cries and housey pianos.  Sounds like something from the early-90's commercial sunny rave era.  Not bad, but not very goa.  OK.

2:  Electric Universe - Sunset Skyline.  ffs, another edit!  What did Electric Universe do to the compiler of this CD?  It only shaves a minute of the original.  Again, fine work by EU here.  Has that typical energetic drive, crisp snares and smooth synth lines.  Only lacking somewhat in deepness, and the clumsy fade-out of this edit also doesn't help.  Still, it's GOOD.

3:  Astral Projection & Dedrah - Zero.  I assume Deedrah is meant here.  Sounds like a killer-combination, tho' as we know teaming up two favourite artists doesn't always land a bullseye.  Zero isn't bad, just seems a little by-numbers...and a bit short.  OK.

4:  The Infinity Project - Overwind.  Pick-up of pace from IP here.  Metallic edges giving 3D-space to the sound, would appear quite mighty on a big PA-system I expect.  GOOD.

5:  Green Nuns Of The Revolution - Two Vindaloos & An Onion Bhagee.  The best track from Green Nuns, with arguably the greatest use of ye olde 303/101 acid lines in all of goa, especially at the epic climax!  Incidentally the ideal representation of this track is on Distance to Goa 4 which ups the bpm and adds a killer acid line right at the end (which this version has tamed down for some reason, as if someone forgot to turn up the low-pass filter).  Also here, at this more sedate pace, it loses a little power, tho' you can easily sort this yourself if dj-ing.  Nitpicking aside, this Green Nuns classic is hard-as-nails fist-clenching massive-party EVENT GOA.  All-time Top 10 material.  HIGHLIGHT.

6:  Ominus - Tribalistic.  According to Discogs this track is actually called Sunimo.  Dreamy vocal-pad intro.  Comfy synth lines over a mid-tempo chugging beat.  Not much else going on, tho'.   The dreamy pad returns later on in a welcome move.  OK.

7:  Dimension 5 - Deep Space 5D.  The interesting thing about this version vs the modern remaster, is that the voice-sample is clearer here, especially when landing on the word "clarity".  I also feel the synth-lines a little more, which elevates this evocative sci-fi goa to a proper HIGHLIGHT.

8:  MFG - To Eternity.  Chi A.D may want to exit eternity, but MFG are still looking for it.  Which makes sense when you consider Exit Eternity the more emotionally-advanced work.  MFG's effort is pretty good, tho'.  Cosmic, almost spooky, goa vibrations.  Fat beat, chunky synths, nice build.  Then meanders a little and doesn't quite find the drama in the climax, but still overall GOOD.

9:  N.D.M.A. - The Answer.  Discogs add the word Gift to the title, somewhat mysteriously.  The volume is a bit low on this compared to the other tracks, and sounds muffled.  If DJ'ing, it will benefit from a little high-EQ.  The track itself is fine work, building up to a goatastic climax.  Not quite on the superlative level of the Vitan climax, but a GOOD entry.

10:  Alphanaut - New Shoes.  303-party time!  Fun hard use of the acid riff, will go down well at a party.  Tho' it does seem a cheap imitation of the Green Nuns effort here.  For home listening it's merely OK.

 

Overall verdict:  9/10.  Double-CD comps will always have some weak spots but we don't mind if there's enough highlights.  And there is!  Tho' here the shoddy compiling (edits??) and poor mastering of the NDMA track do cheapen the overall experience.  Overall tho', this comp offers 6 highlights plus a handful of good entries and some decent filler with barely any skippable numbers.  Put the best 9 tracks here on a single-CD comp and it will be lauded as one of the greatest goa compilations ever. 

[dhollmusik]

Will do an album next, still on that old-school tip for now.  Which one of the below would yous wanna read about?  I'll come back in a few days x

Hallucinogen - Twisted

Asia 2001 - Psykadelia

Juno Reactor - Beyond the Infinite

Pleiadians ‎– I.F.O.

Total Eclipse - Violent Relaxation (CD1 only, CD2 is lost...)

[RTP]

16 hours ago, dhollmusik said:

oh yeah, maybe it's more useful to put these there as they're reviews more than anything

dude I think you should put them there definitely, I see your texts are good quality and people who search for reviews of these records in some months or even years time would not find the texts in this thread unless deeply searching the forum - and who does that)
I leave it up to you though... 

I'd like to hear the story why CD2 of Total Eclipse got lost  

[dhollmusik]

On 11/24/2019 at 1:45 PM, RTP said:

dude I think you should put them there definitely, I see your texts are good quality and people who search for reviews of these records in some months or even years time would not find the texts in this thread unless deeply searching the forum - and who does that)
I leave it up to you though... 

I'd like to hear the story why CD2 of Total Eclipse got lost  

yeah i think you're right.  i'll move them to the Review threads (or in the case of the Voyage comp i think that doesn't have one so would create a new review thread in its corresponding year).

currently enjoying Fragletrollet and Four Carry Nuts albums.

oh i didn't lose CD2 myself, i bought it used on Ebay...when it arrived there was only CD1 in the case!  luckily the seller was fair and repaid me half, i don't think he even noticed.