Customer Reviews

10 Years in the Life

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Personally I thought it was a bit early in BT's career to release a greatest hits album however looking at the tracklist, I thought it was compelling enough to buy. I'm a big fan of BT's music, especially his first two albums ("ESCM" in particular). I pleasantly surprised to see that my personal favorite BT song "Lullaby For Gaia" was included on the compilation since it was never released as a single. That alone scored major points from me. On the first disc, the cd consists of original material of BT's more familiar singles like "Dreaming" (Libra Mix) and "Blue Skies" (w/Tori Amos). I absolutely loved the single mix of "Remeber". I think it sounds a lot better than the album version of that same song. On disc 2, the cd consists of remixes BT did for various artists that ranges from The Crystal Method to Billie Ray Martin. This greatest hits compilation is quite thorough and diverse unlike a lot of greatest hits compilations which consists mostly of the more familiar and popular tracks by the artist. It is a bit pricey for a greatest hits comp but it is well worth the cash.

disregard the negative rewards, hating brings it's own reward to those who do it.

i already love the music of bt - i got hooked when i used it for running. overall impression from this cd - he's touched on that vibe of altruism, love, truth - the music is so clear, structured and fun.

i enjoyed the extras - how he grew up in rural maryland learning suzuki method piano (which i have also!), how he plotted around in his parent's house creating singles. his story of screwing up madonna's sample, then madonna calling some repair guy is funny...in the liner notes are accounts of every song's genesis. His immersion in classical music and love for rachmaninoff and familiarity with chopin spoke to me.

the musical variety explored and replay value in these two cd's is very much justified.

This has to be a very exclusive release to the US since it was released by Rhino Records and not BT's parent records in the US, Nettwerk. You won't even find this listed on BT's official website discography.

Nontheless, you'll find the various songs from Bt's 10-year career in a 2-CD set. CD1 featues his own compositions and CD2 are the remixes he was commissioned to do for other great artists.

I first got myself aquainted to his music on the deliciously penned Tori Amos collaboration Blue Skies. Tori's cold haunting voice matched Bt's self-styled techo-electronic sounds almost perfectly. You'll find it here on CD1, no doubt, for it represents one of BT's best triumphs. You also find such gems like his earliest works Moment of Truth and Relativity. You would realize how progressive BT has gotten on his later albums especially when he tried experimenting with electronic fusion with hip-hop/rap on Movement in Still Life. Dreaming, Giving Up The Ghost and Never Gonna Come Back Down truly represents this great leap forward. What's best, you'll get all the radio edits and remix single that were otherwise only available on vinyls or promo CDs.

On CD2, BT showcases his skills as a remixer which, by far, is his most accomplished work done. Remixing for The Crystal Method to Billy Ray Martin and Madonna, the remix of Drowned World for the latter is one of his best remixes for the 90's. It simply added a multi-dimension to a song that was dark and brooding. A great ommission here would have to be his splendid remix of Sarah McLachlan's I Love You which literally transformed the broadway style ballad to a stomping dancefloor cut.

If you just got on BT, this is is the best $20 to spend on without getting his whole collection. I recommend his new CD Emotional Technology too.

As opposed to the case with most greatest hits compilations, this one sadly shows how the early sound of the electronica/dance genre (which was influenced heavily by BT's contributions) sounds dated when we are about to enter 2004. On the flip side, much in the same way as those of us born in the seventies now look back at the eighties with a sense of "that was the music we went through High School with" I can see a lot of younger people enjoying this music in 10-15 years time, as a retrospective into their middle school years.

This album presents a compilation of hits spanning from 1993 until 2002 (when it was issued) of Brian Transeau (a.k.a. BT), one of the masterminds behind the electronica/dance movement of the past decade, considered by many to be "bigger" than the very own Paul Oakenfold (I subscribe to that view, by the way...) '10 Years in the Life' gives a clear idea of how the sound of BT evolved through time, with a more techno/dance type of sound in the first half of the first disc (and in general in the first five years covered by the compilation), morphing into a more ambient/trancey sound toward the end of it (which closely match the most recent five years), when he takes a plunge into some originals and some remixes extracted from the great ESCM album. As the first disc closes, we get a feel for BT's scoring abilities, with "Believer" (from the movie "Go") and "The Revolution" (from "Tomb Raider" part I).

Disc 2, for a change, presents a continuous mix bundled with remixes that BT did of other artists' work (and a couple of his own crop) between 1995 and 1999, with Madonna's "Drowned World/Substitute For Love" and an almost unrecognizable (though very powerful) remix of Crystal Method's "Keep Hope Alive" as the high points. In general, I prefer the first disc by far, since it sounds less dated and sticks more with the more trancey music/remixes by BT that I learned to love.

As for me, though I didn't grow up to this music (not in the sense of going to school listening to it), I found more than one spot in the compilation that made me feel more alive than ever, as if being reborn. Hope it gives you the same feeling when you spin it... keep a young spirit!

I have been a french fan of BT for several years and I'm delighted by this compilation even if titles like "Mercury And Solace" and "Satellite" does not appear there.
The cover is beautiful and i'm so excited to discover the next album #4.
France greets you :-)
Tchao ;-)

It's amazing how much progression one man's life can have. Musically speaking, BT has evolved generas - merged them - gave machines a soul - the complex fibers that make up his music require more than just hearing, one has to listen to the essance of vocals pollenated in the songs - the fragmanted sounds glittering underneath the beats.

My life, outlook, and taste in music were re-born after hearing BT and have set a new standard for what music is meant to feel like - an experience and a journey.

Althought CD1 is filled with edits that can never do the original justice - they give a burst of energy held in the original. Some early work laced with some current rare material gives the first disc a wonderful feeling of coming full circle.

CD2 is a mesh of remixes that shift in pace and style, guests and feelings always keeping your feet tapping in the end coming off the hight with the Richard Butler vocalised chilled electro-rock Shineaway.

The liner notes give wonderful stories of songs and their history as well as a comments from BT on his work and life.

This is really a treat for the fans but also a welcomed addition to anyone looking to spice up their CD collection with the work of a man who's not as well know as he should be.

Aural Euphoria. Enjoy and share with others.

A few years ago I bought this CD called 'Hackers3' it was the third installment of the soundtrack from the Angelina Jolie cult classic 'Hackers'. On it was 'Godspeed (Bt's edit mix)' by BT. I heard it once and had to get more BT music. I found a copy of 'R&R' listened to it once and was hooked. I then proceeded to get his other albums in reverse order: 'Movement in Still Life', 'ESCM', and 'Ima'. Even though I got them out of order, the progression of the music. Ima was kind of rough and had a lot of strings that sound sampled, but it was still an enjoyable club-style. ESCM saw a move away from the club scene with more of a trance vibe, and the few club tracks there were leaned towards the mainstream much more than Ima had. (A note on ESCM is that 'Lullaby for Gaia' was the first major trance/dance single in the U.S.) Movement in Still Life saw a mixture of house, trance, and acoustic that tried to see how mainstream it could get before going all the way. R&R was sort of a 'Best of' mix including songs either remixed or written by BT but performed by others in cluding Libra presents Taylor, Sarah McLachlan and Grace (I was relieved to see BT-scribed, *Nsync song 'Pop' didn't make it on the album). '10 years in the life' is neither a 'Greatest hits collection' or a DJ mix, it's like BT's 'My favorite stuff I've done'. How could it be a greatest hits without 'Godspeed'? The majority of these songs have never been on a BT CD before, and would be diffacult to find otherwise.

'Moment of Truth' and 'Relativity' were both early works done with BT's old cronies Deep Dish. These songs have a very Ima sound with their disco-esque music and Gospel vocals.
'Embracing the future (Embracing the Sunshine mix)' is straight from Ima and is pretty representative of the two-disc set.
'Loving you more (7" mix)' is the third remix of 'Loving you more' I'ver heard. The other two are also on Ima.
'Blue Skies (Radio Edit)' is the short version of Ima (Disc 2)'s first track. It really says a lot about how credible BT was as an artist from the beginning that he had Tori Amos singing on his first album. Ima (Disc 2) also features a 42 minute remix of the first disc by super-DJ Sasha.
'Flaming June (BT & PvD edit)' is another short version of an awesome song. For beginner Techno fans these short versions are good because they maintain the style but are in keeping with pop time constraints.
'Love, Peace, and Grease (BT's Puma & Fila)' is a remix of the ESCM club-single that is somewhat reminiscent of Underworld's 'Pearl's Girl (Tin There)'.
'Remember (Single mix)' is another short version of a classic-club song.
'The Road to Lotswithiel' is one I've never heard of and I have no idea where it came from, but it's a cool driving song.
'Lullaby for Gaia' from ESCM, as I said before, was the first major U.S. dance/trance and is simply a gorgeous work.
'Believer' is from the BT-scored soundtrack to 'Go', an underground film that hasn't generated much of a following. But this song is as close to Moby as BT gets.
'Dreaming (Libra mix)' has got to be my favorite song on the disc. Dreaming was a killer Kirsty Hawkshaw vocal from Movement in Still Life and Libra takes it from the classically edged album version to an all-out rave anthem.
I was excited to see 'Giving up the Ghost' on here. It's from the U.K. release of 'Movement in Still Life' and I'd never heard it before, I wasn't disapointed.
'Never Gonna Come Back Down (single edit)' is the same as the one on 'Gone in 60 Seconds', which I had and hoped would be differant, but oh well.
'The Revolution' originally appeared on the 'Tomb Raider' soundtrack and strarts out with a very Groove Armada sound then flies into BT's unique hip-hop-house style.

The second disc is entirely work by other artists that written, produced, and/or mixed by BT with the exception of 'Tripping the Light Fantastic' which appears on Ima and 'Quark (Coolaid mix)' the original version of which is also from Ima. '10 years' feels a lot like a supplement to 'R&R' as it has much more Ima songs than R&R did. But on the hand it could very well be BT fighting the switch to Mainstream by running back to his club classic style and revamping it. Either way this is an awesome album, and a great overview of BT's music.

What should I say?? This album is a musical masterpiece, and every BT fan must have this one¡I

This compilation is pretty nice, but is not something that you put it in and actually listen to. It is more backround music, while doing something else like chatting or whatever. A lot of the music sounds the same, but it sounds, overall, good. Not a definate buy, but keep your eyes open for his new cd coming shortly.

I bought this cd because I had to refund something at the store for the same price. This quite possibly may be the worst musical selection I have bought.

I don't care if this was a greatest hits collection from BT, many songs that should've been on here were not. No versions of Mercury and Solace were on this cd, no remixes of Godspeed, Namistai was nowhere to be found, Sunblind isn't here, and I could go on and on. Somewhere in the process of making this compilation, someone had the great idea to put a picture of BT on every other page, followed by an analysis to each song. Fame must have gone to his head to actually go into depth about everything, topping it all off with a picture of him in his limosuine with a terrier. However, I also have problems with the song selection, giving me the impression that the producers thought it more important to put the name of a famous person BT worked with as opposed to quality. Such artists include Tori Amos, Richard Butler, and Madonna, and not surprisingly, most of them are overplayed and the epitome of pop culture.

Overall, cd one is ok, except the first 4 songs suck, Blue Skies got old after hearing it too much in 6th grade, Flaming June is edited too much, and Remember can just be found off ESCM or the Hackers soundtrack and you won't have to spend 26 bucks on this whole cd. Dreaming and Giving Up The Ghost are the only songs that really stick out on both cds. However, these tunes can be found on the double disc version of Movement in Still Life, which consists of incredible tracks. As for Revolution, this song is a complete copy of Gil Scott Heron's song. I can't listen to it, because the original was by far better and this version plain sucks.

As for cd 2, I was ashamed I owned this cd. Calling Your Name is the only good song, and it is cut short from the original thanks to time constraints.

All in all, don't buy this collection if you don't have to. If you are a die-hard fan of BT (not me), then buy this album for the rare songs, or so they are called, otherwise stick with ESCM, Movement in Still Life, and Rare and Remixed. At least those cds are grand and don't have pictures of Brian on every sleeve.