Customer Reviews

All Or Nothing

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

 

 

i pre-ordered, so you could say i was anxious to hear it. let's just say it did not disappoint. i love all the new tracks, but as a purist - i must say that i could have done without the vocals on freefall. although, the vocals on halo really work - especially since the backing track is so powerful. i wish genesis was on here, too, but bringing back rush hour (one of djcl's finest hours) is nice. renegade sounds fresh still, as well. now let's just get some of these tracks out on vinyl so i can get them into my sets. i can't wait to see christopher lawrence live again so i can hear these songs on a kick-ass sound system. i just bought shasha's new one and let's leave it at - mister lawrence leaves them all far behind. sweet-ass. 11 stars. play loud!!!

I'm a HUGE fan of Christopher Lawrence's stuff, but I aboslutely refuse to buy this CD because of the copy protection. I do not pirate music, and should be allowed to copy music I purchase onto my MP3 player of choice. This is just sad.

I wasn't sure what to expect because I normally buy Dj mixes, rather than Djs albums. But I am a fan of Christopher Lawrence and good electronic music in general so I figured I would give this album a try, and I am very happy that I did. One of the things that I like most about this album is that it explores musical ranges beyond what one would normally find in a mix. My personal favorites are Freefall for it's moody vocals and Untitled Dub with Noises for it's cool, urban feel. Another favorite is New Day for it's ambient breaks style, I could see this track right at home on an Ibiza Chill compilation. I guess these are not styles that one would normally expect to hear from a person who is considered to be the top trance Dj in America and it's this generic diversity that gives Christopher Lawrence a depth that I did not know he possessed, beyond his normal club sound. For the less faint of heart, there are some of the tougher, underground tracks that have made Christopher Lawrence famous all around the world, including his big singles Rush Hour and Mind Eraser, although my personal favorite is Saboteur, which has a more funky progressive feel. I would highly recommend All or Nothing to anyone who has tastes along the lines of Paul van Dyk, Tiesto, Sasha or Paul Oakenfold, whether they be a hardcore Christopher Lawrence fan or a listener interested in hearing an outstanding electronic album. I read that URB gave this album four stars and I must say that I concur, then add one more. Five stars.

I have always liked Christopher Lawrence as a live DJ. Very few DJs possess his talent behind the decks. I also have a few of his mix CDs - some I like better than others. So I was not sure what to expect from CL on "All Or Nothing" which is a an album of all original material. All I have to say is that this is the best album this year. It is more powerful than any of his mix CDs - not in a banging way, but in an overall deeper way. The music on "All Or Nothing" is much more dynamic than on his previous releases - it doesn't all sound the same. I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely recommend this to any fan of electronic music.

From Smother.Net:
A lot of the stellar international DJs have been hard at work in the studio recording their own originals in the past few years-much more so than usual. Why? The answer's simple, it's rewarding and it pays to have your own music out there to spin. Christopher Lawrence is the latest DJ to do just that. Just like Oakenfold, Tiesto, and others before him, he sets about to separate himself from the rest of the DJ pack by putting his own name on the wax. Already having incredible accolades at his side-Dancestar Award's Best DJ, #5 in BPM voting in their America's Favorite DJ annual list, just to name a few-but what he was missing was that stellar artist album. Well look no farther because what we have on our hands is a bombastic journey through sound via progressive house and trance. It makes stops along the club-friendly realms of vocal trance and even gives those downtempo fiends something to chew on with his more ambient pieces. This in-demand DJ now can also be an artist in demand.

Compared to other trance artist albums I own Christopher Lawrences album has moments of greatness. Quite frankly my jaw dropped and was scraping the floor while listening to it for the first time. I fully expected this album to be another run of the mill thump thump extravaganza that has been the standard for the trance crowd.

Lawrence has taken a route to show his diversity and sometimes astounding production and musical skills. Stand out tracks are undoubtedly `Untitled Dub With Noises' `New Day' and freefall. These tracks in particular have moments of genius written all over them. More of this ilk and Lawrence could very well have had a classic album as his debut. Thats not to say the rest of the tracks will not please the listener some of these are undoubtedly fine compositions such as 'rush hour' 'renegade' 'nitro' and 'halo' which are all special in their own way. The rest are no more than album fillers but im not complainng.

Not is all is rosy with lawrences debut. There is a slightly disjointed feel to the album and could be interpreted as 'contrived'. I put this down to a feeling of uncertainty by lawrence on track selection and track order. The award on this album for the worst song must go to 'freefall'.. The cooing and oohing from the vocalist added to the sickly wishy washy angelic musical tones is particularly nauseating. Such a shame that Lawrence decided to add this track on the album.

To conclude. If you are a fan of lawrences DJ'ing this album may dissapoint. If you are a fan of good music from an artist with a wide and varied musical pallette you will be pleasantly surprised. If his debut album sounds this good (despite 'freefall') then I am looking forward to his second album very much. Lets hope we dont have to wait another ten years.

I bought this CD with high hopes. When I listened to the CD on my Bose Lifestyle system, I was not disappointed musically. These are high energy tracks that harken back to "Trilogy: Part 1 Empire". It was with great glee that I then slipped the CD into my Windows XP computer to copy the tracks into iTunes so that I could carry them with me on my beloved iPod. Only then did I discover the full treachery of this CD: IN ORDER TO LISTEN ON YOUR COMPUTER, YOU MUST DOWNLOAD LICENSES, AND ARE CONFINED TO USING ONLY MICROSOFT MEDIA PLAYER TO LISTEN. YOU CANNOT RIP THE TRACKS FOR USE ON PORTABLE MUSIC DEVICES SUCH AS THE IPOD OR IN NON-MICROSOFT JUKEBOXES, NOR CAN YOU BURN COPIES OF TRACKS ONTO CUSTOM MADE MIX CDS. Of course I have found a way around this by hooking a CD player up to my computer and recording each track individually to MP3. With good cables and an optical input into my sound card, I am not disapointed with the quality of my results. I am ENRAGED that I have to resort to this for a CD that I own legally. I guess that fair use has no meaning to this label. I encourage everyone to forget about this CD and find another way to get it and any other album put out by Kinkybeat recordings/Pharmacy Electronic Music a division of Monster Media LLC. Five stars for music. Zero stars to user-friendliness = average of 3 stars. I would have rated it zero, but that is unfair to Christopher Lawrence, who I am certain did not intend for me to have these problems.

This album truly shows the artistic skills of Christopher Lawrence. It shows that not only is he a phenomenal trance DJ, but that he can also make his own great music. That is not to say the album is perfect or that he should stop mixing altogether. Far from it (I still prefer "Rise" and "Exposure IV" over this). I'm just saying that I hope that his own original music might start showing up in other dj's albums in the future. Keep it up CL!

I have been waiting for Christopher Lawrence to come out with another CD! His music is so cool not like other DJs who seem to stay in their own groove - - Christopher breaks out of "the mold" every time he comes out with something new. I highly recommend "All or Nothing" - like me - you won't be disappointed. I really love listening to this CD on my computer while I am working on new programs for games I produce - really gets my creativity jumping!!

That Christopher Lawrence has done it again! CL continues to hit the mark everytime he plays in person, releases a CD or record. He pushes the marker out for all other dj's to move toward. What makes this CD awesome is that all of the cuts are his own...no remixes here. CL knows what his fans like and he produces it for us everytime...thanks, CL, you are the greatest!