Behind the Sun

Chicane

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 1, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 1, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004UARG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (93 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #99,304 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Overture

2. Low Sun

3. No Ordinary Morning

4. Saltwater [Original Mix]

5. Halcyon

6. Autumn Tactics

7. Overlap

8. Don't Give Up [Original Mix]

9. Saltwater [The Thrillseekers Remix]

10. Andromeda

11. Don't Give Up [Radio Edit]

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

For some, outfits like producer Nick Bracegirdle's Chicane are not easy to swallow. Isolating the more jubilant properties of trance, the beat is a light bounce, levitating above club-dance brainlessness, sounding like a house music hybrid meant for sparkling sunshine instead of dark and sweaty warehouses. They exist in an idealized, pseudo-enlightened fairy tale filled with bright colors and youthful beauty. But that's not the problem. What rankles purists and picky fans is the audacity with which these "techno" artists go after the unconverted common folk, dragging electronic music out of its druggy, "in-crowd" pretensions. Bracegirdle and contemporaries like Olive, Sneaker Pimps, and BT (the last, most noticeably on his Movement in Still Life) are waging a turf war on the boundaries between techno and pop music, each using different tactics and borrowing from different sources. Chicane throws out an especially cutting salvo in the battle here, and it's a doozy. None other than Bryan Adams lends his raspy tenor to the subtle grooves and euphoric dreaminess of "Don't Give Up." It's one thing for Liam Gallagher to lend his pipes to a Chemical Brothers track, or for BT to tap Tori Amos for the ubiquitous club hit "Blue Skies," but Bryan Adams? Is this heresy? Or an ingenious use of vocal color that yields an incredibly hummable dance anthem? Maybe it's best not to analyze What It All Means. Just sit back and enjoy the summery grooves, trusting these ongoing musical inspirations to become whatever they need to be. --Matthew Cooke

Product Description

Japanese Version Featuring A Bonus Track: Don'T Give Up (Disco Citizens Vs. Tomski Remix) --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational and reminiscent, November 13, 2000

By	Eric Wendt - See all my reviews

'Behind The Sun' will open your eyes and possibly your heart. As an avid listener who takes his music seriously and without admonishment, I was lucky to have came upon this particular album which made my inside flourish with delight as each track played.

'Behind The Sun' begins with "Overture," a relaxing introduction of what is to come, with an epic feel, including cinematic strings, deep bass lines and ocean waters crashing, blending into "Low Sun," continuing the vibe with lower key piano melodies, bongo drums, flutes, and a warm atmosphere, placing you in the environment of a comfortable, relaxing crowd at the sunset beachside, calm waters rolling.

A downtempo track, "No Ordinary Morning," is nothing short of a beautiful melody, vocals provided by Tracy Ackerman, accentuating such a beautiful flourish of artistic resplendence. It leaves you mesmerized as time passes us by, our foolishness of not noting its splendor and leaving us to wish that we could, indeed, turn back time.

"Saltwater (Original Mix)" births as a progressive trance/house anthem featuring the soothing vocals of Maire Brennan. Also included in this mix is an adaptation of the song "The Theme From Harry's Game" taken from the Clannad album "Magical Ring." This eloquent song is mixed brilliantly by Nick Bracgirdle (AKA Chicane). "Saltwater (Original Mix)" put myself in a wonder of the world progressing and our striving efforts to keep up. The cheering at the end explains it perfectly.

'Behind The Sun' takes a more powerful measure to its perfection as "Halcyon" is introduced. Powerful, deep beats with trance elements. "Halcyon" easily stands out as the best uptempo track of the album.

With an unexpected turn, the album gives you, quite possibly the real treasure, "Autumn Tactics." Justine Suissa gives us her beautiful voice supports the uplifting inspirational atmosphere of Balearic Spanish guitars. Justine sings "the hiding sun, like the hiding sun, waiting for summer sun, feels like its just begun," possibly clueing you on what actually is behind the sun.

"Overlap" is the more instrumental side of Nick, leaving you in the midst of soft synths, Spanish guitars, drums, over a distant array of evocative atmospheres. This particular track evoking mindscapes of progressive human's developing ideas and reflecting on what we have accomplished.

Bryan Adams come into play as he delivers the vocals for "Don't Give Up," a pop/trance where the production itself leaves you at disbelief. As I listened to this track on the way home from a long ride, the words sunk deeper into my mind than I would have anticipated. Over the past few years, I had dealt with many unfortunate circumstances and had always ignored the advice of others. However, the words, blending with the trance anthem, helped me to do what I choose, rather than following orders from others all the time. It gave me a chance to tell myself to live for myself.

"Saltwater (The Thrillseekers Remix)" is the more calm, melodic version of the original, featured earlier on the album. This ambient version takes you from the relief of the fast, house melodies of "Don't Give Up" to give you a time to relax.

Lastly, "Andromeda" is a wonderful close to this wondrous album, with spirited house beats, fun synths and atmospheric nature that makes you look above and see the clouds stream by as you cruise along in your car. A tear from my eye streamed down my face as I looked out above the world I was on, and looked out past the clouds, asking, "Why did this work of art of an album have to end?"

Open your eyes, heart, and ears to a melodic tone that carries you from the laboring workload, into the skies above you, allowing you to explore what is behind the sun.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Follow-Up to FFTMC, March 20, 2004

By	Erik R. Olson (Dublin, CA, United States) - See all my reviews

Most of the music in my CD collection is moody, introspective stuff: Depeche Mode, The Cure, Tori Amos, and Tool, to name a few. I'm not generally an upbeat person. But Chicane manages to make, I daresay, "happy" music that is downright irresistible to even an antisocial quasi-goth like myself. I'm just a bit more fond of Far From the Maddening Crowds, Chicane's earlier and harder to find album, but Behind the Sun is also a very nice, relaxing CD.

Nick Bracegirdle has a habit of opening his CDs with ambient tracks that remind the listener of Enigma or The Orb. "Overture" does a nice job of introducing the ears to the CD and prepares us for the mellow trance experience. It leads in well to "Low Sun," a great tune for starting a trip. And as with FFTMC, track four really stands out and refuses to be forgotten: "Saltwater." It's hard to stand still while listening to this song... it makes you want to get up and do something, go somewhere, whatever you want to do. I've heard it used on TV ads for tourism in Ireland, and it totally fits the whole idea of travel and far-flung undiscovered places. The Thrillseekers Remix, also on this CD, is a slower, more ambient interpretation of the song -- equally good but different.

Other excellent tracks here include "Halcyon" and "Autumn Tactics," which I had heard before and enjoyed but had not realized it was Chicane. "Overlap" and "Andromeda" make nice closers for this album -- they should be together at the end instead of the retread of "Don't Give Up," which is pretty cool, all things considered, but we don't really need the same club song twice on one album. My only other misgiving is the tinny drum loop on "No Ordinary Morning." It's all I hear when I listen to that song and I therefore tend to skip it.

Overall a very cool album for the car or just for relaxing, but not quite as good as Far From the Maddening Crowds.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Trance / IDM Masterpiece, August 17, 2002

By	Ray Ciscon (North Aurora, IL USA) - See all my reviews

I initially discovered Chicane while doing a search for different versions of Orbital's song Halcyon+on+on. This CD contains a song named Halcyon, though it has no relation to Orbital's classic.

Chicane, actually a one-man operation of composer / mixer / DJ Nick Bracegirdle, specializes in the atmospherics found in the best of modern electronica without the lack of melody common with many IDM (Intelligent Dance Music) composers.

In this release, Chicane manages to pull off one of the most confounding tasks facing electronica composers: the smooth integration of vocals. Far too often mixing vocals and electronica falls to the far ends of the bell curve, it's either very good, i.e. Alison Goldfrapp's work with Orbital, or it's very bad, i.e. any dance / rap release with the lyrics "Yo, check it!".

"Behind the Sun" manages a wonderful mix of instrumentals, "Overlap", "Andromeda", and the aforementioned "Halcyon", with lyric filled songs such as the haunting "No Ordinary Morning", "Autumn Tactics", and "Don't Give Up" with vocals from Bryan Adams... Yes, THAT Bryan Adams... but don't worry, it's a beautiful song and the vocals are a real departure from Mr. Adams normal ballad slinging which actually adds wonderfully to the piece.

If you like William Orbit, older Future Sound of London, and Orbital, odds are that you'll enjoy Chicane's "Behind the Sun" as much as I do.

Finally, and in some cases most importantly, there's not a bad song on the entire CD, so you'll be getting good bang for your buck!