Customer Reviews

Imagine

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Armin has done it again. If your are expecting a crazy, uptempo, and hardcore trance CD, you won't find it on this CD by Armin. Altough this CD still has some amazing non-vocal upbeat trance in the first and last track, the rest of the CD is vocal trance. And it is simply amazing. It is one of those CDs you do not have to change tracks or fastforward, just let it play. Armin shows his briliance and versatility on this CD and he proves why he is the #1 DJ and producer in the world.

I buy just about everything that Armin puts out, so I have pretty high expectations for him. I am not normally a fan of vocal trance, but Armin does a pretty good job here. It's mostly vocals, with a few instrumental-only songs thrown in. The songs are stand-alone, no mixing/fading in & out.

The beats, as always, are upbeat and danceable. The vocals aren't amazingly great, but they're not annoyingly bad - which can be a frequent problem in the genre. So overall, I'm not Ra-Ra-Five-Stars on this one though. If you're a fan of the vocal trance genre, I'm sure you'll love this. If you're a fan of trance-only, I'd probably skip it.

For anyone who likes vocal, melodic trance/dance music, you will love this CD! I am one of those people who is always searching for new music because I tire of it quickly. Not this album. I've had it for a week now and I still have the urge to listen to it over and over, but still not burned out of it yet! Great stuff great stuff great stuff! If you have a chance to see him live, GO!

Armin van Buuren always brings his best game to his music and he has done it again with this album. The artists that are featured are extremely talented and the music is captivating!

There is hardly a soul alive who has not heard of Armin van Buuren. The world's number one DJ for the past three years and the best trance artist for the past two, van Buuren's latest album `Imagine' certainly lives up to his reputation. Van Buuren's music is classified as trance and progressive trance, and impressive to note is that even as his fame increases, van Buuren stays true to his musical style, refusing to be pressured to make his music appeal to the mainstream audience.
`Imagine', the first track on the album, is wholly an instrumental dance track, featuring a cutting piano line and dance beats. The track slowly builds over its nine and a half minute length, starting with an epic instrumental that is suddenly pierced by an electric guitar solo. After the solo, the track focuses more on traditional dance elements, with pumping bass and drum beats, but fuses the beginning instrumental and guitar to create a truly one-of-a-kind track. The long length and slow evolution of the track is reminiscent of the Goa trance scene, known for its long length, slow evolution, and a slow but steady increase in energy throughout the song.
The lead single in the album, `Going Wrong', is a collaboration between van Buuren and DJ Shah (or Sunlounger), and surprisingly is one of the more mainstream tracks that van Buuren has released. At five minutes and twelve seconds, the track includes a focus on the male vocals (by Chris Jones) and very little buildup, creating a very radio-friendly sound that propelled the track into the top 5 in The Netherlands.
The rest of the album centers more on the beat and the electronic instruments and their progression over time, which is more typical to the trance and progressive trance genres that van Buuren is known for. Although many of the remaining nine tracks on the album contain female vocals, they are extremely superficial. Many would criticize van Buuren for this aspect, but the real purpose of the vocals is to supplement the driving beat and instrumentation. The vocals are not meant to be the centerpiece of the track, as in pop music, but rather to serve as merely another instrument to be manipulated through modern technology. A brilliant example can be found in `Unforgiveable', in which the female vocals are sampled and manipulated as if it were a percussion instrument. This technique was a trademark of musique concrète, in which style samples of natural sounds are utilized to create music. Van Buuren's manipulation of the female vocals is similar to Karlheinz Stockhausen's manipulation of the voices of young boys in his `Gesang der Jünglinge'. Van Buuren's inclusion of various electronic sounds throughout the album along with his use of a synthesizer and drum machine suggest that his music is a blend of both musique concrete and the German-originated electronische muzik.
As if hearing my remarks, the last track on `Imagine' is a song created purely through electronic means. Wrapping his album up with `Intricacy', a vocal-less pure dance track, van Buuren reminds us why he's the number one DJ in the world. Although a couple of the songs in the album do not stand out much (most of the tracks with female vocals just blend into one another), this is good for van Buuren's famously long DJ sets where he needs material that he can blend together. All in all, `Imagine' is a solid studio album; in fact, solid enough that he released a remix of this album the year after in 2009. There are two bonus tracks that are exclusive to iTunes: "If You Should Go" and "The Sound of Goodbye". As if there was a necessity for additional incentives to purchase this album.

I am not a huge trance fan as I once was but every now and then I like to listen to music that I hadn't listened to in a long time. In this case, I just happened to start listening to trance music a bit more lately. I recently saw the video for Amin Van Buuren's "In and Out of Love" w/Sharon Den Adel of Within Temptation on youtube and totally dug what I heard, so I decided to check out the album Imagine in which the song could be found out. No words can really describe the ecstasy that Armin's music brings to me. The overall flow of the album is excellent. The songs just perfectly flows together like a running stream would. All of the songs are catchy. I enjoy all of the contributing vocalists on the tracks both male and female alike. There isn't one song on the album I did not like. This is a great album to listen to on a weekend night when one is getting ready to go paint the town red.

This is a great album. However, if you look at his albums in Amazon's MP3 store, you'll see there's an MP3 version of this exact album for half price, but even better, there's an alternate version that's only available as MP3 that has all of these tracks and many, many more. In fact, there are 34 tracks in all, including 3 tracks that are hour long continuous mixes in their own right, and it's still less than this one cd alone. That's the way to go. That version is called 'Imagine The Music' instead of just 'Imagine'. Armin Only - Imagine The MusicClick that link, or just go to the MP3 store, search Armin van Buuren, and list his albums according to release date, you'll see it as one of the most recent, right next to this one. Tons of great music.

I have occasionally listened to Van Buuren's compilations in the last few years and found them to be better than average but few really struck me as amazing. This album truly pushed the boundaries and showed me how truly talented this artist is. I have been listening to trance for many years now and this is one that is a fresh change, showing a diversity of talent. I highly recommend it.

To prepare the world for his upcoming international Armin Only tour, the current world number one DJ, Armin Van Buuren, has released the follow-up album to the highly acclaimed success Shivers. Van Buuren is known for weekly radio programme and CD series A State of Trance. His Armin Only tours are sell out events with partygoers gearing up for their favourite DJ to do a nine and a half hour set. Now he unleashes his third studio album of original material.

Imagine is just as dynamic and sensational as any of his previous releases. His signature trance style flows throughout the entire album with guest vocalists appearing on eight out of the eleven tracks. The first single lifted from the album is Going Wrong and is just a small taste of what is to come from this triumphant release. The surprise vocalist on this album is Sharon Den Adel who is known world wide from her work in the band Within Temptation. Going from new-age goth/rock to trance maybe a huge step for some but it is a superb collaboration between Sharon and Armin.

The instrumental tracks including the title track Imagine, Face to Face, and Intricacy are all ground stomping brilliance that will be at the home at any club or major dance event. Van Buuren obviously keeps his ear very close to the club dance floor and sees what gets people moving and hits the target dead on. With a use of not just synthesizers, Van Buuren is also classically trained in several instruments and uses them all in each track.

The album is just the latest addition to what is already a phenomenal career for Van Buuren. His sounds are distinct, his hooks memorable and his ability to make music that appeals to so many is undeniable. Imagine is a solid peace of musical triumph that is perfect to set the mood for a big night out in a club or even to just play to lift your mood and chase away those apathetic days.

This is a great CD if you are into vocal trance ARMIN puts together these song so well it is well worth the price of this CD. I heard of these songs on his radio show A STATE OF TRANCE and I appericate it more now since it is not remixed. There are some songs that could pass for free style you will not regret getting this CD!~