Customer Reviews

Ministry of Sound: Annual 2005

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This latest edition of Ministry Of Sound's (in conjunction with Ultra Records) the "Annual" series, this time for 2005, is a 2 disc collection of mostly popular house tracks. The mixing is pretty much flawless though no disc jocky is mentioned anywhere. Disc one contains such hits as Eric Prydz's "Call On Me" which samples rocker Steve Winwood's vocals, Shape-UK's massive house track "Lola's Theme", Deep Dish's "Flashdance", David Morales With Lea-Lorien's "How Would I Feel", Mylo's "Drop The Pressure", Michael Grey's disco tinged "The Weeked", Stellar Project's "Get Up Stand Up", Nina Sky Feat. Jabba's popular Cotto Club Mix of "Move Ya Body", Lasgo's "Surrender" and Plummet's hard-to-find Antilles Remix of "Cherish The Day" plus more. Disc two contains the popular Greek singer Despina Vandi's latest offering "Come Along Now Vs. Gia", Kaskade's "Steppin' Out", Marly's filter disco hit "You Never Know", Suzanne Palmer's "Luv 2 Luv", Angel City's "Do You Know" which utilizes Robert Mile's '95 smash "Children", 4 String's latest trance stomper "Until You Love Me", Danzel's "You Are All Of That" which sounds similar to Sylvester's early eighties nrg hit "Do You Wanna Funk", Nicole Mirra's breakbeat track "Don't Let Go" plus more. Ultra Records finally seems to be on the right track again releasing some top notch compilations. Note: Many (not all) of the tracks are over five minutes long so you get full length club versions!

This album was meant to define the house/dance sound for the year of 2005. It has done just that. All of the hit songs for the year are on this album, and what hits they are... You will find yourself involuntarily dancing in your seat with this type of music. The ministry of sound has truly topped itself with this amazing album. I would highly reccomend this to anyone who likes anything the ministry puts out.

2005 edition is filled with a predictable, but good selection of tracks. Think of it at a greatest hits of the end of 2004. For Americans, this is a great way to hear stuff that you might miss unless you live in a major metropolitan area. For me, the DVD was the best part. To let all of you know - the DVD is region 1 encoded - BUT PAL FORMAT. so if you wanna see it on your big screen, make sure you player can play PAL discs. I look forward to the Annual every year, and I wasn't let down with this compilation either.

I have previously been turned off by Ministry of Sound Annual releases because of the recycled garbage that was usually put on the CD's. This compilation is very fresh...by fresh I mean a single that was just released in Europe (Winter by DT8 Project) on December 20th 2004 was on this CD. I bought the box on December 30th. Also if you live near a Virgin Records Megastore, buy the CD there. It is much cheaper, as Virgin has a huge import collection ($24.99 vs. $36.99). Yes a few of the tracks are recycled such as "Silence" by Delirium, but they are good nevertheless. Some of my favorites are Depeche Mode "Enjoy the Silence", Deepest Blue "Give It Away", "My My My" by Armand Van Helden and "Winter" by DT8. Most of the tracks are very good, akin to the Wild Gold series. Sorry no Tiesto, but hey his new CD was not that great.

Another bonus is the DVD. Yes it is not in region code 1, but it can be played on any computer DVD drive. If you want to watch it on the big screen just get a S-video cable and converter and hook it up. Has a lot of good videos, mostly geared to the male viewer, be forewarned any female purchasers. I didn't mind, but hey I'm a guy...hint the opening video "call on me" is a good gage of the target audience. Overall the compilation is a good buy, the tracks seamlessly mixed together in what sounds like one long playlist, almost at the level of Stéphane Pompougnac's Hotel Costes streaming sound.

After visiting www.ministryofsound.com and playing around on their site, listing to tracks, watching videos and the like I decided to see if I could get this disc set state-side. Luckilly Amazon came through! I waited 4-days for the disc set to be delivered. After listening to it, over and over, I wish I had paid for overnight shipping! The videos are great, geared more for guys, and the tracks on the CDs just make you want to move! After a disc set like this I will definitely be buying more from MoS. I'm looking at their Big Tunes and Club Classics. The imports may cost a bit more but when you ompare the Annual 2005 America to this UK import you will definitely see why!

I was satisfied with the amount of songs. However the majority of the titles are unknown, not as popular songs, but I still enjoy the cd set. The DVD is also a great bonus.

I'd give it a 2 star if it wasn't the DVD, this album is kind of lame. There is no need to get into the details, the selection is just not that great. IMO I don't see how some of the tracks would be hits... The Annual is getting as bad as what the others' been saying, I have finally felt (seen) it. On the other hand, the DVD is quite a crowd pleaser. I play it on a 100" projection screen and it's an instant party for anyone, everyone!

I usually read the reviews before buying any item, that always helps. This time, I was so overwhelmed by this collection that I bought it whitout reading the reviews. The fact that it comes with 20 videos made me do so. After I've made the purchase I was a little disappointed to read that most of the reviews stated that the DVD does not play in the USA. One of the reviews say that it can be played on computer, which is true, but I was not happy about it. I want to be able to play the videos in my big screen TV. When my collection arrived I rushed to play the CD's. They are awesome! When you think you've got the party started while playing CD#1, you haven't heard nothing yet. CD#2 is the BEST!. It's AWESOME!

After playing the CD's I gave a try to the DVD and guess what, it plays in my DVD player. To my surprise, it does! Even tho my DVD player is coded "Region 1". I play the videos over and over.

Rating this collection 5 does not mean I like all the tracks and videos. But I like most of them and I still think is AWESOME. The price is good, too. So, do not let the "Region code" stop you from getting it. You may have a DVD player like mine that can play the DVD.

Hope this be a helpful review, just like other reviews have been so helpful to me.

It seems that Ministry of Sound, on this outing of their on-going ANNUAL series, needed a full CD to warm up. Usually, this compilation has a Euro-dance disc and then a harder, edgier, trance disc. This time, they reserved the cheesy stuff for the first disc, and it seems that they used it as an excuse to tune up their turntables! The second disc is where the really great Euro-dance songs are! All are dark, melodic, and have great beats and good singers. This is the first ANNUAL compilation that I have really enjoyed in a long time...and I hope the next one will be as good as this...even if it did take MoS a few songs to get the party started.

I had this cd in my hands WAY before I had expected. At the price I payed, I know without a doubt that I will be a repeat customer.