Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands

Ferry Corsten | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 28, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Thrive
• ASIN: B0009ML2Q0
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,050 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #91 in Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Netherlands

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Cassino & Laben "Leaving Panic Behind" (Flash Brothers Remix)

2. Matthew Adams pres. Stratosphere "Sunscape" (Alucard Remix)

3. Tonepusher's "Daydreamer" (Bill Hamel Remix)

4. Yilmaz Altanhan "Eighties" (Özgür Can Remix)

5. Sublunar "Sanctuary" (Antidote's Tech Mix)

6. Varian "Endless Desire" (Mark Otten Energetic Remix)

7. Solid Globe "Lost Cities"

8. Ferry Corsten "Galaxia"

9. BT "Force Of Gravity" (Ferry Corsten Bootleg Remix)

Disc: 2

1. Airbiscuit "Lately" (Riley & Durrant Mix)

2. Ronski Speed "2Day"

3. Dogzilla "Without You"

4. Purple Haze "Adrenaline"

5. Ferry Corsten "Sublime" (Thrillseekers Remix)

6. System F "Underwater"

7. FB feat. Edun "Who’s Knockin'?" (Ferry Corsten Remix)

8. Misja Helsloot "Blue Monkey" (Pierre Hiver Remix)

9. JPL "A Place Called Home" (Passiva Remix)

Editorial Reviews

Hailing from Rotterdam City, The Netherlands, Ferry Corsten has quickly grown into one of the world’s foremost DJ/Producers. In 2005, he was voted #5 DJ in the world by UK’s DJ Magazine, and #8 in America by BPM Magazine. Ferry, along with fellow Dutchmen Tiesto and Armin Van Buren, are champions of the ever-popular Dutch trance sound. With a handful of acclaimed mix albums under his belt, as well as his lauded debut artist album, Ferry is now primed and ready to take his signature sound to the next level with the launch of his "Passport" series. The first installment of "Passport" will feature Ferry returning to his DJ role on this mixed double CD set, yet the album also features a handful of exclusive productions and remixes from Ferry himself. These include his bootleg remix of BT's "Force or Gravity" and "Underwater" under Ferry's System F alias, amongst others. With a track selection that moves from smooth and melodic to big and banging, "Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands" is set to become a fan-favorite trance mix.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get Creamfields, it's much better., October 30, 2005

By 

L. Smith (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands (Audio CD)

I can't believe all the 5 star ratings here. I guess it's all die hard Ferry fans who will give him 5 stars no matter what he puts out. This 2 disc set has some good tracks, but only here and there, and too many tracks are boring. His newer Creamfields trance mix on disc 2 blows either disc from this set out of the water. He opts for house on disc 1, and it's still good stuff. I highly recommend purchasing Creamfields over this one. Get it, then come back and tell me which one really deserves the 5 stars.

You want the ultimate 2 disc trance set, get Cosmic Gate's Back to Back Volume 2.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ferry Corsten brought to you by the Queen of Holland, August 9, 2005

By 

Robert L. Lopez "Robert Lopez 'Trance reviewer" (Burtonsville, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands (Audio CD)

Through the years Ferry has more dance singles in the UK charts than any other electronic dance music artist. I'm a great fan of Ferry because he makes clubbanging Trance music everytime. Passport:Kingdom of the Netherlands is no exception. For this double CD, Ferry comes out for this one, bringing the party from the first to the last track over two discs. CD1 is more of a warm up CD for what's to come on CD2 with "Force of Gravity" and "Lost Cities" which is gotta be one of my two favorite songs of the summer. You have a better appreciation of the build-up. If disc 1 seems to hold back, then disc 2 picks it up with clubbanging tracks. My two favorite tracks on this side are: Dogzilla "Without you" and "Underwater" recorded by Corsten under his alias System F. Passport demonstrates how the DJ is an artist and a great producer. His live show keeps the dancefloor packed in motion which I experience firsthand in July. He is on a extensive tour this summer. But, I would highly recommend you first pick up your Passport to Ferry's finest CD to date.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Overall, a solid and thoughtful mix album., June 6, 2006

By 

Rami Dahud (Millbrae, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands (Audio CD)

"Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands" constitutes the first installment in what will apparently be a series of "Passport" releases. "Passport: Kingdom of the Netherlands" is also presented as being reflective of the most recent sound Corsten has involved himself in, although this essentially doesn't sound at all dramatically distinctive when comparing it to his previous releases. A noticeable, and fortunate difference, however, is the absence (or reduced presence) of some of the more obnoxious overbearing synth dominated trance prevalent throughout the track selections in his previous mixes. Like essentially all other trance DJ mix albums, this particular release features the latest and greatest to be produced from the trance world by various producers and remixers- some well established in the minds of trance enthusiasts, and others being relatively recent arrivals, hitting the cusp of their musical breakthroughs.

Having said this, this album amounts to one of the more refreshing releases of the year (2005). The mixing, while flowingly smooth, is adequate, but ultimately uninspiring. The track selection and sequencing, however, are consistently above average across the board. The tracks presented in this mix have the climactic and intense feel trance has come to embody, and, as mentioned before, is (generally) devoid of the squelching synth unpleasantness trance has also come to embody. The spectrum of emotion carried by these tracks ranges from driving moodiness, to euphorically atmospheric, so there's a little something for most trance enthusiasts on this album.

The first disc opens up with the Flash Brother's remix of Cassino & Laben's "Leaving Panic Behind", which is a good opener that sets an effective mood and groove to develop throughout the rest of the mix. We then mix into one of the highlights of the entire album, Alucard's gorgeous remix of "Sunscape". Here we are delighted to a beautiful Balearic-like experience, an experience that trance has proven itself capable of capturing time and time again. The pace and intensity is enhanced a peg or two with a track that apparently proved dominant in the trance world in 2005- Yilmaz Altanhan- Eighties (Ozgur Can remix). This track did exceptionally well in 2005, and with good and legitimate reason- it sounds outstanding, and its odd eclecticism works very much in its favor.

The pace is maintained and poised for development with "Sanctuary (Antidote's Tech mix)- a melodically fun track that would have probably worked better earlier on in the set . The rest of the CD, while flowing particularly well, passes by rather uneventfully- "Lost Cities" stands as a passable, but somewhat forgettable production, and Ferry Corsten's own Galaxia appears somewhat misplaced in this mix, as it captures that rather derivative sense of ultra-trance euphoria more than any other track on this disc. Closing the first disc is Corsten's bootleg of BT's "Force of Gravity", which is the original endowed with Corsten's signature hands-in-the-air climactic trance production sound that many have come to know (and perhaps dislike intensely). However, it isn't excessively prominent, and actually amounts to an enjoyable production that also ends the first disc on an effective note.

The second disc is personally that which I prefer when considering the album as a whole, as it consists simply of a larger number of more memorable tracks that also happened to be sequenced perfectly with each other. With respects to the matter of pace and intensity, the second disc appears to have been produced with the first in mind, picking up essentially where it left off. Consider the second disc the climactic pay-off to the first- the direction where the first had deliberately led up to. Faster, harder, and throbbing intense tracks is what we are presented with on the second disc.

The second disc opens up on a rather peculiar note, though, with the awkward and almost laughable vocals of "Lately", which would have functioned much more interestingly as simply being a dubbed version. The intro-track notwithstanding, Ronski Speed's 2day, although melodically uninteresting, provides an excellent lead into Dogzilla's "Without You". "Without You" provides an excellent example of the direction trance has apparently taken within the past year, fusing itself with conspicuous elements of House and Progressive House- the percussion of house, and the melodic mindfulness of trance. Definitely an excellent track that is well complemented by its vocals.

With Purple Haze's "Adrenaline" (a track that also did extremely well in 2005), we've become thoroughly involved in the "peak-time" tracks of the album, and "Adrenaline" certainly doesn't disappoint those who are interested in melodic and climactic track without the derivative silliness of many generic trance productions that have been released in the past. "Sublime" is perhaps the most outstanding release on the album, with its enormously captivating and atmospheric melody, sure to evoke a highly emotional response among many. Definitely one of the most remarkable collaboration projects Corsten has been involved in.

With the mix into System F's (Ferry Corsten) Underwater, we've extended beyond the half-way point, but unfortunately, we've also witnessed an end to the mostly exceptional streak of quality selection and sequencing that characterized the first half. With "Underwater", we have a considerably bland melody that grows increasingly tiresome the more repetitive it becomes. "Who's Knockin" is an uneventful vocal trance production (with what I find to be an asinine vocal sequence- you'll know it when you hear it) that denotes a noticeable sense of relaxation in the pacing of the set, which picks up slightly with "Blue Monkey", and leads into the disc's closing track, Passiva's remix of "A Place Called Home", which ends the disc and the album on a significantly high note. This track reflects the intent to capture a sense of emotional euphoria through some of the more typical trance oriented mechanisms and means of doing so, but unlike a myriad of typical trance releases, this accomplishes the task to enormous success.

So, when taking into account the various elements involved in the composition of this album, how does it stand up? Quite well, actually. This is a solid release that competently produces the sensation of proceeding through a journey of music- with highs and lows, with gentle atmosphere and hammering intensity. There are some unfortunate difficulties involved in this release, though, the most noticeable among them being the peculiar lack of sheer track quantity- there are only nine tracks on both discs, resulting in only 18 in total. The run time of each disc still doesn't sufficiently compensate for this absence of quantity, with the first disc consisting of 1:02.46 of content, and the second consisting of even less- 59:21. Why Corsten deliberately decided to include such a limited amount of content is unclear.

Secondly, there are a considerable number of stand-out productions in this album, but they are unfortunately, in some instances, detached from each other by a gulf of what are frankly mediocre tracks, resulting in a dramatic undermining of the consistent and engaging flow of attention grabbing productions that Corsten is capable of creating at some points on this mix album. However, these unfortunate elements become quite eclipsed by what is an overall fine track selection, and when Corsten finds his groove, the listener is simultaneously captured along with it. This CD is certainly recommended.