Customer Reviews

Ray's House

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

All I have is one word: WOW! DJ Ray Munns will one day replace Judge Jules as the greatest DJ on planet Earth. Not only is the mixing on this CD faultless (some mixes lasting as long as a full 10, somtimes 15, seconds), but the track selection is trailblazing and ahead of its time.

I applaud the bold Mr. Munns for having the sheer guts to unleash such underground staples as Sandstorm and Tiesto's Silence on a CD meant to appeal to a mainstream audience (I mean, are these teenyboppers really expected to "get" this music? i highly doubt that they will appreciate the subtlety and nuances in the production works of Darude).

And what underground rock did he pluck this Doom's Night tune out from under? What a wicked choon!! You heard it hear first, watch out for Doom's Night in 2001. And keep an eye on producer Timo Maas as well, he's a name you'll be hearing a lot of!!

In closing, Ray Munns has released maybe the album of the year, if not this century. I mean, look at the cover art. Doesn't that just say it all?

Okay, for anyone actually thinking about buying this travesty, consider this:

One, Ray Munns is not a DJ. He's an MTV veejay and that is the extent of his "talents." So, why would you buy a mix with a person's name on the cover who didn't even mix the thing? The set was done by some anonymous audio engineer on a computer and Ray Munns name was tacked on to make it sell.

Two, truly great DJs do not mix an entire set of "club and rave hits." They use mostly mood pieces with the occasional "anthem." (Plus, raves are passe). The mix features mostly trance tunes, even though *trance has been out of style for two years!* This is a COMMERCIAL product, and you could be spending your money on artistry instead of cheese. And you could spend more time in good clubs (Space Ibiza, Bedrock@Heaven in London, 1015 Folsom in SF) instead of watching this shameless man on MTV.

So, instead of this compilation, get something by Sasha or John Digweed. I also think Anthony Pappa and Sander Kleinenberg are two DJs deserving of notice.

...and this garbage still seems to be selling. It was painful enough hearing it the first time in 2001 when my best friend was jamming out to it in his car. It's even more painful as a tragic piece of nostalgia reminding me of what the music industry will defecate into the market to cash in on a growing subculture. If Amazon could grant me the right to give it 0 stars, I'd do so in a heartbeat.

So, what exactly is so bad about this album? We can start with the mixing. It's downright atrocious. There's no sense of beat matching or progression. It's a stereophonic mish-mash with each transition sounding like a musical trainwreck. Secondly, the style of music presented doesn't even fit the House genre!! It's all poppy trance hits, dance anthems, and club hits - hardly the stuff of good house music. The fact that it was poorly mixed together makes it that much more unbearable to listen to. If it had just been an unmixed compilation of hits with a proper title that doesn't mislead its audience, I would've given it a much bigger chance.

In short, this "album" is a slap in the face to true fans of electronic music, be it house, trance, breaks, or drum and bass. This garbage doesn't sound any different from the "mix discs" that kids new to the electronica scene put together from their Kazaa and BitTorrent collections. Congratulations, Ray Munns. Keep putting albums out like this, and you'll cement your status as the William Hung of Techno. Wait, I take that back; you already have.

Everything on this album is very forgettable with the exception of Sarah McLachlan's voice on "Silence" by artist Delerium. If you're a Sarah McLachlan fan you'll definitely want to get a copy of "Silence", but I suggest doing so by buying the individual song as a MP3. (This is an old tune actually. I'm not sure why it showed up on this new CD.) I love "Castles In The Sky", but Ray hasn't made any improvements over the original from Ian Van Dahl's Ace album. In fact, he's watered it down by adding more "thumpetty thumps" instead of spotlighting the excellent vocals that steal the show on the original. The remaining tracks on the album are average to lame but would still function as decent background music, but nothing more. If you're looking to spend your money on a really great dance album, look elsewhere.

The fact that ray munns is putting out a compilation mix is unbeleivable to me. This guy should consider a career at mcdonalds, not in music. Kinetic should be put out of business for giving this guy any type of deal. what a disgrace

I bought this because I saw the commercial on TV and I loved how it sounded..this album has some great dance stuff on it! Sandstorm is one of those songs, of course..but then when I got to Castles In The Sky, I couldn't stop playing it! That's the best song on the entire CD. Overall, I would say this CD is a great one to add to your collection of dance music. A few skippable things, but the good songs make up for that.

I don't know what compelled me to buy this cd but I did. I must admit that I liked what I heard HOWEVER Ray Munns should not be put in the same ranks as Paul Van Dyk, Sasha and Paul Oakenfold. "Ray's House" is for definitely for casual listeners of trance music. For trance fanatics, I would avoid this cd like the plague. The tracks that Ray chose to mix is pretty generic and already have been on other djs' mix cds. Lacks any originality when someone like Ray can't pick lesser known tracks to remix. On the up side, the melodies are great. I love the female vocals. Very danceable. I say this is one of the best pop albums I have bought recently.

I got given this album for some strange reason from a friend who has no knowledge about dance music. he thought it would go nicely with my GU collection. how wrong he was. just from looking at the tracklisting i could tell that i was in for a treat, NOT! with the exception of the amazing remix off Kosheen - Hide U this album is a complete disgrace. The mixing is awful and clearly isn't actually done by Ray (Who probably has never seen a pair of decks, nevermind been able to dj!) but by computers! the tracks are off the lowest common denominator in the fact that only awful djs like Fudge Tools and Seb Fataine would be seen playing them (ie they smell worse then the deli counter in a supermarket!). what would possess anyone to actually buy this is beyond me. i was going to use the CD as a coaster but thought that its not even worthey of that! however thought it would be a good idea to release this really needs to look at themself in shame. awful, commercial rubbish like this is hindering the quality dance music that can be found on the Global Underground Series and other quality compilations like Danny Howells Nocturnal Frequencies, Steve Lawler's Dark Drums or Renissance compilations. my advice for you is too avoid this at all costs!!!!

I just listened this cd..... I did that because maybe it was a good introduction to electronic music, but no this is one of the worst mix i ve ever heard, how many times we have to listen acido da bazz, sandstorm etc? if you want a good introduction to electronic music go for seb fontaine prototype 1,3 or 4 , if you want good electronic music go for any Global Underground (sasha at san francisco, digweed at los angeles, dave seaman at buenos aires etc, but please stay away from ray munns, avoid ray house.

Wow! I never thought that Ray Munns could pull together a great mix, but sure enough, he did! The diversity present on this CD is unmatched by any other electronic artist out there. Where else can you find Creamer and Stephane K's remix of "Hide You", and "Sandstorm" on the same CD? Nowhere! This mix appeals to every facet of the trance / house taste, and does so quite tastefully. My only critique: where are Deep Dish and Madison Avenue? I really think that these two huge producers got ignored. C'mon Munns, where's your head. Regardless, this CD is great, and it just edged out Danny Howells' NuBreed for my favorite comp! Crazy!