Customer Reviews

Renaissance: Desire

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Over the past couple of years, Dave Seaman has established himself as one of the very finest dj's spinning progressive trance and progressive house. His two southern hemispheric Global Underground sets (Buenos Aires and Cape Town) were both first-rate, and "Awakening," his Renaissance effort that preceded "Desire," remains one of the most breathtaking two-disc progressive sets ever released. Given this record of accomplishment, many of us had exceedingly high expectations for "Renaissance: Desire."

Overall, Seaman has not disappointed the faithful. Once again he has unearthed a stack of high-quality, fresh tunes and has weaved them together into sets that can be listened to repeatedly without their growing tiresome. This, combined with the gorgeous packaging artwork that has accompanied the recent Renaissance sets, make "Desire" an irresistable release for fans of progressive.

As is typical of two-cd dance releases in recent years, the first set comprises relatively slower tracks, the kind that would likely be played during the earlier portion of a long night of clubbing. The choice of material is exemplary, including such instant anthems as Janiero's "Solid Sessions," Sister Bliss' "Deliver Me," and Pete Heller/Sputnik's monster disc, "Stylus Trouble." Similarly to the first disc of John Digweed's otherwise fabulous Hong Kong GU set, however, the set leaves an overall impression of eclectism, i.e., it's made up of terrific tunes, but somehow it doesn't flow and hang together quite as well as one might hope.

The second, more uptempo/deep/experimental cd is where Seaman really shows his stuff. Highlighted by tracks as haunting as Roland Klinkenberg's "Inner Laugh" as hard-pounding as Praha presents Xian's "Pachinko," and as soulfully melodic as Way Out West's bringing-the-set-down-to-a-close "Mindcircus," this disc is crafted beautifully from start to finish, revealing Seaman's skills at their very best.

A number of reviewers have expressed frustration with the confusing presentation of the tracklisting. This is especially problematic in the U.S.-released version of the set, where there erroneously are 12 tracks listed for disc one and 13 tracks listed for cd 2, instead of the actual 11 and 11, respectively. What has happened here is that for three tracks (one on disc one and two on disc two), there are "acappella" tracks overlain onto other tracks. So owners of the U.S. version should either mentally or physically eliminate the track numbers for Marcel, "The Path" on disc one, and for Ben Shaw feat. Adele Holmes, "So Strong" AND Placebo, "Passive Aggressive" on disc two. Once these acappellas are combined with the previous tracks, the track listings should correspond with the track markings on the actual discs.

Overall, this is a fine release, recommended for all fans of electronic progressive, including other dj's such as John Digweed, Nick Warren, Chris Fortier, Max Graham, Hardy Heller, John Debo, Jerry Bonham, Sister Bliss, and Sander Kleinenberg. The first cd earns 3.5 stars; the second gets 5 stars.

Dave Seaman has been bearing the standard for deep, sexy house for some time, and with 'Desire' Seaman establishes himself as the vanguard of this genre. Perhaps the ultimate testament to this was a recent Paul Oakenfold set I heard at Moby's Area|One tour: Oakie's set was a tribute to Desire, opening up with Blackwatcher's mind-numbing "Foreshadow" and ultimately covering perhaps a quarter of the tracks on Desire. From start to finish, this album envelops the listener with the refined yet emotive rhythms that typify Seaman's Renaissance releases. On the first album, Seaman opens with tribal beats and aching vocals by way of A Guy Called Gerald's "Humanity" and stays deep until he opens up with Moby's "Southside" and the incredible "Janeiro" by Solid Sessions. The second album takes off more quickly after the foreboding "Travelogue" with the incredible crescendoes of "Waiting" (Nat Monday) and "Foreshadow", driving it home with the concentrated assault of "Passive Aggressive" (Placebo). Way Out West's melodious "Mindcircus" initially purports to be a chillout/takedown track, but assuredly maintains the tension smouldering beneath the surface of the entire set. Sexy, strained, aggressive, this is Seaman at his best. And I assure you, not only is the track selection outstanding, but the caliber of mixing is superb; I own many of these tracks on LP and can only hope to bring them to life as he does. In short, this double disc merits your attention. Whether you seek a soulful companion to your long commute, an invigorating dancefloor motionmaker, or sexy grooves to share with an intimate friend, Seaman delivers.

It started with Renaissance Awakening - Dave Seaman's aptly named masterpiece that signified the (re)awakening of the sleeping Renaissance UK club giant. Now, Dave Seaman (the man who has also brought us other masterful works such as Global Underground: Buenos Ares) and Renaissance are back to continue what they started on Awakening with their new album, Renaissance Desire, and continue they do, in every sense of the word. Back is Seaman's uncanny knack for selecting great tracks on the lighter side of trance in a time when almost every other big name DJ is sucumbing to the trend of deeper and darker sets. Back is Seaman's brilliant mixing and set construction, and back (and even better) is Renaissance's timeless packaging.

In fact, while I honestly don't beleive anyone should by this or any CD for its packaging (or a book for its cover), the packaging does deserve special mention as Renaissance has truly gone above and beyond the call of duty on this release - giving us a quite substantial, fold-open cardboard box featuring Renaissance's gorgeous painting reproductions on both the outside and the inner surface. Mounted on the inner surface are two transparent plastic CD 'mounting plates', allowing us to view, unhindered, the paintings below. The booklet too features several more paintings in keeping with the theme.

Disc 1 is a terrific set. Seaman truly shows off his skills for not only mixing tracks but truly building a set into a cohesive unit. The result is part dance floor mix, part mellow soundscape, and all class. Standout tracks include Francois K's remix of Finley Quaye's Spiritualized and Sister Bliss's Deliver Me.

Disc 2 is slightly more melodic and upbeat than disc 1, again with spectacular results. The use of acapellas on this disc (and for that matter, disc 1) is inspired, as Seaman seemlessly overlays several against perfect background tracks. Disc 2 also sees Seaman indulging his passion for tracks with female vocals, using no fewer than three on this disc, including the brilliant "Love Like Sleep" by Jimmy Van M featuring the sublime Terra Diva on vocals, and Way Out West's Mind Circus - a track that combines breakbeats, pianos, and vocals that flow flawlessly. Mind Circus, in fact, is used to perfect advantage, beginning with its soft, isolated pianos after the release of energy of Praha's Pachinko, then, as soon as the listener is lulled into a sense of calm, in comes a beautiful high energy breakbeat and then, echoing the thoughts we're fealing out of shear euphoric exhaustion, the vocalist asks "can't I please have some silence?"

Desire, then, like Awakening, has also turned out to be quite correctly named, because after hearing this 2 CD set, all I can say is that I truly desire more.

As dance music cognoscenti know, Dave Seaman is one of the scene's most interesting DJs. He has continued to spin melodic sets after the death of trance, but with a progressive twist that doesn't bring him as far as the dark atmospheres of Anthony Pappa or the dull drum-and-bass of present-day John Digweed. RENAISSANCE: DESIRE continues this tradition.

This two disc set features some abosolutely fantastic tracks that are among the finest out now, and they're almost all white-label so they won't be played out for a while. Pappa and Gilbey's "Void," Slacker's "Musifon," Schiller's "Ruhe," it's all so good.

Unfortunately, Seaman has constructed his set in a rather lackluster way. Although the mixing between each track is fine, there's not enough *consistent* build on either disc. As a result, RENAISSANCE: DESIRE is not among the best sets out.

However, the last four tracks of disc two form a spectacular combination. Jimmy van M feat. Terra Deva "Love Like Sleep" is a simply beautiful track that is almost tear-inducingly wonderful. Seaman mixes it into Junkie XL's "Be Whop Too Be Y" with some mindblowing ProTools wizardry. Praha's "Pachinko" lowers the energy. Finally, the disc closes with the moving "Mindcircus" by the inimatable Way Out West.

All in all, RENAISSANCE: DESIRE is nothing special among good progressive house music. However, you might want to check it out for its cutting-edge tracks.

If I had to describe the music on this album with a color, it would be beige, as nothing on this CD will make you want to shut off the stereo, but nothing will really make you want to crank it up either. Regardless of the tracklisting (which, by the way, does NOT match the tracks on the album) this album has a HUGE problem in that whoever mastered the first disc seems to have the balance set all the way to the left. Listening to the first disc with headphones is not an option. If you are thinking about buying this album go listen to first and then buy it used because it's not worth paying full price for a first disc that was mastered by some high-school intern.

If you don't pay attention to the fact that this album was mixed by Dave Seaman, you will appreciate what this compilation offers. Fans of Seaman MAY be disappointed if you expected something similar to the Awakening, or the Global Underground series. This album is very different from his others. Personally, as a Seaman fan, I don't like this album as much as his other mixes. It doesn't seem to have the energy the other albums had. Mixes of more well known tracks like Finley Quaye, Placebo, A Guy called Gerald, and Moby sounds nothing like the originals--in a word, it is mixed in a very very creative way that's pleasing to hear. I DO like the album. But, I hate the fact that the track listing on the cover is wrong (there are actually 11 songs programed on each disc) but the cover shows 12 on disc 1 and 13 on disc 2. The right track is listed here at AMAZON. The music database does not recognize this disc either. I found it a bit frustrating especially since the tracks are unfamilar to me.

This is the first review I've written..and what prompted me to do so were the comments I've read earlier. This cd is an excently mixed set..both discs are great. Given, it is a slight departure from his previous releases, but you can't expect a DJ to sound the same forever (thank God), otherwise they would merely be another George Acosta or Kimball Collins. CD 1 is great, mixed flawlessy, and has some great tracks to it. CD 2, like virtually every other 2 disc set out there is the more upbeat of the two, and is my favorite of the two. I would like to commment more on the second disc, but I've misplaced it a couple of months ago (the result of partying one night ;) ). I don't see what faults people are finding with this disc. What do they expect, another Buenos Aires??? It won't happen, and I'm pleased about that. I much prefered cape town, and awakening was great as well. As for our friendly reviewer in Boulder...go back to hippieville...and leave this music to us. Those of you with reservations about purchasing this disc...I whole heartedly reccomend that you buy this. If the Europeans are what you listen to normally, I can't see how you won't like this. If you prefer the "anthem" trance of kimball collins and Acosta...you probably won't like it. That's the problem with American DJ's...they're still in the "anthem" trance rut. Fans of Chris Lawrence probably would like it...house fans...whether it be hard house, deep house, or tech house...as long as you can appreciate a good mix...you will appeciate this disc.

The current debate about dance music is its shift from "big, hard anthems" towards minimalistic "cerebral" beats. While I prefer the cerebral over the anthem, I have to say that Dave Seaman has been extemely consistent in mantaining a melodic approach towards its track selection. It is true, his Renaissance discs are more "housier" than his Global Underground, but his core element remains in both kind of discs: MELODY. Both discs on Desire are truly engaging and deliver the athmosphere that sometimes can be considered well, kind of melancholic! Disc one opens with Humanity, a track with trademark Seaman vocals that sets the mood for this first excursion... Minimalistix's "Struggle for pleasure" deepens you into the mix with its minimal but effective melody. By the time you reach Lovesky's "Drums 4 better daze" you've reached the best part of disc one (and you are only in track 4!) with gorgeous melancholic melodies courtesy of Moby and the now-classic "Janeiro" by Solid Sessions. Things pick up (minimaly) at this point with D. Howells "Breathe" and the big "Stylus trouble" and close with the classic "Ruhe" in a new form. Disc 2 opens with a gorgeous and uplifting lo-speed song from Loafer: "Travelogue"... this one being one of the best musical pieces (dance, trance, whatever... it's music) of this year; beats escalate with the colaboration of Sasha, Quiver and Junkie XL aka Elysium: "Part one"; the next three tracks lead you into John Digweed style territory (check out "Waiting" and its trippy sound effects). Placebo's acappela doesn't kind of work out wonderfuly here but its a introduction to the wonderful finale that is encompased by the 4 last songs; Junkie XL takes things into overdrive and Way Out West's beautiful melodic "Mindcircus" reminds you of the last song of some of Seaman's sets. Overall this is the best Renaissance record out there (I have them all) and must be part of your collection at all costs. This from a true music fan...

If you like Dave Seaman and/or good progressive house/trance , then you will not be let down by this latest release. The track selection is chosen well for the most part- he stays away from the same old tired tunes found on so many other compilations. In my opinion both discs are good but I think disc 1 flows a bit smoother. Overall, a good release from Mr Seaman. On a side note- My two CD players read disc 2 has having 11 tracks but there are 13 tracks listed on the CD. The track listing ... shows it has 11 (looks like tracks 3&4 are combined and 7&8 are combined into one) No big deal but it kinda perplexed me when I first bought the disc.Has anyone else noticed this? ...Two other new releases worth checking out - Sander Kleinenberg's Nu Breed and Jerry Bonham's Interpretations 2.

Recoreded improperly. Listen to it with headphones and you'll hear that the levels are turned completely off on the right side. The music itself is great though. frustrating