Customer Reviews

A State of Trance 2005

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

How can you really go and say that the second disc is no good? Okay...before I get ahead of myself I'll start from the top.

First of all, the first disc is definitely Armin at his finest. He's doing all the things that all the Arminheads just LOVE. very vocal, melodic. Yes, a great trance CD. With disc 2, he changes his tone quite a bit. But no, I wouldn't say he is experimenting, I think he's branching out...and making a better sound.

Honestly, I don't know...maybe the people that review this poorly don't listen on a good soundsystem or just some bad speakers. If you put this CD in your car, you will probably jump out of your seat dancing. The second disc doesn't want you to lose your dancing feet. Fine, the beginning is sorta slow, but when you start getting into it, it goes from a slower...deeper kind of beat-oriented music to more of a dark type of dance. If I may say so, it has a very "new york" feel to the end of the CD. The simplicity of the beats and the very few added synths and vocals help give it just a pure plain dance feel.

This is 100% entertainment and will definitely make you dance. If you wanna stick to what you know, then yea, maybe disc 1 is the only thing you have to worry about. But I enjoy the second disc much more, being that I'm not a complete Arminhead. I've seen him before, and I'm seeing him again next weekend in NYC. He's amazing. Buy his CD, and you will be thrilled, I promise!

5 stars. Armin made a masterpiece!

I just had to write a review after seeing other Amazon users give the second disc in this set such a bad reputation! I am very surprised to see other people writing things such as, "Disc 2 is simply in a whole other realm, delving into some sort of bad techno blitz that I can't even begin to tell you how bad and how NOT trancey this is" --- My goodness, that is far from the truth and as a matter of fact, there is no truth to that statement at all! Let me explain:

Armin Van Buuren is a European DJ who is quite unique. He has that traditional sense of love for pure trance music, but at the same time he has developed a form of respect to the most intense form of club music today - and that is progressive house! Most DJ's just can't get over trance music (no matter how washed up it has become) and others can't appreciate it (all the charm it brought over the years). Armin has intertwined both genre's of dance music into a 2-cd set, which is obviously focusing on trance with disc 1 and progressive house on disc 2. Personally, I found the blend of tracks on cd 2 far more intense and much better for burning the floors apart. But that's just me. The music on disc 2 is a perfect introduction to progressive house - a fusion of previous forms of trance and house - this is not considered "techno" nor "trance". That is like calling R&B music Rock 'N' Roll. They're not the same thing! And that's why so many people have such a hard time accepting progressive house - because it's pure, it's new, it's fresh, and it's unlike anything anyone has ever heard before! Yet, it still retains the vibes that trance music offered in its heyday.

A couple of points I should make: Armin has been appreciating progressive house for 2-3 years now (since it began to hit the headsets of DJ's in Europe). The only 2 tracks on cd 2 that I wasn't excited about were the ones by Kyau Vs. Albert and Blank & Jones, because they are both hard trance DJ's/producer duo's. But we have Andy Moor (of Leama & Moor), Adam White (of Whiteroom), Tilt (Andy Moor again), Gabriel & Dresden, Remy, and Matthew Dekay/Proluctors - all of which are some serious, raw progressive house producers with some heavy talent. In addition, the rest of the cd features some young and newer producers/remixers which Armin personally selected out of his 12" stacks. CD 2 is good progressive house music - the sound that among the featured artists as well as Markus Schulz, Özgür Can, and Luke Chable will carry into the future - at least until something better comes along, if that's even possible.

The only flaw in this mix is that some of the songs feature only 2-3 minutes worth of the full length song in which some are well over 10 minutes in entirety. Otherwise, a great chance for people in the USA to learn more about an already evolved genre that the people in Netherlands, UK, and Estonia already love to death.

Anyone who knows what I am talking about can make sense of this review. Everyone else is still closed-minded and thinks trance is the only thing out there. That's fine, just as long as I can get a point across that progressive house music is NOT trance music, and that its also a very powerful style of music.

Hands down, by far the best Trance CD I have ever heard. It takes off from the beginning and just doesn't let up. Especially on disc two. That's my favorite of the pair because of it mostly being instrumental music. Very little singing is features on disc two, and what little singing there is comes across mostly percussive and rhythmic. All except for one track which makes me pull my teeth out because it's so abjectly horrible. Said tract is "Ballerina" and I really wish he would've skipped over that one altogether. It sounds like a REALLY BAD Rufus Wainwright performance, and that's one artist I absolutely can NOT stand. Other than that one major snag, the entire CD pair is pretty much flawless. I'll definitely check out more of Amin's discs as a result of the good impression I got from this one.

This album is actually worth about four stars, but the American version (the one in question) loses a star due to one simple factor: It is missing seven tracks! While this is already a seminal trance compilation, the tracks that were cut off at the end of each disk were probably some of the more aggressive and fast paced trance songs. Especially songs such as Marcos' "Cosmic String" (which is btw the longest version of Cosmic String that can probably be found on CD, save the not as good remixed version on Trance nation 20), Hammer & Bennet's Language and Liquid Overdose's Ancient Space. Therefore, for the lack of these stellar trance tracks, this version of ASOT2005 just will not cut it in the end. Still though, it does have some good stuff, but fans of harder, more edgy trance will probably not be too pleased with it.

It does have some of the more creative (albeit major trance artists) such as (but not limited too) Tilt, Peter Martin, Adam White, Kyau vs. Albert, and Markus Schulz on it. And each of them bring some really good stuff to the table (especially Markus Schulz and Hidden Logic, who mix in so well with Interstate's "Found You"; It sounds almost like one complete song!) Some regular trance/techno aficionados may be a little disappointed though with the selection of some slightly dated tracks (I.E. Adam White's Ballerina, which has been around for a while already.) Still though, the way the album flows together is rather good... so Armin at least shows that he is mixing them rather well.

Overall, it is probably one of the biggest dance releases of 2005... Still, one should probably go out of the way to find the foreign version of this rather than go with the American version. The extra tracks just make it much better.

It is a very very good trance cd. Obviously with better songs than others, Halycon and Beyond Horizon, and Space Guitar is also a good taste of very catchy melodic trance. Some of Armin's best work, very good melodic trance, the low points of the cds prevent this from becoming a 5, but I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST BUYING THIS SET.

The 2 disc set contains some trance which I would consider an acquired taste. By this I mean, you may like it, and you may not. But after you listen to it more and more, it sort of grows on you. However, if you're in search of hardcore trance, this is not the set for you. It's good music don't get me wrong. Just, not exactly what I was looking for.

Contrary to what appears to be the featured review for this album, I'd like to say that disc 2 is actually pretty good and simply has a focus on deep rythmic groove edging a little on D&B in places. I certainly wouldn't classify it as "bad techno blitz"! It fits just as well in the Trance genre as anything else out there, although it certainly has a different feel to it - more barebones with fewer breezy synths and vocals. This is probably why disc 1 is called "Light" and disc 2 "Dark". You might need some decent speakers/headphones to fully appreciate the bassy undertones of disc 2.

Through years of listening to trance I understand that there are some people who just don't like anything rythmically orientated. To some degree I have the same problem - pure D&B/Techno doesn't do it for me at all, but disc 2 falls on the right side of the line. Don't be afraid to buy this album.

Disc 1 is great, and disc 2 is also good as an alternative style, and it's never bad to diversify a little. Who knows when you'll want to throw on something more upbeat? ;)

To all people who have criticized disc 2, put it like this, the cds are labelled correctly. Disc 1 is light trance, note the name "light". It's melodic, it's overtoned (somewhat ad nauseum) with vocals, and it's meant to just put you in a good mood like general uplifting trance is supposed to. Hell, the first four tracks are vocal tunes. And all four are good, even if I'm not the hugest fan of Interstate's "Let U Go". The second disc is labelled dark. It's a bit darker, and is more meant to be a cerebral experience.

Onward to the actual mixing of these tracks. Well, it won't really astound you save one instance. At the beginning of disc one, the mixing between the heavenly "First Time" and the even more fantastic "I Know You're Gone" is nearly flawless. It's like these two tracks were made to be mixed together. They just flow so completely perfect it's obscene.

Other than this, it's pretty standard. It'll get you through nicely and won't really let you down.

Now, I do agree with everyone, that my own personal tastes and my heart is with disc 1. This does not mean that disc 2 is awful. It still has "Halcyon", "Arcadia", "Twelve", "Ballerina", and "Perfect Silence". My only problem is the fact that Armin is no longer just sticking to his guns and mixing what he wants any more. It's more the commercial prog and trance that appeals to the mass public. Which, I guess, that's what he's trying to appeal to. But it's my position that store trance mixes and Ministry of Sound mixes should cover the pop-ish trance. Also, Armin needs to stop doing prog and stick to uplifting like he's been doing since 98 and what got him to where he is today.

Onward to my other sincere problem. The American version. What complete BS is it when they cut off tracks at the end of both cds. It really takes away from the experience of the album. I can only stress DO NOT GET THE AMERICAN VERSION. Blow the money on the import because you don't pay too much more and you get the full album. I really do not understand the reason for cutting off the tracks from the original version.

Still, if you're and Armin/ASOT fan, get this. It's worth it.

ASOT 2005 breaks the evolution of modern day trance by taking you back to the roots. The way Disc 2 builds into Halcyon seems like it could fit right in with the renowned Renaissance Awakening (Disc 1) mixed by Dave Seaman. Both discs are flawless mixes and define what underground trance should sound like. This is only for the true trance enthusiast and not for hard trance/house/dance listeners. If you've been into trance for the last decade, buy this, you will appreciate it.

This is the tracklisting for Armin's "State of Trance 2005" not the State of Trance Yearmix! So either the photo needs to be changed to the proper one, or the tracklist needs to list the well over 60 tracks that appear on the YEARMIX. Either way, no one knows what they are paying for.