Customer Reviews

Tripomatic Fairytales 2001

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are 2 significant releases from the '90's that reshaped the future "face" of club/dance music: "Tripomatic Fairytales 2001" from Jam & Spoon and "Accelerator" by Future Sound of London. Both undeniably brilliant in how they pioneered what was to become "trance," "progressive trance," "art-house trance," et al. "Tripomatic" is an all-inclusive work of art that only trained seekers of electronica will seek and enjoy. This is the Mona Lisa of what was to come. Experience this.

Tripnomatic Fairytales 2001 is in my opinion their best work. It is the most dancable of their three major albums. Considered by many to be the fathers of Trance type dance music of Frankfurt, Germany. This CD is their proof. Well known for their remixes of other artists such as Moby, Enigma, and Deep Forest. A lot of the music here is driven by a beat that rarely if never stops, topped off with harmonies and musical effects that are almost irresitable. Since this is straight Trance dance the music is very repetitive which may not be everyone's cup of tea. The interesting part of the music is that even though it is repetitive, it is progressive. The tune and music slowly changes and metamorphs into something wonderful as one by one more instruments are added in, the harmonies change, voices are added in, etc. This is the CD that contains the song "Stella" which was a smash hit in dance clubs all over when it was first released. So much so that there is now many remixes of this song as well. Very worth listening to. If you are a big fan of dance music in general, this is a treasure.

Jam&Spoon delivers an album with ambient techno. The strenght lies in the female voice, the texts and the bass drum. They investigate the musical dream-landscape with new unexected sounds and the whole album is a mix between heavy, well placed bass and easy, "sing-a-long"-text. Reminds me of Enigma, Deep Forest, Drum Club, Way out West and similar.

Buy this album - and give it time! You should listen to it in your head phones.

Although released in 1993, five years later this sound is by no way tired or predictable. The loops shake with life, the voice of Plavka (who sang for Shamen on "Move Any Mountain") is beautiful and lush, the synthy textures and pads seem to run over your body like warm tropical water. This is a rich, heavenly CD that has a pinch of cold digital strangeness and dark, ethereal mystery. Very sophisticated and moody, but always a pleasure for your ears. Most of the CD is very ambient and trancey. The songs "Right In The Night" and "Find Me" use galloping euro-disco rhythms to support more traditionally structured songs, with the chanteuse Plavka's angelic, beckoning voice flying above. Nice squirty synths and other euro textures will ooze out of your speakers from this CD.

One of the most interesting features of Jam and Spoon's pioneering trance album is that the two singles "Right in the Night" and "Find Me (radio mix)" are both characterised by prominent vocals. Although both of these songs are very good in their own right, the more one listens to the album in its entirety, the more one realises they fit in less and less.

The brilliance of this album comes from its instrumental qualities. Although these qualities were always present in the singles (and who can forget the vivid introduction to "Right in the Night") they are present in unadulterated form in the album tracks. From the beginning, through "Heart of Africa", "Find Me" and "Stella (original version)", the tone is unmistakeably set. Vocals are properly relegated to a supporting role in all of these - as is pure and beautiful.

Writing in early 2004, eleven years after the inception of Tripomatic Fairlytales, it is remarkable how little it has dated. Although one can recognise from the early 1990s some of the bass-driven sequences which could be labelled as 'deep house', yet it portends far further forward in time than it reaches back.

A final remark should be made. Most of the tracks are at least 6 minutes long. The result is unhurried bliss.

Tripnomatic Fairytales 2001 is in my opinion their best work. It is the most dancable of their three major albums. Considered by many to be the fathers of Trance type dance music of Frankfurt, Germany. This CD is their proof. Well known for their remixes of other artists such as Moby, Enigma, and Deep Forest. A lot of the music here is driven by a beat that rarely if never stops, topped off with harmonies and musical effects that are almost irresitable. Since this is straight Trance dance the music is very repetitive which may not be everyone's cup of tea. The interesting part of the music is that even though it is repetitive, it is progressive. The tune and music slowly changes and metamorphs into something wonderful as one by one more instruments are added in, the harmonies change, voices are added in, etc. This is the CD that contains the song "Stella" which was a smash hit in dance clubs all over when it was first released. So much so that there is now many remixes of this song as well. Very worth listening to. If you are a big fan of dance music in general, this is a treasure.

The title to this album does it justice - it's an adventure in itself, through the universe of ethereal and progressive trance - unlike any other style I've ever encountered. My first of MANY electronic CD's (1995) and, to date, my favorite.

Soundscapes so intricate that you can easily discover something new with every listen. All in all, a very well-balanced masterpiece.

Recommended tracks: All

Sit back and enjoy the *trip*!

This is a very nice piece of music but only half of the project! If you can get your hands on 2002 the second cd of "fairytales", you will see how greatly j&s have influenced our music since their inception. Stella is undoubtedly the godfather of all trance. the version here is a shorter one than the complete stella (10:24) however, it fits nicely into 2001. All in all, this is definitely a journey worth taking. It flows nicely from one song to the next and somehow manages NOT to sound like 1993. Again, if you can find 2002, there are some gems on this one as well. The four stars refers to the complete 2001/2002.

Tripomatic Fairy Tales is by far one of the best electronica and dance album releases EVER!

Back in 1992 there was this little known trance track that I heard of called Stella. From the very first time I heard of it I was hooked. It was fast and energetic, sort of a minimal track that just caught you off guard and took you along for the ride into euhporic extacy. I was so into this track I had to learn more about Jam & Spoon. I was totally hooked and researched anything and everything this duo who had produced many euro dance bands but Stella was nothing like Dr. Alban or B.G. The Prince Of Rap. It was tons better.

I waited until 1994 when Tripomatic Fairy Tales was finally released by SONY. Then I found what a great album it was. I kept listening and listening to tracks like Find Me (Odyssey To Anyoona) (Radio Mix), Odyssey To Anyoona, Right In The Night (Fall In Love With Music), Path Of Harmony and of course that excellent track STELLA.

Now that I am listening to this wonderfully excellent album of pure dance pleasure I am reminded that albums like Tripomatic Fairy Tales are few and far between.

If you haven't the pleasure of listening to this amazing album then by all means run to your local used music store and snatch it up before you wont be able to anymore. On another sad note I learned yesterday that DJ Spoon had died. Through his excellent album he will always be remembered.

SJ

www.beatzblog.com

I was in the music store going through the cheap $1.00 CD's when I saw Jam & Spoon amongst a cabinet full of rubbish. Considering I have 1000's of CD's in the dance/trance/techno department and the fact that I am a DJ and have loved dance music for 15 years, I knew exactly who Jam & Spoon were when I saw the CD. However, considering they have multiple albums, many different aliuses (e.g. Storm, Dance 2 Trance, and Tokyo Ghetto Pussy) and I haven't listened to any of their music in several months, I was thrown off by the title of the CD. I assumed it was a newer release with the '2001' being in the title. When I looked at the tracks very briefly, I saw "Stella" and immeadietly jumped to the conclusion that it was the new millenium remixes and not the original version.

So I bought the CD, popped it in, expecting to hear their newer, slower sounds (post 1998), but what I heard was some of the best trance music ever. I kept asking myself, "Why is this so freaking awesome?" Then I got home and looked up this CD on Amazon and started seeing reviews about how this album is like a pioneer of trance music. I quickly grabbed the CD and looked closely at it and realized it was made in 1993, not 2001!!! I was dumbfounded, yet, to my surprise, I was so happy that I had picked up this CD. I cannot stress how powerful this album is.. it sounded like some of the newer progressive house music from 2004 and 2005 (e.g. Tilt and Way Out West) and it's still not dated, 12 years later. On top of that, the CD offers some very powerful deep, hard trance that I have been looking for ever since I really got into J&S's other project, Dance 2 Trance but was unable to find anything comparable.

This CD gets 5 stars plus 5 more because it's not only living proof that J&S are responsible for the incline of trance music, but it's also a CD that can be loved from the opening of "Heart Of Africa" until the final seconds of "Stellas Cry". However, it's "Find Me (Odyssey To Anyoona)" and "Tow Spys In The House Of Love" (tracks 2+3) that sets this CD off for me, in the way that they are intertwined together so perfectly. It's hard to understand why Jam & Spoon drop the hard trance style heard on this album and navigate into the Eurodance sound in later albums. All in all, this is one fine creation!