Customer Reviews

Wax Trax Mastermix 1

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

 

 

To those of you who don't appreciate Sharevari: The techno you love would probably not exist without it. Techno is relatively young, and Sharevari, dating back to 1981 (i think) is CRUCIAL to techno becoming its own style and genre. Without Sharevari, well, techno wouldn't be where it is today, and, knowing this, as well as the significance of the good majority of the tracks on the mix, it is hard to judge him for his minor slips. This is the history of detroit techno mixed. If you like techno i wouldn't RECOMMEND this Cd to you, i would FORCE you to buy it. The history of what you love. Dont get me started...

The cd was pretty tight.Being a ghetto dj from Detroit We still spin No Ufos, and my favorite sharivari. Whoever said sharivari was cheezy, certainly is not a techno/house fan and fo dam sho aint from around here.All these people talkin about real detroit techno like they heard it before,dont know nothin bout it.Juan Atkins represented on this one!

No doubt at all the Juan is a great selector of tunes and a great techno artist, but his mixing on this album is not slightly bad, but down right anoying. I cannot believe he sent this out to press. OK, so he hasnt used any software to mix them, but if your gonna produce a mix album on two turntables, at least know how to use them.

This CD is good. However, it is a little choppy in some sequences. I don't think the real party starts until the last half of the cd with Atkin's Game One. But hey, don't take my word for it. A definite plus for any one remotely interested in techno.

There's definitely a place for old records, and I liked hearing some of this stuff again. But really, DJ's need to get over "educating the crowd" and just play good records. Not that most of the records on here aren't good, but a lot of them had their particular time and place, and as usual, Juan seems intent on covering too much ground in too short of a time (at least he didn't play "Numbers" on this one, which he seems to every time I see him live.) This CD seems to exemplify why a lot of Detroit artists seem to have a hard time putting out a really good full length release. And we all know Juan ain't the greatest DJ, but as another reviewer said, it's about time we started getting real DJ mixes like this instead of a bunch of cheezy Pro Tools trance edits.

4 Stars for quality of track selection, -1 star for sloppy mixing... you should get this though. Put it in your CD player (or on your TT) and get yourself educated. The vinyl version is unmixed so you DJ's can collect all those classics (and that yummy instant-classic Maurizio track). The 'top 500' reviewer who said Sharevari is "cheeze" obviously does not understand the roots of Techno. Sharevari is actually one of the reasons I have this album on CD and vinyl. Don't pay attention to those who don't understand... pick this up today.

Mr. Atkins is one of they greates contributers to techno of all time. Thise albume will inspire you beyond your wildest dreams. It will school you on dance music

This mix album is somewhat well-known, because it's connected to a bunch of important names. The DJ is Juan Atkins, a leading name in early techno, and the label is Wax Trax, once the main purveyor of industrial and electronic music in America. Furthermore, the track selection makes the album into a kind of "history lesson." A large proportion of the album consists of classic eighties techno made either by Atkins himself, or by his Detroit colleagues.

So, even though the album as a whole isn't what you might call a masterpiece, it can inspire one to explore those early styles. For instance, the album contains Derrick May's eighties classic "Nude Photo." May never recorded an album -- his entire career is contained in a handful of twelve-inch singles released between 1986 and 1990. All of his songs have very crude production, and simplistic composition, but he had a knack for memorable pop hooks and melodies that makes his work very enjoyable even today. "Nude Photo" was his first single, and it's the most simplistic of all, just a rudimentary house beat with some synth-strings laid on top of it. But somehow, it's the very crudeness of the production that gives the song its charm. The synths have a reedy, straining sound that conveys exactly the kind of adolescent nervous tension suggested by the evocative title. If the sound of this track inspires you to explore May's other work, you can find most of it compiled on a double album called Innovator that his Transmat label released in 1998. It's out of print now, but finding a used copy is worth the effort.

Then there's "Sharevari," one of the earliest techno songs, dating back to 1981. It's already got that electronic house beat, with an oddly downtuned bass line. The main attraction is the lyrics, which describe a wealthy clubgoer who is "smoking on the cigarette / listening to his car cassette / cruising with his hot playmate / in his Porsche 928." These and other equally hilarious lines are delivered with a deadpan French/Italian accent. Other reviewers have called it cheesy. Well yeah, but it's unforgettable. And it's very rare, too -- you can find the full version on a compilation by Carl Craig called Abstract Funk Theory, but nowhere else. This was actually the only single that A Number Of Names ever recorded, but that single also had a B-side called "Skitso" (also hilarious and wonderful) now available only on some obscure compilation called Star Funk 34.

But Atkins spices up his history lesson with a few more recent tracks. The best by far is "Lara's Theme," by a British dance producer named Bryan J. Robson. This song is a wonderful summary of the style known as "jazz-house," with a very energetic beat and deep, funky bass, plus a breathy female vocal. The atmosphere resembles a nightclub in some old French gangster movie. If you like this song, you need to find a copy of Robson's out-of-print album Sidewalk Stories, released under the name Streetlife Originals. It's the best jazz-house album ever recorded. And while you're at it, try some of his more recent dance singles under the name Solaris Heights.

That's about it for the highlights. After "Lara's Theme," the tracks lose their individual character and blend together much more. Around track nine or ten, it becomes difficult to tell them apart, and they congeal into one big pounding, rattling, shimmering mass. The individual tracks become much less interesting as music, but the album as a whole becomes better as a mix album. Some earlier reviewers criticized Atkins' mixing, but I can't really hear a problem with it. There is maybe one part in the beginning where the beats don't quite match, but later on it all sounds like one very long continuous track.

I guess my favourite parts of that long continuous track are the two tracks by Infiniti (Juan Atkins' late-nineties alias) and "Inhibitions" by Belizbeha. All three have more melodic elements, either relaxed strings or detached, sensual vocals, underpinned by a hard rhythm. It's easy to enter a kind of relaxed trance when listening to them. I don't know if they'd have the same effect if listened to on their own, but on this album, they contrast well with each other and with the other tracks.

The rest of the album is pretty non-descript. Atkins includes a couple of his own early works under the name Model 500 (including "No UFOs," one of the most well-known), but he never had quite the same melodic gifts as Derrick May, so his tracks are less memorable. Some of the other early techno selections have dated poorly, like "Disco Circus," which has really annoying vocals. And the songs all flow together continuously, so you can't just pick out one or two tracks to listen to, it's better to listen to the whole mix from beginning to end. This is really not an album that you'd listen to every day, or maybe even very often. But, if you don't know a lot about techno, it is a good choice for your first mix album, and it could spark your interest in this kind of music.

It's funny to know that Juan Atkins is more adored in Europe than in his own Detroit. I think it's sad that the early techno artists had to fight for over 10 years to be recognised in the US. As a Boccoccio-infected (Belgians first house-temple that only played house-beats all night long)25y old guy I appreciate this CD very much. If you're into techno you'll love it. I prefer on the other hand more the uplifting 100% House DiDi Cata 4ever!!!

I am from Detroit and I truly enjoy listening to house music, my cousin is a DJ who has a whose who of house music artist. I truly like Derrick May his music is very dancable and it has alot of deep bass. If you haven't heard house music then you haven't been to Chi-town or the Motor city. I wish more people would appreciate music a little bit more. and realize there are other musical forms besides rap, and R&B. Dont get me wrong I listen to both of them I just vibe with house music and techno.