Cream

Sandra Collins

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 23, 2001)
• Original Release Date: October 23, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Kinetic Records
• ASIN: B00005QDDE
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #95,131 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A good dance compilation is designed to distract from woe and prompt booty-shaking. Sandra Collins is a master of trance-groove trench-digging--her specialty is beat building, and not much else. As she did with 2000's Tranceport 3 mix, Collins uses the Cream platform to spin music for twilight flexing, but with a militaristic edge.

Tranceport 3 offered trance of epic scale, but Cream is more ambient and minimal. Much of the album is simply a 4/4 beat with little adornment except the occasional alien percussion or a ghostly voice sampled and inserted for effect. Each track supports the current Collins manifesto of minimal dance music for quick clubbing, but these tracks foster an insular mood of cold, sleek uniformity.

Carissa Mondavi's "Solid Ground" is the ambient-ish intro, with a warm vocal and tribal percussion aiding the glowing groove. The CD builds slowly, changing little while layering thin synth and bass sounds, rolling through Manhattan's "Robot Funk 2001" and 16th Element's "Warp" until the repetitive beat grows harder and more direct with Traveller & Quest's "Chaos Engine."

High hats get busier and the beat syncopates for Voyager's "Derangement of the Senses." This track--along with Chiller Twist's "Do You Hear It?"--provide the album's mellow mid-section. "Thriller"-esque accents in the latter make the welcome rests sound corny, not profound. The closing tracks by JBN, T-Empo and Maurice & Noble ratchet up the intensity, but nowhere near the intense levels of Tranceport 3. Is Collins mellowing with age, or simply becoming more cerebral? Her Cream mix shows a clever DJ keeping it hard, lean, and mysterious. --Ken Micallef

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars much better than her transport, December 5, 2001

By A Customer

well let me start off by saying this album is a big jump from her dissapointing transport.She starts off with a smooth tribal track solid ground-carissa mondavi which pretty much sets up the rest of the album. track two is robot funk 2001-manhattan cimmera mix, this is the first time i heard this mix the original is a wicked track but this one is very dark with some killer backround effects for those who never heard cimmera check out their track intitled feedback wave. sandra then takes that track and blends it perfectly and turns it up a notch with a progressive tune by lastmanstanding-momentum. throughout the rest of the album is pretty much housy and progressive and i must say she did a wonderful job expecially since these tracks are very rare and new. i highly recommend this album to anyone who likes deep and progressive trance and also those who like house will most likely enjoy this album

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DEEP TRANCE, July 15, 2003

By	Matt Smith (Roswell, GA United States) - See all my reviews

Ok, so people are all like "I cant dance to this" and "Its slow and moody", those people obvisouly dont know much about Sandra Collins, she's a DEEP TRANCE dj. Yes, there is a "deep trance" genre, just like there is hard trance, trance, progressive, etc. etc. This cd is much like Tranceport 3, except towards the end of Tranceport 3, she tends to throw in some uplifint and Epic trance. This cd is good deep trance all the way around, so if you want something you can definately chill to when stoned or not, pick it up.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Low-key sequel filled with moody floor-fillers, November 10, 2001

By	Richard Diaz (Centerville, OH United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Well it's about time Sandra Collins dished out a sequel to her first (and dazzling) mix of over a year ago, Transport 3, arguably the best of the series and one of 2000's must haves.

Cream is a different affair altogether, a slow-burning beast focused primarily on big drums for big moments with big room majesty. Certainly, she must have some considerable pull to get this list of underground DJ cuts approved. Remember, it's Cream - a club label reknowned for delivering the big hits.

Opener "Solid Ground" receives a minimal, tribal ten minute makeover courtesy of Markus Schultz, well done even if the Fade Vocal mix proves hard to top. It's seventeen minutes in before synth stabs and stuttered beats perk things up on Momentum's "Lastmanstanding" and a full half-disc in before the eerie Piece Process confessional "My Mind is Going" traces a memorable cut. Collins closes strong with a pack from Maurice & Noble, only the overblown Chiller Twist epic "Do You Hear It" a stumble along the way.

Filled with moody floor-fillers and few breakout hits, Cream likely won't spark listeners keyed to glossy, hook-driven sets. Given a full hour's attention, however, it just may lure you in to the darker pleasures of the progressive house movement.