Platipus: cat. Plat126CD
Released 2006

Track list:
1. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Chab Remix) (9.48)
2. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Tektonik^ Remix) (8.03)
3. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Luke Chable Mix) (9.43)
4. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Caspar Pound Remix) (11.55)
5. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Original Mix) (9.39)
6. Two Full Moons & A Trout (Union Jack Mix) (6.59)
7. Two Full Moons & A Trout (FIF Mix) (11.04)


IN BRIEF: Respectable update of the acid trance classic.

Take note, trance fans. Here’s the perfect chance to grab yourself a piece of history (if you don’t already have it). Platipus, possibly the UK’s most legendary trance label with a history of great releases dating back to the early 90s, are re-releasing one of their all time highlights. Union Jack’s Two Full Moons and a Trout is historic for many more reasons than being possibly the most awfully named trance record ever, and those reasons are included here on disc.

Yes, Platipus have taken the shoe-in method to critical scores and good sales here by throwing in the four main mixes of the original release- the original and Union Jack mixes, FIF’s mix and the widely recognised best mix by Caspar Pound. So even if the new mixes (provided by a clutch of more “respectable” trance names) are a waste of time, something you can often bank on with trance re-releases, there’s still plenty worth looking at here.

In retrospect, Union Jack’s own mixes of Two Full Moons and a Trout aren’t hugely special tracks, and certainly didn’t break out of the formula that was routine for the era. There’s a bleepy intro, atypical beats, chanted female vocals, low-key pads and a deluge of acid lines that make up the meat of this track. In 1994, trance was about precious little else. It’s the early-days equivalent of snare rolls, big anthems and super saws. Only with a little more music snob credibility. One of the acid lines even sounds like it came straight from Hardfloor’s Acperience, which is akin to somebody stealing the bassline to Out of the Blue for an epic trance track.

Both the original version and the Union Jack mix are different spins on the same central idea. The structure is altered and there are additional acid bits in one mix and additional pad bits in another, but if you played me one in the street I wouldn’t be able to see which of the two it was. I may be treading the line marked “sacrilegious” in this next bit, but fuck it: classics are made to be analysed in the future, and here I am. While the vocal hook of Two Full Moons is a great little piece of music that is catchy without being cheesy and trancey without being too cold and mechanical, the rest of the track sounds flat. The 303 scrawls seem as though they are in place because this is trance and it has to have acid in it. Or something. Meanwhile, the pad meanderings never form a conclusive melody or direction, and the track is paced all wrong, so it sounds like it’s heading somewhere, but never reaches it, and every new stop and additional element promises to complete the picture but never quite manages it. Purists may argue that aimless, rambling tracks may be what “trance” is all about, but that’s bollocks. All the major names in classic trance managed to make hypnotic music that made sense as a contained entity.

FIF’s mix takes the flaw and magnifies it until it becomes like a fly’s face under a microscope: much more disturbing than it looks through your own eyes. The track is eleven minutes long, and if you’re going to write an eleven minute track, you sure as hell better fill it with something interesting or we’re going to fall asleep long before the last lap. However, what actually happens is we get a slightly better produced mix which just leads to nothing and fades away with you wondering what the point was. Quite existential.

If anyone’s going to save the crew of this leaky ship it’s going to be Caspar Pound, for no other reason that we all know he made the best mix. Pound smashes the original into dust and rebuilds it into a three part epic that, at the time, was bang up to date. The opening few minutes are little more than beats and piano doodles to allow DJs plenty of space to mix into the main event. A breakdown leads to the original’s vocals being introduced before the track picks up the tempo and accelerates forwards. A keyboard refrain forms the backbone of the track, and it’s a musical device that would be used by many, many other trance records in the future. Dreamy pads give a heady dimension to the driving groove before we reach a big, uplifting breakdown where a lovely cascading melody is introduced, before the climax sees some propulsive acid lines thrown in to drive the track to an energetic (and abrupt) end. It’s great stuff, a piece of dancefloor drama that at the time was like very few other trance records. While other tracks may have done similar things before it, it’s impossible not to play Two Full Moons and a Trout and not think that it has inspired many trance producers over the years.

Speaking of which… with the old mixes dealt with, let’s look at the new ones. Chab is a Swiss producer who you may know better as Moogwai. He’s one of those very serious producers of melodic trance who eschew fluffier elements in favour of no-nonsense trance workouts. His music is not hugely exciting, but when he gets it right he can pull off some solid trance, and this mix is no exception. It throbs, beeps and grinds forwards with punchy beats and fairly raw sounds, making heavy use of the chanted vocals. His claim to being an upholder of “real trance” is slightly spoiled by an excessive period of the track where there are no beats at all, which kills it off slightly.

It seems Tektonik^ is the only one with the balls to do the inevitable and rework the track into a full-on anthem. Boo, hiss and all that, but the end product is very good. Sharp production is abound with an acidic swirl giving teeth to the bottom end while some pianos noodle around on top. There’s also some reverberated synth stabs and the whole thing sounds quite a lot like Mirco De Govia’s Epic Monolith, which isn’t half bad, because Epic Monolith is awesome. It has a big, emotive breakdown and a nice uplifting drop which comes together well.

The last of the new mixes comes from Luke Chable, who predictably goes for the dark, brooding proggy template. Thumping beats, layers of filtered sound, and some interesting synths open up, along with the inevitable reverb (which seems to be prog’s calling card these days). A housey bassline rumbles in, but it’s five minutes before we hear any of the original, and even then it’s just a filtered layer of the vocals. It’s all nice and moody, but has very little to do with the actual track it’s remixing. Of course it would be horribly presumptuous to suggest that this is just a money grabbing way of tying one of Chable’s own productions to a recognised track name, so I won’t do anything like that.

Another month, another re-released trance record. At least this one has the benefit of being a genuine claimant to the title of “classic”, and includes the still magnificent Caspar Pound mix, along with a nice new mix by Tektonik^ to deserve your currency. There’s also some trance history in the dusty original mixes, and some passable modern culture with the Chable and, er, Chab mixes. It’s good but not great and very worth owning just to make your collection that little bit more complete.


Written by SYSTEM-J for TranceCritic.com. May not be reproduced or republished without the consent of TranceCritic.com. © All rights reserved.

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Title: Union Jack - Two Full Moons & A Trout 2006
Category: Single, EP
Sub Category: Trance
Reviewer: SYSTEM-J
Related Link: Platipus Records
Added: March 9th 2006
Viewed: 868 Times
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