Manifesto: Cat. # 987 836-1/987 836-0
Released April 24, 2006

Tracklists:
CD:
1. Stoned In Love (Radio Edit) (3:41)
2. Music For Elevators (4:13)

CD2
1. Stoned In Love (Radio Edit) (3:41)
2. Stoned In Love (Commercial 12" Mix) (5:01)
3. Stoned In Love (Vertigo Vocal Remix) (9:04)
4. Stoned In Love (The Young Punx Vocal Remix) (7:53)


IN BRIEF: Flashes of brilliance and shit in a weird mixture.

Stoned In Love. The new Chicane single after a long moment of silence. Everybody knows Chicane, don't you? Nick Bracegirdle is the man who single-handedly redefined summery music with Offshore, euphoric trance moments with Saltwater, and the perfect mixing of vocals into electronic with Don't Give Up. He's a legend by the right of his earlier productions alone. Now, there have been some alarmingly sub-par pieces coming from him the last few years, like Strong In Love and Love On The Run, both unable to hold a candle to his brilliant earlier works.

However, he was about to release an album, but either due to the early fashion it was leaked on peer-to-peer or the response he got on the quality due to this caused him to decide to rework it before release. This could either be viewed as money-diggery or a respect for his fans. Take what sides you want.

So now Chicane is here with some new music. I'm combining CD1 and CD2 of this release in one epic review. The first disc has a short edit of the title track and a b-side, while the second has the longer version and remixes. (of the title track, duh) I will consider the merits of both for the final score, but also note what I'd give the individual discs. Got all that? Here we go.

The radio edit kicks off rather well, extremely razor-edge production with distorted synths and a snapping kickdrum with impact. Before we get into this well, Tom Jones starts singing. Now here is where opinions split. Shall I judge this as radio pop or trance? Or vocal trance?
The lyrics do work well, but not from a trance perspective. As pop, this is very decent, and I'd have nothing against playing this on a sunny day, driving to the beach or somesuch - but as trance... at a party or for home listening, the lyrics ruin the extremely well-structured and effectively building track. There's a lot of atmosphere, but Jones manages to screw it over with his vocals. If you do appreciate vocals in your music, then sure, you'll love this. The casual listener? Sure. But for those of us spoiled by how well Chicane can do this stuff, it's mediocre. Mostly a watered-down Don't Give Up.

Now for the highlight of this single - the b-side: Music For Elevators. Words can't begin describing. A chilly groove with thick, dreamy bass starts this little piece of bliss, and we are introduced to wonderfully breezy melodies. The summer feeling is total and overwhelming. This is what Chicane is all about, capturing these bittersweet summer moments in sound like a painter. At about 1.18 pads join it and the track keeps getting better, as if it was possible. It's equal to the best moments of Far From The Maddening Crowds, and I just can't praise it enough. A detached little piano solo appears at the end, and by this point I know what will be the main soundtrack of my summer. Chicane still has it.

This disc would get about 4/5, or 5/5 if you're open to pop. For the trancer with fine tastes, it's very worth buying for the b-side.

Now, disc two also has the radio edit. It's the same as on the previous. So how is the "Commercial 12" mix"? Well, to start it has much more introduction with beats before anything happens. As said, the beats are very well done, and... well, then the vocals start again. And they're exactly the same as before, obviously. This time we have a vocal-less section towards the end when you can just listen to the music itself. It's better, but I'd have preferred a dub mix or whatever the vocal-less ones are called.

Vertigo Vocal Remix? Again the beat is very infectious and full. Little electronic bleeps join a while before the bass starts to form the structure of this one. Then it all blows up into full stride, and I'm loving it this far. It could be just the summer weather decreasing my level of criticism, of course. Little chops of melody float here and there. The vocals join again, slightly altered with vocoding, and they sound just a tad better - until the climax comes. The background is absolutely beautiful, but Jones won't shut up. SILENCE DAMNIT! I want to hear the music and not your goddamn monotonous voice! Eventually he runs out of words and we get a massive payoff in the form of gorgeously epic, huge pads that make listening to those vocals all worthwhile.

I wish they'd have included the Vertigo Instrumental Remix, but fine. I'll get that elsewhere, then, because while this is great, that one is awesome. Twp more of those anthemic climaxes happen before it all fades out. I'll tell you the truth. I've started to get used to these vocals by now, and they're not really that bad, especially with the rest of the goodness - but still the last minutes when there mostly only instrumental greatness are better than the rest.

The Young Punx kick off their vocal remix with a disco/house feeling. Somewhat of a parade or something. And they include the vocals straight from point one, this time with added choruses. Choruses. Fucking choruses. Kill me.

The bass structure is very interesting but the grind and grind and grind the vocals in the most obnoxious fashion. The climax sounds sampled from some famous track that I cannot recall, but generally every second of this is painful. Young Punx fail to create the momentum required to make this singing work. I'm never going to play this again, despite the sweet little brass section near the end. Cut the vocals. Please. You're in over your head.

Oh, and there's a video too. It's the radio edit playing, and it's about two robbers or such being chased by the police. It explains the ugly cover with the rubber mask and money. The former being worn by one of them as he robs a little gas station the middle of nowhere. The mask depicts Tom Jones BTW, if you didn't notice. I didn't.

That's it for disc two. I'd say the Vertigo remix and the Original are decent, the former more than the latter. They'd net a 4/5, but Young Punx shoot the CD in the leg and take the whole thing down a peg. I'm going to be positive and give it 3, no thanks to their self-indulgent wankery.

So what's the summary? Well, all in all, a decent single release. What bothers me is the chosen tracks - I'd have taken the longer original, Music For Elevators, and the Vertigo Instrumental Remix and left it at that - would've brought us very close to a 5/5 from a musical omnivore persepective, and 4/5 for the trancers.

What remains now is sadly not worth more than what I've given. Everybody should buy the first disc for reasons earlier explained. The second disc is hit and miss at best. Here's for hoping Chicane will expand on the b-side and make a whole album of similar material. Cheers.


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

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Title: Chicane featuring Tom Jones - Stoned In Love
Category: Single, EP
Sub Category: Trance
Reviewer: Cinos
Related Link: Chicane Website
Added: May 8th 2006
Viewed: 7888 Times
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