Platipus Records: Cat. # PLAT210
Released 2009

Track list:
Wildlife On One:
1. Kaleidoscope (8.10)
2. Mosquito (7.12)
3. Gloria (Transparent Mix) (7.46)
4. Haagen Daaz (7.48)
5. Octopus (8.21)
6. Golden Rain (10.02)
7. Deeper Than Deep (7.23)
8. Blue Owl (9.04)
9. Emerald Eyes (6.14)
10. Cambodia (Tunnel Vision Mix) (7.26)

Voice Of Earth:
1. Breathe (6.07)
2. Monsoon (8.29)
3. The Hummer (7.39)
4. Madagascar (7.05)
5. Requiem (7.38)
6. Dud UK (6.53)
7. Easter Island (6.31)
8. Stealth (7.10)
9. Panorama (7.15)
10. Voice Of Earth (6.27)

Mixed By Art Of Trance:
1. Swarm
2. Colours (Clanger Remix)
3. Cambodia (Clanger Remix)
4. Kaleidoscope (Sunday Club Lens Of Atlantis Mix)
5. Love Washes Over
6. Madagascar (Richard Durand Remix)
7. Wanna Be An Angel (Art Of Trance Vs DBA Remix)
8. Persia
9. Mongoose (Tektonik Remix)
10. Turkish Bizarre (DBA Remix)
11. Calling Your Name (Art Of Trance Chillout Remix)


IN BRIEF: Comprehensive.

Art Of Trance. Quite a presumptuous name, when you come to think of it. Especially back in the early 90s when Simon Berry sat down to think of it, before he'd made any kind of name for himself. It's one thing calling yourself the Art Of Trance if you're a super group comprised of Olivier Lieb, Harald Bluchel and Rolf Ellmer, quite another if you're a complete unknown who has never released a record. Berry was an intrepid bloke alright, and he also had the guts to set up his own record label to release his tracks. This was back in the days when record labels actually had to press and distribute vinyl, and have physical headquarters, rather than distributing files through the binary ether of the 'net from the head office of someone's external hard drive.

That was 1993. Now, in 2009, nobody questions Berry's alias (except facetious web hacks, naturally), or his legendary Platipus label. And just in case anyone did, Berry can now point them in the direction of Retrospective, a sprawling triple-disc monument to everything he and Platipus stood for. Which just happens to be the art of lush, acid-soaked Proper Trance.

Contained within are AOT's two albums - 1996's Wildlife On One and 1999's Voice Of Earth, as well as a mixed disc of various remixes and non-album singles. Oh, and every last track has been remastered, meaning the best part of the AOT discography can now be dropped alongside brand new music without the need for extensive EQing. The man just doesn't do things by halves.

When Wildlife On One debuted back in 1996, trance was on the cusp of great upheaval. Robert Miles' Children (signed, back then, to Platipus) was about to go nuclear and introduce melodic, accessible trance to the masses, Paul Van Dyk's Seven Ways was set to be the standout LP of the new progressive trance sound and the Oakenfold-speared goa trance scene was the hottest fad on Berry's native dancefloors. The pure, hypnotic acid trance sound of Platipus was only a few months from being obsolescent. Not that it was particularly out-of-date, or tired, but rather it would stand in ever-starker contrast to the easily-digestible sound trance would move towards.

Although the remastering has made it sound bigger, beefier and clearer than previously, Wildlife On One is not a timeless album. It's an album from a specific time and place in dance music history, just before this great sea-change in trance that would end in tears for everyone. Collated from singles released between 1993 and 1996, it is a snapshot of trance in its early years, drenched in endless scrawled acid.

Wildlife On One derives its name from a BBC documentary, and Berry raided the sound effects library for rainforest canopy choruses, running water and frog croaks, which he placed alongside wordless vocal chants and broad pads. Unlike much classic German trance, which was themed around sci-fi and space, trance as made by Berry felt organic and spiritual. Some may find this hippy-dippy vibe, coupled with the inevitably dated production quality, too much to bear. Despite that, it's an undeniably influential and important album with the unmistakable classic trance ethos and some soaring melodic passages that still hold up today. Needless to say, classic trance fans who have no problem at all with old school pad sounds and the occasional percussion line made out of sampled frogs will lap it up. But then, they probably own it already.

By the time Voice Of Earth hit the shops in 1999, the stylistic directions that had been on the horizon in 1996 were well and truly entrenched. Epic trance was at its peak, and it was a Ferry Corsten remix of Madagascar that gave Berry his biggest hit. Taking the catchy hook from the Cygnus X remix, Corsten threw in supersaws and dramatic breakdowns to make the track sound like just about everything else being released at the time. Predictably, it was hugely successful.

Cyberkids who came across the album looked for more hands-in-the-air moments will have been disappointed, because the original version of Madagascar continued where Berry had left off. No catchy melody, no extended breakdown: just driving, hypnotic acid and twisted synth arpeggios. While the album is less acidic and more tuneful than Wildlife On One, and opening track Breathe certainly demonstrates an epic trance influence, this is basically a straight sequel with fewer nature samples and improved production across the board. Tracks like Easter Island, Stealth and Voice On Earth are classic AOT cuts and probably the zenith of Berry’s distinctive sound.

Beginning with a flurry of more cheerful, melodic pieces, the album comes to a stop halfway through with the haunting downtempo piece, Requiem. Then it picks up again, becoming darker as it builds steadily towards the driving closing track. However, this brilliant structural progression is spoiled somewhat by the inclusion of Panorama, a track drenched in syrupy MOR piano. After spending an hour steadily losing yourself in the entrancing pulse of the album, the spell is broken by this maudlin piece of cheddar. Not only is it bizarrely incongruous, it occurs right before the end and completely destroys the flow that has been so carefully established. It's an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise excellent album.

Despite the success of Madagascar, the releases quickly dried up from AOT. The scattering of material released since 1999, including this year's comeback single Swarm, is collected on the third disc, along with the pick of the remixes from down the years. In contrast to the generally consistent artist albums, this third disc is completely erratic, both in style and in quality. Arguably the best tracks on the whole triple-disc collection are found here, right next to the absolute worst. Sunday Club's epic remix of Kaleidoscope, the soaring Natascha Atlas collaboration Persia and the Tektonik and DBA rerubs of Mongoose and Turkish Bizarre are all superb, but they rub shoulders with some outright crap. Love Washes Over is the kind of nauseating vocal anthem we ridicule Armin for releasing, and Richard Durand's "remix” of Madagascar is a cynical rehash that should have been ditched for the Cygnus X remix.

Then there's the chillout mix of Libra and Taylor's Anomaly (Calling Your Name). Proof that even the legends of trance are not free from sin, this remix was part of Platipus' money-spinning 2003 reissue of the classic and screams "unnecessary!" from start to finish. By 2003 the track had been taken in every worthwhile direction: the obvious acid trance route had been done by Granny in '96, Ferry Corsten had anthemed it up, Quivver had progged it up and the original mix was still one to make dancefloors tremble at the knees. So Berry ended up making an utterly crap downtempo version full of guitar strums and other ill-advised nonsense. It's baffling that he's actually proud enough of this pot boiler to end on it, but as Panorama and Love Washes Over have already taught us, he does occasionally lose all sense of taste and quality.

There's no doubt that Retrospective is good value. To acquire this material second-hand, you’d be paying two or three times the asking price of this compilation. It's also great to see classic trance being remembered, and being available on the high street. Kids could learn from listening to this. And so on. But let's put aside Simon Berry's undoubted importance and influence to the genre, and forget all the ideology about how this is "real" trance rather than the diluted, derivative pop-schlock of today's scene, and say it how it is. This isn't brilliant. Just because Wildlife On One dates back to the romanticised glory years of trance doesn't mean it's anything better than "alright". Voice Of Earth is a very good album, but it's flawed. And the third disc is an infuriatingly mixed bag.

This isn't iconoclasm. It's one thing to have respect for the past, it's another to blindly worship it. Looking back at his career, it’s difficult not to conclude that while Simon Berry created many memorable and important moments, he also created a multitude of flawed and forgettable ones. If you've never heard Art Of Trance before and you buy this expecting genius, you'll be forgiven for feeling a little disappointed.

ACE TRACKS:
Kaleidoscope (Sunday Club Lens Of Atlantis Mix)
Persia
Mongoose (Tektonik Remix)


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

Title: Art Of Trance - Retrospective
Category: Album
Sub Category: Trance
Reviewer: SYSTEM-J
Related Link: http://www.platipus.com/
Added: October 17th 2009
Viewed: 738 Times
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