Paul Van Dyk - Volume: The Best Of Review
Posted by Mike Knowles on 07.17.2009
One of the Demi-Gods of trance releases his greatest hits collection! Will this album solidify his place at the top? Or simply remind us how he’s just not that great?
As an on-and-off listener of trance, I was intrigued when I found that one of my old idols Paul Van Dyk, had become old enough to release a 2CD greatest hits collection. However, it has been a while since I listened to the East Berlin native, so I'm expecting big things from both his old and new material. "For An Angel" was the track that practically introduced me to trance (along with "Adagio for Strings" by DJ Tiesto), so I was excited to find it was the first track. Anyway, there’s no time for nostalgia. Headphones on!
Disc 1
1. For An Angel (PvD Remix ‘09)
2. Home (PvD Club mix)
3. Let Go
4. White Lies
5. Nothing But You
6. Another Way
7. Forbidden Fruit
8. Together We Will Conquer
9. New York City
10. A Magical Moment
11. The Other Side
12. We Are Alive
13. Time of Our Lives
Disc 2
1. Justin Timberlake - What Goes Around Comes Around (PvD Mix)
2. U2 – Elevation (PvD Mix)
3. Depeche Mode – Martyr (PvD Mix)
4. Timo Maas – Pictures (PvD Mix)
5. New Order – Spooky (PvD Mix)
6. Humate - Love Stimulation (PvD Mix)
7. Faithless - Bring My Family Back (PvD Mix)
8. Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard - Batman Theme (Paul van Dyk remix)
9. Binary Finary – 1998 (PvD Mix)
10. Lisa Miskovsky - Still alive (PvD Mix)
11. Britney Spears - Gimme More (PvD Mix)
We kick off with a song everyone knows at least by the tune, "For An Angel". As a true club classic, this track requires no real words. A sick drop in clicks neatly into a pounding rhythm with the iconic lead, this track seems to have it all. As Paul Van Dyks breakthrough single, there’s no question that this is automatically a highlight of the album. You might as well have a video. It's the 2009 remix featured on this album.
A smooth merge leads us into "Home", which is rather pounding. My headphones are struggling. This track uses the momentum from the previous track and uses it well, as it is of practically the same pace and style. I’m hearing good atmospheric vocals, which results in quite an uplifting overall track.
"Let Go" requires a few turns on the volume, as this needs to be played LOUD. That growling synth begs to be turned up to speaker blowing volume. Unfortunately, the lackluster vocals do let the track down a little, and despite the nice strings towards the end the synth does get quite annoying after a few minutes. It depends if repetition is really your forte.
The intro to "White Lies" reminds me of Space Invaders. However it soon changes into a nice fat lead rhythm. Jessica Sutta of Pussycat Dolls fame is impressive on vocals, and transforms the track into much more of a listenable, mainstream kind of track, and an overall ideal club banger. "Nothing But You" follows, which is around a minute and a half of solid build up, and a sick drop in. Unfortunately that’s it. If it had been longer, this track could have been a real classic.
"Forbidden Fruit" is up next, and it’s pretty standard Van Dyk. It’s got a nice blend of strings and synth at the start, and a pretty little minimalist outro. "Together We Will Conquer" is superior, with a really nice chill out vibe to it. The vocals are simple but effective, and overall create a lot of uplift. This is a highlight on the album. I had it on repeat.
"New York City" is very polished in its sound, and has an excellent use of vocals at around the 2:40 mark, which creates a lot of tension. The volume changes are a very good usage of dynamics, something you don’t see in a lot of modern trance/dance music (Happy Hardcore genre, I’m looking at you.)
"Magical Moment" has an early 90’s dance vibe to it initially; the synth reminds me of the intro to "How Could I", by Cynic. However, this track never really gets past the intro, and I got bored of it very quickly. "The Other Side" follows, and is once again a good polished trance club track.
"We Are Alive" and "Time of Our Lives" close off the album with two more good basic trance tunes. However the momentum from the first half of the track has been mostly lost by this stage and you may have already started listening to something else. Aphex Twin personally.
End of CD1. Breathe. Relax.
The second CD of the album is comprised of remixes of a variety of songs. It impressed me in that it has took tracks that I normally dislike such as "What Goes Around...Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake or "Gimme More" Britney Spears, and made them awesome. Another favourite of mine is the remix of "Still Alive" by Lisa Miskovsky. However i'll be honest, the remix of "Elevation" by U2 is just awful.
A track by track analysis would be largely pointless, as it seems that no opinion over this CD of the album could ever tessellate with another. Some may think the songs have just been ruined, but for me they’ve been enhanced. Imagine this CD as an average looking girl having some plastic surgery and coming out looking a hell of a lot better. The music itself is very polished, and I found it all very well suited to clubs, as is the whole idea. Overall it’s a nice surprise.
The 411: The first CD is just as expected really. The best tracks ("For An Angel", "White Lies") are closer to the start of the album, and by the end of the album I was wondering if all the 'hits' were used up at the start. Despite this, the vast majority of the tracks is very good despite lack of ‘hit’ status, and is all brilliant in a club environment.
CD2 is an interesting bonus to the album, and will definitely split opinion. For me, it was an interesting take on some already interesting tracks, and an overall very good idea. It also shows how Van Dyk still has 'it', and makes me hopeful for his future music. Besides, clubbing's supposed to be fun right?
