My vinyl purchases from the past couple of months. Reviewed.
I just felt in the mood to do this, so here it goes. In January I started my collection which is growing relatively quickly. If you know me, I'm mainly into older stuff and prefer CD to vinyl but these are all stuff that I could only find in vinyl and pointed me in the direction to start a collection:
Natural Born Grooves - Groovebird (Positiva 1997)
A1 Original Mix
A2 NBG Mix Pt. 2
B1 Klubbheads Remix
B2 Qattara Remix
I picked this one up for the Qattara remix as I'm a big fan of theirs. While the original NBG Mix and Klubbheads Remix are rather dated pizicatto based old Euro House/Trance, Qattara have worked it into a beauty. Featuring the trademark Qattara piano in the breakdown and led by stabbing acidic riffs, another really nice piece of work from the boys.
Salt Tank - Skyline/I Dream Of Jeanie (4Real 1998)
A1 Skyline
B2 I Dream Of Jeanie
A very limited 10" vinyl release. After hearing "Skyline" in Real Audio on Salt Tank's official site I had to make this purchase. Beautiful, laid back melodic led by a lovely sun kissed guitar melody over and some sweeping piano, this should be among Salt Tank's classsics like "Eugina", "Dimension" and "Pueblo Blanco". I strongly advise you to pick this up if you can. The B side, "I Dream Of Jeanie" is another Epic masterpiece full of dark piano and haunting female vocals.
Dizzy - Cuerdas (Strings) (EastWestDance 1997)
A1 Dizzy's Original Mix
A2 Qattara Remix
B1 Distant Drum Remix
B2 Dizzy's Co-ordinated Remix
Again, I bought this for the Qattara Mix. A lengthy and laid back stringed intro with Qattara's trademark piano leads into 4/4 1997 UK Epic trance. Midway through comes a gorgeous breakdown with spoken Spanish female vocals and again with the piano, then build up with a riff similar to that of "Dark And Long" by Underworld. But personally I find this much better, some of Qattara's best work. The Dizzy and Distant Drum mixes cover similar ground but Qattara wins hands down.
Ariel - Deep (I'm Falling Deeper) (Wonderboy 1996)
Record 1 A1 Stretch & Vern Mix
Record 1 B1 Vincent De Moor Remix
Record 1 B2 Red Jerry 95' Remix
Record 2 A1 Digital Blondes Seriously Positive Mix
Record 2 A2 Deeper Vocal Mix
Quite a rare Wonderboy promo I picked up for the Digital Blondes Seriously Positive Mix but I actually found myself more interested with Red Jerry's Remix which is a great anthemic piece of uplifting house/trance which sounds somewhat similar to his co-production with JX from that year, "There's Nothing I Won't Do" but without the vocals. The Deeper Vocal Mix, also by Red Jerry is essentially the same but with a slightly over the top male vocal. The Digital Blondes Seriously Positive Mix was a little bit of a letdown for me but the more I listened to it the more it grew on me. Featuring a riff very similar to "Antheum" by The Digital Blondes and heavily relying on the male vocal which took some growing on me but that cheeky little riff got me coming back for more. The Vincent De Moor remix is the worst of the bunch, essentially nothing more than a Re-Edit of the Deeper Vocal Mix, I was expecting more.
Tocayo - It's Gonna Be Alright (ID&T 1996)
A1 Original Mix
B1 Red Jerry Mix
B2 X Cabs Remix
The original is disco house with female diva vocals, not quite my cup of tea really but on the B Side there are two remixes by Red Jery and X Cabs, the latter being the better. Following in Hook Recordings classsic "dark trance" style as I call it and the vocals cut down to minimum, this is a stormer that would go down well on the dancefloor. Fits Christopher Lawrence's style if you see what I mean. 
DMC Remix Culture (DMC 1996)
Record 1 A1 Reel To Reel - Jazz It Up
Record 1 A2 Shiva - Let There Be Love (Amethyst's Violet Mix)
Record 1 B1 Dakeyne - Illegal Cut Up
Record 1 B2 Peaches & Herbs - Shake Your Groove Thing
Record 2 A1 Future Force - What You Want (Fade Remix)
Record 2 A1 Friday Night - Friday Night (Johnny Vicious New York Style Mix)
I paid a lot for this rare 2x12" Promo from DMC mainly for the remix of Shiva - Let There Be Love by Amethyst. And I don't regret it one bit, following along the lines of "The Tempest" and "Futura" by Amethsyt, this is a great piece of storming UK trance. Led by simple bleepy melody over a crisp 4/4 bassline and the dark techy samples that everybody was using at the time and with female very diva-esque vocals singing about "in times of trouble, ohhh let there be love, let there be peace...". It's very nicely put together and I'm glad I picked it up. Pitty John Horrocks of the Essex duo Amethyst is dead, as they were one of my favourite producers of the old style of Epic UK Trance. Most of the other tracks on this vinyl are disco house which again is not my cup of tea, but on Record 2 there is a great remix of Future Force - What You Want by Fade. Yes, it's in their classic "Sanctuary" style and it's very nice.
Surge Feat. Sally Strawberry - Summertime (Millenium 1998)
A1 Quietman Remix
A2 Surge Remix
B1 Heliotropic Remix
I picked it up for the Heliotropic and Quietman remixes, the latter is by far the best. Platipus artist Quietman brings out a stormer of a mix with all the trademark Platipus sounds that I know and love and featuring the dark and haunting vocals of Sally Strawberry in the breakdown. The Heliotropic mix is a bit different to what I expected, it completely removes the vocal and goes for a darker journey a bit like the Hook Recordings style. It's very good, and again would work well that kind of dancefloor.
Jayn Hanna - River Of Tears (VC Recordings 1999)
A1 Evolution Club Mix
B1 Evolution Dub Mix
After loving the other tracks with Jayn Hanna's vocals and almost everything from the Manchester boys Barry Jamieson and Johnothan Sutton aka Evolution, I had no choice but to get this. Superb vocal performance from Jayn marked with the 1999 Progressive Trance sound, need I say anymore? 
The B Side has a dub mix which is technically superb, however it seems like nothing without the vocals.
Well, that took me a while but I felt I really wanted to do it.
Last edited by aloep on Feb-21-2003 at 16:19
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Thanks for the reviews!
