Originally posted by thisispaul
Ok, here is what I had on my list to start
Klaus Schulze - Timewind (1975), Trancefer (1981) - Often listed as the origin of trance and it is very trancey but is lacking in a beat.
The KLF - What Time Is Love (Pure Trance Original) - from 1989 and what I consider to be the first trance track in terms of dance. Also Kylie in a Trance also from 1989.
Age of Love - Age of Love - Obviously the 1991 Jam and Spoon Watch Out For The Stellar mix but also the 1990 original.
Atahualpa - Ultimo Imperio (1990) - Very trancey sounding techno.
Dance 2 Trance - We came in Peace (1991)
Zyon - No Fate (1991) - The start of a great run of trance on Eye Q.
Visions of Shiva - Perfect Day (1992) - PVD and Cosmic Baby
Humate - Love Stimulation (1993) - PVDs Love Club Mix still sounds great.
Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (1993) - The Kid Paul original
Paragliders - Paraglide (1993) - Oliver Lieb at his best.
Hallucinogen - LSD (1994) - defined the Goa trance sound.
Anyone got anything to add to the early years?
A decent list, but needs much refinement. I think it's important to keep the list to tracks that are unequivocally trance, otherwise you get into very murky water. I don't think there's any point in putting Klaus Schulze tracks in - obviously trance was a '90s rave extension of the long-running German kosmische musik movement, but why draw the line at Klaus Schulze in particular? It's a different era, a different movement, there's no point in listing loads of Tangerine Dream and so on. Just a mention of those roots will suffice. What Time Is Love? is often considered the first trance record, or at least a proto-trance record, but apart from the name "Pure Trance" is it really any more trancey than a whole lot of acid house from that era? It also came out in 1988, by the way. Atahualpa's track is just far too obscure to be considered "important", and debatable whether it's even trance. Likewise, I wouldn't include tracks like Papua New Guinea. Too many people just think "trance" means any early-90s melodic ambient-y music, which is just plain wrong.
If I had to pick just ten tracks:
Dance 2 Trance - We Came In Peace (1990 Mix)
Usually agreed to be the first true trance record, from 1990.
Age Of Love - Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Mix)
Another one of the formative trance records, and one of the most enduringly popular of all time.
Hardfloor - Acperience 1
One of the most influential dance records ever, this track popularised the tactic of using a snare roll as the climax of the breakdown, thus setting in stone the formula for the majority of trance records that would follow, and countless other tracks in many other genres besides.
Jam & Spoon - Stella
The precursor of the Ibiza trance movement, demonstrating that trance could sound warm and summery as well as spacey and futuristic.
Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar
Probably the biggest trance record of all time, in terms of continued club play and popularity. Was already a genre classic by the time Three 'N One remixed it in 1997 and set the ball rolling for the "trance anthem" movement.
Humate - Love Stimulation (Paul Van Dyk Lovemix)
Arguably the mix that kick-started trance's obsession with being "emotional", and certainly popularised the melancholic-yet-euphoric mood that would became the genre's dominant emotional state. Also the highlight of PVD's ground-breaking X-Mix-1 compilation which introduced trance to a wider audience, and a huge club classic still regularly heard today.
Underworld - Dark & Long (Dark Train)
Light years ahead of its time, this was "progressive trance" years before the term was even invented and prefigured the entire British take on the genre. Featured in Trainspotting, closed out Northern Exposure and was Sasha's opening track on New Year's Eve, 1999 when he played on national radio. Still sounded relevant a decade after first being released.
Union Jack - Two Full Moons & A Trout (Caspar Pound Remix)
The original was the first big hit on Platipus Records, the first big British trance label, and Caspar Pound's 1994 remix featured a four minute breakdown with a massive melodic pay-off, paving the way for trance's obsession with ludicrous breakdowns.
Robert Miles - Children (Dream Version)
The most commercially successful trance record ever, and one of the biggest dance records of them all. Sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide by 1997, and appeared on countless TV adverts, radio jingles and pop compilations. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the record that introduced trance to the masses and without it most of us wouldn't be here now. This is the single most important track on the list.
Sasha - Xpander
The record that converted trance kids into prog heads en masse at the end of the '90s, allowing for the total dominance of the progressive scene over the next couple of years. Many argue that this is the record that inspired all those super-produced twinkly-sounding progressive trance records of the early '00s. As with most of the tracks on this list, a great record inspired an almighty procession of .
There are plenty of other tracks that should be mentioned, such as Greece 2000, Seven Days & One Week, No Fate, Vernon's Wonderland, LSD, Teleport, Mahadeva, Dreams, Beachball, Seven Cities, Eugina 1998, Out Of The Blue, Silence, Flaming June, Offshore... Also, when writing about dance music, it's not just individual tracks that are influential. It would be remiss to discuss the history of trance without mentioning, say, The Goa Mix, but how can you pick one track out of that mix as more classic than the rest?
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
A decent list, but needs much refinement. I think it's important to keep the list to tracks that are unequivocally trance, otherwise you get into very murky water. I don't think there's any point in putting Klaus Schulze tracks in - obviously trance was a '90s rave extension of the long-running German kosmische musik movement, but why draw the line at Klaus Schulze in particular? It's a different era, a different movement, there's no point in listing loads of Tangerine Dream and so on. Just a mention of those roots will suffice. What Time Is Love? is often considered the first trance record, or at least a proto-trance record, but apart from the name "Pure Trance" is it really any more trancey than a whole lot of acid house from that era? It also came out in 1988, by the way. Atahualpa's track is just far too obscure to be considered "important", and debatable whether it's even trance. Likewise, I wouldn't include tracks like Papua New Guinea. Too many people just think "trance" means any early-90s melodic ambient-y music, which is just plain wrong.
If I had to pick just ten tracks:
Dance 2 Trance - We Came In Peace (1990 Mix)
Usually agreed to be the first true trance record, from 1990.
Age Of Love - Age Of Love (Jam & Spoon Mix)
Another one of the formative trance records, and one of the most enduringly popular of all time.
Hardfloor - Acperience 1
One of the most influential dance records ever, this track popularised the tactic of using a snare roll as the climax of the breakdown, thus setting in stone the formula for the majority of trance records that would follow, and countless other tracks in many other genres besides.
Jam & Spoon - Stella
The precursor of the Ibiza trance movement, demonstrating that trance could sound warm and summery as well as spacey and futuristic.
Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar
Probably the biggest trance record of all time, in terms of continued club play and popularity. Was already a genre classic by the time Three 'N One remixed it in 1997 and set the ball rolling for the "trance anthem" movement.
Humate - Love Stimulation (Paul Van Dyk Lovemix)
Arguably the mix that kick-started trance's obsession with being "emotional", and certainly popularised the melancholic-yet-euphoric mood that would became the genre's dominant emotional state. Also the highlight of PVD's ground-breaking X-Mix-1 compilation which introduced trance to a wider audience, and a huge club classic still regularly heard today.
Underworld - Dark & Long (Dark Train)
Light years ahead of its time, this was "progressive trance" years before the term was even invented and prefigured the entire British take on the genre. Featured in Trainspotting, closed out Northern Exposure and was Sasha's opening track on New Year's Eve, 1999 when he played on national radio. Still sounded relevant a decade after first being released.
Union Jack - Two Full Moons & A Trout (Caspar Pound Remix)
The original was the first big hit on Platipus Records, the first big British trance label, and Caspar Pound's 1994 remix featured a four minute breakdown with a massive melodic pay-off, paving the way for trance's obsession with ludicrous breakdowns.
Robert Miles - Children (Dream Version)
The most commercially successful trance record ever, and one of the biggest dance records of them all. Sold over 5,000,000 copies worldwide by 1997, and appeared on countless TV adverts, radio jingles and pop compilations. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the record that introduced trance to the masses and without it most of us wouldn't be here now. This is the single most important track on the list.
Sasha - Xpander
The record that converted trance kids into prog heads en masse at the end of the '90s, allowing for the total dominance of the progressive scene over the next couple of years. Many argue that this is the record that inspired all those super-produced twinkly-sounding progressive trance records of the early '00s. As with most of the tracks on this list, a great record inspired an almighty procession of .
There are plenty of other tracks that should be mentioned, such as Greece 2000, Seven Days & One Week, No Fate, Vernon's Wonderland, LSD, Teleport, Mahadeva, Dreams, Beachball, Seven Cities, Eugina 1998, Out Of The Blue, Silence, Flaming June, Offshore... Also, when writing about dance music, it's not just individual tracks that are influential. It would be remiss to discuss the history of trance without mentioning, say, The Goa Mix, but how can you pick one track out of that mix as more classic than the rest?
Good points and I won't really argue against your choices - bar one. I will always maintain that the original Pure Trance version of What Time is Love? is trance - just this one, the others in the Pure Trance series don't fit in with trance. I think its influence was more on the darker side of trance rather than the fluffier uplifting trance that has its roots in the German stuff in the early 90s, particularly Dance 2 Trance and Age of Love. I can still remember the first time I heard What Time is Love? in a club in 1989 and it completely blew me away. The fact that so many trance artists have copied or covered it shows its influence. The moment I listend to the start of Paul Oakenfold's latest Full Moon Party I was reminded on What Time is Love. And I agree with you that mixes are hugely important, The Goa Mix and X-Mix 1 being particular stand outs. But obviously it is all up for discussion. And I ag
Trance-MB
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
There are plenty of other tracks that should be mentioned, such as Greece 2000, Seven Days & One Week, No Fate, Vernon's Wonderland, LSD, Teleport, Mahadeva, Dreams, Beachball, Seven Cities, Eugina 1998, Out Of The Blue, Silence, Flaming June, Offshore...
Probably it would be a list of 50 tracks or something, but...
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Also, when writing about dance music, it's not just individual tracks that are influential.
it's difficult to judge whether individual tracks really had influence at all, besides being a big hit at the time. For some it's obvious, like Children, but for many it's not IMO.
What time is love? was a great track, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that one had more influence on trance than the Pure Trance version.
Icesotope
Jones & Stephenson – The First Rebirth
First Step To Hard Trance
pozz
question for Trance-MB: you german/dutch-speaking guys still call trance "hammer" or is that reserved for the old stuff?
meriter
medway - resurrection
launched Hooj Choons
SYSTEM-J
quote:
Originally posted by meriter
medway - resurrection
launched Hooj Choons
Are you ing joking? Hooj Choons had been around since 1991, and had scored major chart hits like Felix - Don't You Want Me and JX - Son Of A Gun before Medway had even signed a record deal. Don't post in this thread if you can't even do the most basic of research.
thisispaul
quote:
Originally posted by meriter
medway - resurrection
launched Hooj Choons
Really??? It was the 66th release on Hooj Choons and then the 167th for the rerelease. Hardly a launch. I'd agree that Hooj were a very important label but I certainly wouldn't have this as an important release.
meriter
both of you guys that release was huge for them I know they had been around for a long time before that
