I was listening to this album today on a lovely late summer evening, and it occurred to me that I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned on TA. It also seems widely ignored on Discogs, where only 49 people own a copy. I can only think it passed under the radar because it came out in 2004, by which point some of the tunes on it were almost a decade old, and sounding totally out of sync with where the scene was at that time.
And yet, we talk about the few classic trance albums, from names like BT, Chicane and Paul Van Dyk, and I think this album is easily as good as any of them. Better, if anything. Most of the tracks are from that same glory era of '95-97, and it has that same dreamy, breakbeat-infused vibe as the names mentioned above, flowing beautifully together as an album.
I honestly can't believe how under-appreciated this album is, especially given the title track was such a huge classic for the likes of Oakenfold and Tiesto. At the time of writing, this track from the album has 21 plays on Youtube. 21! Absolutely criminal. Sort it out, TA:
Trance-M
It sucks when a video I try to watch isn't available, but regarding the views, check the numbers of views at Auranaut's YT channel, that can't be real:
I guess it indeed was under the radar and maybe more for a listeners audience. Of course this doesn't say anything about how good is it. Clearly it deserved much more.
I got this one at the Trancemaster 16 compilation in 1997, which according to discogs was the only compilation that contained the track. Surprisingly very few compilations actually contained Auranaut's tracks:
I must admit that I like Auranaut's track a lot more now than 20 years ago.
SYSTEM-J
I suspect those viewing figures are completely real, sad as it is to say. His play stats on Spotify and other places are equally pitiful.
He brought out another album not long after this one called Divine Ordinance, which is trippy downtempo breakbeat stuff and also very good, and just as ignored.
Trance-M
The "Under The Radar" album of 2013 (that name...) isn't even mentioned at Discogs or am I blind?
DJ RANN
Only have a vague memory of this album and waking up is actually the only track I slightly remember.
Tbh, he was somewhat the blueprint and I imagine heavily influenced Nick Bracegirdle for the album we know dropped a good year or two later.
I think one of the problems is that you had the likes of BT and Nick putting this stuff out with much more fanfare and the former's case, an already established fanbase; a cursory google actually showed it was pretty hard to find anything on Dear in terms of bio or background. A scant discogs page is about it. Gramted it was easier for music itself to rise to the top by itself and without a twattish DJ logo and Managed instagram page which seems to be the first stop for any producer or DJ these days.
Cracking re-find though.
SYSTEM-J
I'm not even particularly baffled by Graham Dear's relative lack of success in the industry. He wasn't as prolific as the other names in the mid '90s and took a long time to put an album out, so he probably just didn't build his profile when the iron was hot. What baffles me is that the "serious trance" crowd, who have pretty much combed the entire genre top to bottom in search of gems, have never unearthed this one.
I would compare it to another excellent and relatively unknown trance album from 2004; 12 Moons - Solid State. 12 Moons never had a hit anywhere near as big as PWTBN (not even including Dear's previous success as Power Circle), and Solid State didn't do any big business. And yet it's got numerous reviews over on Discogs and I've seen threads made about it on TA years after it came out. It has a small but strong cult reputation, and I would expect the same for this album.
Midlothian
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
I can only think it passed under the radar because it came out in 2004, by which point some of the tunes on it were almost a decade old, and sounding totally out of sync with where the scene was at that time.
Quite simply this. And perhaps it's not only that Dear released an album with these tracks and this sound only in 2004, when most enthusiasts in the scene were interested in a wholly different trance sound and just a handful of us remained, but also that it was the first release on a new label of his own (Power Circle). Unless I remember very wrongly fourteen years on, it was very hard to acquire a copy. Not to be rude but unless he had proper distribution arranged it would basically look like a self-released thing.
With regard to 12 Moons I wouldn't be surprised if it being relatively unknown is simply because it was released in the 'psy' scene. All I saw at the time was a hell of a lot of people not even being aware of such releases solely because of the great subgenre divide. Which I consider one of the saddest things about the trance and prog scene of that time.
Midlothian
quote:
Originally posted by Trance-M
The "Under The Radar" album of 2013 (that name...) isn't even mentioned at Discogs or am I blind?
No not blind, no-one's submitted it there.
That album was announced on his Facebook page, and it is available at least on iTunes and Spotify. I'm afraid the title is rather appropriate indeed. It doesn't seem to have gotten a lot of response when Dear announced it. And to be honest I think it isn't exactly something that was destined to stand out in any way and attract proper sales. The only track I do appreciate just happens to be the one that still sounds a bit like the old Auranaut.
Trance-M
I like "This Time", "Stand clear (Heavy mix)" and "Out in the dark" a lot. There isn't a track I really dislike.
From the Divine Ordinance album I really like "Highway at night". The nice use of the sample probably contributed a lot to that.
And I guess it won't be hard to imagine that I think this remix is awesome:
