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I'm about to complain slightly. If what I'm
complaining about is Tiesto's intent - and it may very
well be - then I apologize in advance for just not
getting it. (And for what it's worth, I'm going to
compliment, as well.) A fair amount of the Tiesto I've
listened to in my stint as a reviewer strikes me as
occupying a bit of a fence-straddling position between
chillout and trance. The beats are there, and they're
not downtempo; they've got the trance pulse. The
expansive etherea is there, as well. But sometimes it
just feels like the music can't decide if it wants to
be ambient or if it wants to be epic trance. It's not
ambient enough to be ambient (the beats, you know) and
it's somehow not infectious enough to be epic trance.
Now, this is very pretty music and Tiesto is to be
commended for putting together a mix of music that,
emotionally, perfectly fits the "In Search of Sunrise"
motif. It's evocative electronica and terribly
beautiful, certainly something you could let your soul
fly away in. But at the same time, for me, anyway, it
never quite hooks me the way I like trance to do. I
want to be caught up, enraptured, elevated; in short,
I want a little more assertiveness. Witness the
soul-possession quality of compilations like Mark
Oliver's "Timeless Trance" or any number of comps from
Neurodisc Records, one of the best issuers of trance
in the biz. I wonder why the powerful trance Tiesto
spins on his live DVDs doesn't show up here. This is
lush and gorgeous, don't get me wrong. But it's not
compelling. If I want floataway music, I'll likely
pick some ambient or chilled downtempo (like
Amethystium or Delerium). And if I want trance, it
likely won't be this. Sorry, but it's just not my
thing. But in all fairness, millions of music fans
disagree with me.-- review by Kristofer Upjohn
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