Armin van Buuren - Universal Religion 2004: Live From Armada At Ibiza

This CD mix compilation definitely brings out Armin’s best ability: live performance. Synergy’s Hello Strings is a perfect introduction to set the tone and make the audience realize that he has great tracks in store for them later. While traversing through a pleasing build-up, the set is laced with epic tunes like The World Doesn’t Know and Ridgewalker’s Find. From a more progressive beginning to the set, Armin gracefully takes the listener, just as he did the audience, into a dream-trance feel with Surrender and Voller Sterne. Armin keeps the audience raising their hands to the sky and then kicks the floor hard with his 2004 summer smash Intruder. I wish this CD continued on past the fourteenth track because, with such an amazing first eighty minutes, it would have been nice to hear Armin take the crowd at Amnesia all the way to the end. High points for me in this release are the aforementioned tracks along with pretty much everything else that is on it. What particularly catches me each time I listen to this one, however, is how Armin mixed Talk Like A Stranger into Foreplay. He brings the vocals of Jes, of Motorcycle fame, into perfect harmony with the oncoming Probspot base line. Beautiful. This release is definitely worth the time and money: one of my absolute top-buys of 2004.