Hybrid - Wider Angle - Special Edition

Hybrid brings an orchestral grandeur to club breaks on their highly-lauded debut WIDE ANGLE. And it’s a tough album, no doubt about it. With Julee Cruise providing vocals from angelic (“Dreaming Your Dreams”) to strained and confrontational (“If I Survive”) to lounge-jazz (“I Know”). The music itself shows careful attention to detail, the multiple layers working together to form a cohesive whole. The attention-grabbing strings permeate the entire album, adding a near-classical sensibility, or, at the very least, a cinematic presence (it’s no coincidence that the opening track is called “Opening Credits”). The strings lend a certain majesty to otherwise straightforward tracks like “Snyper” and to the better-than-average rap on “Sinequanon.” “High Life” is a more 4/4-friendly track. But, undoubtedly, “Finished Symphony” is the highlight here, drenched in strings. The second disc highlights their pure dancefloor skills, especially in putting together a live show (if the cheering crowd is any indication). As for the bonus tracks, “Kill City” has a wicked bassline, but it’s “Kid 2000” that pops out, helped in no small part by Chrissie Hynde's vocals.

Just possibly the finest dance music album ever? A bold claim, but I know several people who say that about this release, and, on some days at least, I agree with them.

I have to say that on paper it sounds like something to avoid at all costs: the combination of female vocals, trance and an orchestra sounds like a cheese-ridden cliche-fest. This would be understandable for those unfamiliar with Hybrid. Purveyors of some of the sickest, slickest nu skool breaks drumtracks ever seen, holding equally mastery of the bassline, capable of mixdowns as clean and fat as Teebee and programming/edits as jaw-dropping as BT and Tsunami One- there's plenty here for those who would normally avoid trance at all costs.

But that's beside the point, because the vocals, trance and orchestra are 200% pulled off - at the end of the day, both production and songwriting are flawless, and the result is a genuinely powerful album. It's just beautiful and can't be recommended strongly enough to anyone into, well, just about anything.

In my opinion, it's definitely worth picking up this special edition double cd version. The live set on CD2 sees the tracks reworked for astoundingly high-energy dancefloor mayhem, emphasising the pumping 4/4 side of things. The bonus tracks, meanwhile, are top-rate, showcasing Hybrid's skill with the mean and nasty 12" - "Kill City" is one of my favourite bassline tearouts of all time.

In Ausralia i purchased Live Angle as a seperate cd, it had the same cover design but instead reads Llive Angle:sydney, which suggests where it was recorded. It also came with the 3 extra tracks. Awesome live recording, the quality is amazing and the sound these boys poduce....wicked!