A compilation which I never liked straight from the first listening!

Despite being on Flying Rhino in my opinion this compilation is very bad. Suffice to say that there are tracks which definitely do not fall in the Psy-Goa genre being either Techno or Progressive tracks.

Release starts with “Sleeper”, a very laid back Progressive trance track AND NOT the kind of Progressive Goa that appeared in 1999. It’s just a simple, progressive tune without any psychedelic influence and honestly don’t know why it was put here. Next comes another exclusive track by Atmos. Once again this is progressive but it’s that wicked stuff for which Atmos became famous in 1999. Not bad if you ask me, but if you want to taste the true Atmos sound of 1999 then listen to his track “Drums Don’t Stop” available elsewhere.

Legendary act Slinky Wizard are responsible for track 3. “Hit And Run” is another Progressive-Goa track which has had some remixes on some other compilations. I don’t like this original, I much prefer the version which appeared on the CD “Behind The Scenes” on Atomic Records in 2001.

Stoop & Fidget provide us another nine-minute long progressive cut sampling a phone’s answering machine. Again, “Hardware” is a track which goes nowhere.

Tracks 5, 6 and 7 are the worst part of this compilation. “Onhcet” (rumoured to be Techno in reverse) is in fact a Techno track. A long, dark, repetitive track which I never digested. Similarly track 7 despite being from K.U.R.O. has nothing to do with Goa – it’s again a long boring, repetitive and minimal Techno track. Track 7, “Bugged” is another Techno influenced track with some heavy fat bass and rather unclean sound.

The only track I ever liked form this release is “Astronomikx”. A dark, mid-tempo psychedelic cut with a minimal melody haunting it occasionally. To my luck this track appears also on the compilation “Goa-Head 8” so I was quite happy to trade off “Velocity” one day =)

Compilation rounds-off with the eclectic producer “Bus”. Here is another minimal-progressive-psychedelic track, the typical style for which this artist became famous in 1999, kinda similar to Atmos’.

Sorry, but even after allowing for the fact that this release came out when the true Goa era was over it’s still too bad. In 1999 the Goa scene was undergoing a big change with Progressive-psychedelic taking over but there are loads of much better compilations which are still progressive influenced from the same time! Just try the fifth part of this series and compare!

Most of the tracks here are pretty boring and in an uneasy and forced way "progressive", the haunting hype term of the time, which makes them sound stiff and sterilized.
The only track presenting a lively pulse is track one "Severe Clear", which is a dreamy Trancer.