Various - X-Mix-1 - The MFS-Trip

I have to agree with the last reviewer on this one. When this CD came out it was extremenly well receieved as the effort in pulling these jams together must have ben considerable! I think it's also a great example of how spacey and melodic trance could be against a backdrop of GOA style trance emerging which was not erm... so melodic? You have to remember this is 1993 and trace was relatively new in town. I think the overall result is great and I played this frequently alongside the Psychotrance mixes. Comparing it these days it does feel a bit flat but the good memories and appreciation hold it up in my mind nevertheless.

There's a reason the pitch shifting is obvious in this mix and that's because these records were literally all over the place bpm-wise, and without beatmatching the majority of them, there would have been a lot of cheap fades between tracks and no consistent energy. In his defense Paul picked good points in the tracks to introduce the pitch shift, and he did quick cuts between some tracks as well to change it up. Sure you never want to do it, but better that than never getting consistency in the mix. After all these years I still think this is a wonderful example of trance in a time when it was fast paced, atmospheric, creative, hypnotic, but tasteful... all the things good trance should be... and Paul did a great job capturing that sound at its peak.

PITCH PAUL, PITCH!!!

This is one of the worst DJ sets I have ever heard. Garbage, Crap or whatever you call it. I just can't imagine someone like Paul Van Dyke, doing such an awful work. DJing is NOT just about synchronizing 'Beat on Beat', but a FEEL which in this case is totally currupted.
OK, I admit it's no so easy to do a set from all of those different styles of music and tempos, and make 'em all sound 'together', but in here, there's not even an attempt to do so (What's the musical connection between "Transonic" and "Space Track"? etc.)

Even as a 'Beat on Beat' set, it doesn't sounds good: First of all, many tracks are too-fast and high pitched, which is almost always sounds bad. Then, in many places the pitch is roughly adjusted and you can easyly note the miss-tune which benn caused because of this, and this is something that happens all along this CD, especially on "Cosmic Trigger", "Sweet Dream For Kaa", "How Much Can You Take?"... Well, I can take it no longer. This is require a special telent to totally ruin really good music, which can be easly put in the mix if you know what you're doing, or maybe there's an attempt to ruin Cosmic Baby's classics...?

So, the music here is brilliant but the DJ mix doesn't work. This is a good example which prooves once more that a DJ can "do the patry" or not.

Easy with the pitch slider, Paul!!!!!!!!!!!!!!