James Zabiela – ALiVE

Released as Pioneer was beginning to take a firm hold of digital DJing, this album played a huge part in the CDJ and EFX revolution. Zab’s first release on Renaissance, this was the album that got everyone’s interest. The digital wizardry contained within the two-disc compilation was nothing that had ever been replicated before. Technically brilliant and precise, it showed Zab’s out-of-this-world technical skills while demonstrating the full potential of Pioneer’s CDJ1000’s and the EFX1000 unit. This album helped lay the groundwork for many of today’s digital DJs and is in ways responsible for Pioneer now being the club-standard worldwide.

Not one to be shy about his technical prowess, Zab’s also included a play-by-play of how he constructed the two-disc mix – giving an insight into the inner workings of his digitally geared brain, listeners were able to pin-point just how he crafted and manufactured the sounds, transitions and effects within.

A polished and cohesive journey covering Breaks, Techno, Prog, House, Electro, and much much more.

After years of dj's sounding exactly the same, Zabiela finally shows us the way forward. This CD is one of the most technically excellent pieces of mixing I have ever heard, whilst still retaining a smooth and solid sound. It's not enough just listening to the mix you really need to read the booklet whilst listening to fully appreciate the level of work that has gone into this production.

I've got this double cd for more than 2 months. I really want to love it, because Zabiela is one of my favourite dj's, but after 2 months I have to admit that this release just doesn't work. I really liked Sound in Motion and Groovetech but Alive is a great dissapointment for me. It's chaotic and there are only few big tunes on it. Zabiela can't decide what kind of music he really wants to play. Ha made that ecleticism-thing very well 2 years ago, but this time he didn't manage to compile the right stuff for this cd. Shame