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Name: Chris Home Page: You're looking at it Member Since: Jan 29, 2004 Rank: 3680 Average Vote Received: Correct (3.60, 5 votes) Rated 6 releases, average: 4.83 Location: Massachusetts Profile:  | |
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Sven Väth - Retrospective 1990-97 - 17-Oct-06 10:35 AM
As a comprehensive "retrospective" of an artist's body of work, this compilation fails pretty miserably. This is Sven Väth after all - a man involved with some of the most important and influential German electronic labels and artists, who put out plenty of great tunes under both his real name and many respectable aliases. Filling a release like this with radio edits and less-than-mindblowing remixes (including no less than 5 each for "L'Esperanza" and "My Name Is Barbarella") hardly seems like the best use of this limited space for such a versatile artist.
That being said, however, there are certainly some quality tracks to be found here. Among the originals, Zyon's "No Fate" has lost none of its simple beauty (though it can easily be found on a myriad of compilations), Vernon's "Wonderland" remains an epic trip in Sven's old-school melodic style, and similar praise can be given to the Metal Master and Astral Pilot selections.
It's when it comes to the material released under Sven's own name that we find some glaring omissions and questionable choices. Indeed, on the first disc (which is the ONLY disc on the most readily available editions of this release) only Sven's "Accident In Paradise" is presented in its original, menacing full-length glory. (The second disc contains a whopping 2 more unaltered cuts.) Where are ANY full-length cuts from his brilliant second album, "The Harlequin - The Robot And The Ballet-Dancer"? How about some less obvious stuff, like what he put out under the guises of "Essence Of Nature" or "Odysee Of Noises"? Or his more ambient & lush soundscapes off of "Accident In Paradise"?
So, what exactly IS on this, then? Michael Mayer's terrific, stripped-down take on "L'Esperanza" is a worthwhile cut, but sadly it's presented in an edited form. Only Deep Dish's fantastic reworking of "My Name Is Barbarella" and Underworld's trademark epic take on "Beauty And The Beast" are untouched, and relatively hard to find on CD unmixed (especially the former). Deep Dish's alternate, deeper (and never-before-released on CD) "Super Nova" mix of "Barbarella" on disc two would be a major selling point...if the quality of the recording wasn't questionable at best. Not only does the track begin at least a few beats late (i.e. the true beginning is cut off), but the volume of it is significantly louder than anything else on the album. On top of this, the sound quality is dubious, as though it was clumsily recorded from someone's used vinyl. This just leaves some so-so takes on "L'Esperanza" and "Barbarella" (of which C-Rock's in particular managed to take a great tune and make it really, really boring).
Considering how hard this particular edition is to find, and how expensive it will no doubt be when you DO find it, I am sorry to say that I recommend you save your money and buy Sven's own original (and outstanding) solo releases instead.
