OK, OK, I'm expecting all the nu-skoolers to madly click on 'disagree' a billion times as soon as I post this, but don't forget this is just an opinion, so don't get all uppity about it...
Basically all I want to say is, for me, this track is the last decent EDM hit to date. Such depth, progression and maturity - amazing vocals, deep, shimmering waves of synth washing over you while you grin wildly and feel all tingly once more. This is what trance was always about, a journey, a trip, an escape from now and into some other realm. Euro trance arguably changed that and by about 2002 we had come to accept commercial trance to have diva vocals and fluffy melodies. 'As The Rush Comes' changed all that, but it is a shame to see that, overground at least, there was very little else around to match Motorcycle's style. So much so that if you have a copy of Now 57, you can expect this track to be sandwiched between Ultrabeat and Ferry Corsten, with their slightly less credible hits...
What has come since has distanced even further from this level of trance and dance. Yeah, I know, there's a billion and one underground records I've never heard of that are awesome, but years ago those sort of tracks eventually made the commercial chart. Now we just have the cutting edge talent of Cascada and Dizzee Rascal, which, for many it seems at least, is far far better :S

I'm reviewing not '40 Miles' but 'Better Grooves', a track far less known and quietly ignored but still a classic example of British techno at its best.

The track is somewhat different to '40 Miles' in that it doesn't feature any piano vamps or female vocals, but instead has a great breakbeat sample and techno beat that only just stays in sync. At around two minutes it veers off into more of a tech-house feel, before the breakdown is cut off in its prime. Harder and arguably less dated than '40 Miles', it's basically five minutes of undiluted bangin' old skool!

I remember once hearing about people totally losing it when they first heard 'Strings Of Life' by Rhythm Is Rhythm and claiming they weren't on drugs but felt completely spaced out and trippy. Idiots, I thought. How could that possibly ever happen?

Then one day I innocently bought a compilation called 'In Order To Dance 5'. I had heard of Biosphere and Dave Angel et al, but nothing prepared me for the first track. 'Macrocosm' was its name, it although it at first seemed totally out of tune and out of time with itself, it had one of those hypnotic, driving rhythms and drones of industrial synthesizers, to the extent that the nine minutes I listened through it became a blur of trancelike dancing and those colourful shapes you get when staring at one spot for too long. I was sweating buckets, moving to the truly addictive layers of sound and having an experience I cannot explain rationally.

When I came to the end of the track I was shocked to see how long time had past and actually felt as if I had been on a journey somewhere. I had returned a different person to the extent I adore that crazy sound of techno ever since. It seems those 'idiots' were right... You can have a trippy experience with music without being on drugs!

This is such a great track, and even more impressive when you realise it was released in 1997. Just to set the tone, that was only one year after euro trance broke through, when we were all raving to BBE and Robert Miles. This track was very ahead of its time, especially as it included the sort of vocals which we heard in trance in the early noughties.

Yeah, 'Home' does have that very '1997' distorted-harp voice forever appearing on tracks by DJ Quicksilver and Faithless, but unlike crap like 'Bellissima', there are so many melodies and flavas going on, it does very little damage and is instead hugely uplifting.

This track is hugely underrated, so doesn't very often appear on 'The Bestest Trance Traks Ever Ever Ever' albums, but due to its maturity and depth, it's probably better that 'Home' is played occasionally to keep its euphoric effect.

Yeah yeah yeah, Alex P and Brandon Block are two of Ibiza's best loved and most entertaining DJs who have been at the forefront of Ibiza clubbing for decades blah blah blah.

So what? Here I am listening to a CD in Britain and I can't even see them. I'm sure they were hugely entertaining and unique at the time of recording, but as this was done in 1998 and YouTube wasn't around, I can't actually see them, just hear their ATROCIOUS mixing.

So, where do I start? Well, the beatmatching is OK (though there are a few near misses in terms of syncing) but the timing is way off. Technocat comes in too early and messes with your head and the overall sharpness of bars and phrases are especially confusing on Block's mix.

Then there's the odd arrangement of tracks. Good example; Sneaker Pimps into Todd Terry. One dark, moody garage tune into... A happy happy uplifting house tune. Go figure.

But worst of all? Key clashes. there are too many to count, but the worst two are on Alex P's set. Leftfield into Brainbug is terrible and painfully long, but the worst is without doubt Usura into Atlantic Ocean. WAY too long, painful and unbearably sour. It's like a pillow filled with scissors. Actually, that's a bit of an abstract metaphor, perhaps I need a psychiatrist...

Of course, if you don't like mixing you could always just slow down Rhythm On The Loose and bring in Faithless without a care in the world. Bah.

The only slightly positive thing about this terrible compilation is the fact that it IS live, as stated, though i expect it is more likely to be recorded in the Telstar car park than Ibiza, judging by the indifferent crowd you can kinda hear during the quiet bits of 'Nightmare'. Ironic, really, as it is one.

I can't believe no-one has reviewed this yet! This compilation is an institution in my life, as it is the album that got me into trance. Practically every big euro-trance track is on here (except those released after 1999, obviously), all expertly mixed by an un-named DJ. The mix between some of the tracks is simply amazing, Stoneproof into Aggregat for example is perhaps my favourite transition ever, as is Aggregat into Johnny Shaker and Ayla in Sil. The best version of 'Windows '98' is on here, as is the best versions of 'Ayla', 'Bellissima' and others, which makes the more overplayed tracks a bit more exciting. Stick this up your crappy 3 CD Ministry Of Sound 'Trance Anthems'!

I love this track. So atmospheric and trancey, with a fantastic hook. This single features the three best versions...

The Veracocha remix is fairly typical euro-trance, though more in the vein of 'Carte Blanche' than the other Corsten aliases System F and Gouryella. It's a good track, but not especially memorable.

The Tandu remix is great, still with the euro sound, but more of a DJ Sakin spin. The only thing is that I've noticed something. Perhaps people in years to come will laugh at my naivety as I say this, but this remix is begining to sound a little dated. I can't believe 'trance' (euro-trance to you and me) is starting to go that way. It seemed so huge and euphoric at the time. But listen to this version and you'll see what I mean. It's like Sash! has done a remix for the Vengaboys. It's just far too cheesy, and it won't get any younger.

Fear not, however, as still sounding as fresh as it did a decade ago (and, I hope, keeping pure and fresh for another decade) is the DJ Taucher mix. If you've never heard this version, you're in for a treat. Swooshing strings, crisp synth and a build up to die for, this is the sort of track that makes seven and a half minutes seem like seconds. It changes through so many layers, going from a slightly sad, tinkly trance track to become a full-on progressive belter. It certainly has the elements of fluffy euro-trance, but is far to good to be classed as that. If you've ever heard Aggregat's 'Flussig', then you'll know how good this remix is.

The name Robert Miles will forever be associated with 'Children', perhaps the most universally-loved, beautiful and uplifting composition of the 20th century. That might sound like a sweeping statement, until you realise it's most probably true.

So in theory a whole album of 'dream house' from the Italian genius would be awesome. But the reality is slightly different. 'Dreamland' is essentially 80 minutes of the same dreamy piano, synth bassline and unimaginative beat. All the tracks have pretty much the same sound and structure, except 'Red Zone', a track that seems hugely exciting compared to the samey-ness of the rest.

Of course Robert Miles changed his style dramatically with his next album '23AM' and all his music released since is significantly different to the stuff on 'Dreamland', though still with depth and intelligence. 'Dreamland' is just a capsule of his style at the time.

I know it takes a long time to learn to DJ properly and good DJs should get a lot of respect for their difficult task, but please, if you're gonna release a commercial compilation on CD that people can repeatedly listen to and enjoy, at least make it of good enough quality so that people CAN listen to it again and again and enjoy!

Honestly, this is possibly one of the worst mixes I've heard in ages. It's bedroom quality, choppy, badly edited and very badly produced. Whoever the DJ was (they obviously realised how badly they'd done and left no mark of their presence on the sleeve), they clearly struggled a lot to keep the set going, so much so that when they looked at their playlist and saw they had to mix into 'Klubbhopping' by the Klubbheads, they simply played a previous track again a bit and hoped no-one would notice by not crediting it on the sleeve. And as for the transition into Donna Giles, hear for yourself!

This is almost so bad it's good, so if you see it cheap and fancy a laugh, buy it and wince. Go on.