Pace the first reviewer, this track hardly merits such a lukewarm reception as a 2 would indicate. Kay Cee "Escape" is one of those perenially relevant trance jewels that will get played as long as our generation and our culture lives on or is remembered. I really like the Signum mix, and play it often; though the signature "Escape" melody takes quite a while to kick in, when it does, the floor erupts with gleeful recognition and really gets into it. The original mix, however, is really the kickass shit. If you want to make everyone's spine tingle, play this mix. God, how this tune takes me back =) No trance DJ can go without this record. 'Nuff said.

This is one of the better "brains" out there, in my view... the track starts out with a thumping 4/4 and heads into predictably squiggly acid trance territory... pitched up into the upper 140s, this track really tears the floor up. The 303 gets really nasty during the final breakdown, and then goes absolutely crazy toward the end... nice, shrill, trippy acid lines coupled with a throbbing beat make this a sweet set builder. I like to wedge this track between really mental psytrance tracks in order to give a respectful nod to the world of acieeeeeeeed =)

The original mix and the MK-S remix are standard, run-of-the-mill Armada fare. I won't comment on them, though they're hardly to be considered bad work... just sort of unremarkable.

Now I'll start the real review.

The Star Ocean Mix by Alucard is simply stunning. It percolates into the mix gently but powerfully, and really grabs the floor's attention. Then, the eternal breakdown. Did the DJ kill the decks, or what? The familiar flute melody pipes back in, the synths return, and then... it's all back in with the beat, and everyone feels the groove again. This goes on for a time, and then, the return to meditative silence. Swirly melodies float in the air as hands are raised high. Electronic sounds meet the organic woodwinds in the blue firmament. The main melody comes back in, and BOOM! A real jam. Very, very daring work.

I played this on a main floor at a club, and during the two breakdowns I bathed the dancers in dark blue light and fog, strobing their brains out when the beat came back. They all went fucking berserk :) Lots of fun. This is what melodic trance should sound like.

The original is of course famous as the opener from Tiësto's first Magik set. It's stellar melodic trance and it's a great opener for a trance set even today. I'll be opening with it tomorrow night, in fact, as an esoteric nod to fellow tranceheads.

The PvD mix is tight as well -- more emphasis on production and thundering 909 sequences, with the vocals retained as a sort of accompaniment to the instrumentation here. The epic trance-style piano riff is replaced by a more robust, progressive trance sound (à la 1997, mind you) with chunky synth lines and swirling effects on the vocals.

Recommended.

The original is classic, high golden age additive. This, friends, is the sound of a label at the ultimate pinnacle of its vitality, creativity, and sheer beauty.

Okay, hopefully that superlative preamble wasn't too scary!

Seriously, though. If you love trance -- if you really love trance -- you must not go without the b side of this record. The original lange mix is really pretty, don't get me wrong... but this tandu mix... wow... I totally concur with the last reviewer -- just ... unreal.

This is energetic, optimistic, melodic trance before the fall.

This track is interesting in many ways: first, it's early-sounding uplifting psytrance that's overtly melodic -- not a common denomination in the acid- and hoover-dominated "mental" scene that served as trance's embryo in the early 90s. Second, it exemplifies an early moment in the evolution of psychedelic trance, a moment in which the exciting and novel tension between the following two elements becomes bold and productive: a) the edgy, almost nightmarish tendencies of what would later emerge as darker psy (note the creepy, dissonant strings in the first 4:00 of the track here, and the whispered "i'm so high" that evoke the earnestly macabre side of any ecstatic drug-induced trip) and b) the lovely, utopian melodies that are made possible and even necessitated by such ecstasies (which are here made lyrically explicit by the above-cited sample of a whispering female psychic traveller). Third, it exemplifies the beginnings of a tranceward drift in the customary experimental house of the San Francisco rave scene of this epoch -- Eden Transmission were tight with the Hardkiss kids, and bear many similarities to other far-out acts from The City, such as Freaky Chakra, and even Voice Farm... to trace the historical origins of west coast trance, one really must take into account this milieu. Fourth, it really is two separate mixes on the logo side, but the two tracks aren't chopped by a break in the groove, so you can do your psychonauts a big favour and play it all the way through (about 10 minutes, pitched up to +3 or so, as I tend to rub it into the mix.)

Now, this sounds awfully academic, so let me wax more plain, more subjective, more conversational. I LOVE this track. I love playing it in the middle of a late-night set, between trippy rave trance tunes, as a sort of blissed-out respite from the neverending tyranny of the four-four.

The narrative is this: a trippy, creepy, dissonant, spacey stoner groove drifts off into nothing, and then comes all back home with a glorious, almost post-prog rock strain that, yes, is "heaven for the lifted," to use the phrase of a simple- and well-spoken reviewer. The effect is stunning, euphoric, and utterly, utterly weird. Heaven.

Absolutely, totally essential listening for any trancehead who pines for the idealism and the far-out, dilated experimentation of this bygone era.

My friend and DJ partner just bought a copy of this record and played it on my tables last night... let me tell you it's really infectious. Hours and hours after you hear it for the first time that edgy tech "wob wob wob" sound will be reverberating in your head... it gets under your skin, into your pelvis... this track is a sick, sick, sick floorfiller that is guaranteed to get people away from the bar and onto the floor, like good little boys and girls.

Ok, ok, I spin trance, not house. That being said, this Trentemøller remix is so fabulous... it's catchy, glitchy, and powerful. Pitched up a little, it enlivens any progressive set and really adds a techhouse, avant-pop flair to your floor's vibe. A very versatile track for djs, it would work really well with basically anything 115+. Highly recommended -- and i don't even like a lot of house... for listeners who don't mix, this will give you that pre-Big Night Out impetus while you get pretty. This is stylish, sophisticated and energetic music for the cognoscenti... reminiscent of the best of deadmau5 or Felix Stallings...

i personally really love this track, for even though it does arguably do the same thing as other gooey dutch anthems (esp. with regard to the genre's loooooooooong emotional breakdowns), it does what it does really really well. i'm in the middle of remixing the tune and it's actually a very intricate and lovely composition with a demonstrably bachian arrangement. the total psychic effect of the track is also very powerful; if i haven't heard it in a while, i find myself tapping my foot, then pounding my hand in my lap, then finally dancing a little. it is one of my favourite neotrance tracks and i know it's a little derivative, but it's just sooo pretty... it has totally brought me to tears before. i spin it now and then as a sort of special treat and it always moves...