Asia 2001 – Live

Just found out that the great founder, creator and innovator Gilbert Thevenet/Martin Cooper of Asia 2001 passed away on February 7th 2021. As I write this I am listening to one of my favorite tracks of Asia 2001 called Dusk to Dawn........just one of the many incredible and greatly Loved tracks created by Asia 2001. I have said before that if I was put into the impossible situation of having to choose only one Classic Goa Trance artist to listen to for the rest of my life, Asia 2001 would be that one great artist. So much depth, complexity, nuance and beauty in the music of Asia 2001 and we have been left with a substantial catalogue of seriously great tracks to choose from as well. Although I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of this great Classic Goa Trance innovator, musician and Soul, I am so deeply grateful to Gilbert Thevenet for his incredible contribution to the Soul of EDM, which is Classic Goa Trance. Asia 2001 is one of the cornerstones of Classic Goa Trance and will never be forgotten. Many of us who have travelled the Classic Goa Trance path know that this life is but one chapter in a book without end......so this is not a goodbye from Asia 2001, but a wondrous calling card left by Gilbert Thevenet of upcoming attractions. Til we meet again.......A la prochaine

This is the best Asia 2001 album by far! All these tracks by Gilbert Thévenet are wonderful! Intensely melodic goa here.

This album is great literally from the first second of the first track which immediately starts with an eerie melody! Then we get into a high energy beat with some cool warbling sounds and a variety of more melodies which gradually become amalgamated throughout the track. A top notch track to open.

The second track Kalimba is much more serious than the first. It's also more epic. One thing that stands out to me is that it uses the same melody as an Astral Projection track released around the same time. I don't know if one copied from the other or not, but I heard the AP track long before I heard this album so it's hard for me to fully accept this track. However there's surely no doubt it's a great track.

Super Skunk is a darker track. It's a weaker track. It really goes nowhere in the whole 10 minutes from what I remember. There's a nice acidic melody that appears at 7 minutes but it quickly disappears and the last 2.5 minutes sound pretty much same as the first 7.

The third track ends abruptly and Rakshas starts off in a totally fresh direction which is really a good thing. This is another amazing track as we start to feel when a crazy acid line comes in in the first couple minutes. But this track really gets A+ around 3 minutes when it suddenly changes direction with some new absolutely tweaked out mellow melody that is quite euphoric! After about a minute break we get some more trippy acid sounds and built back up to the original acid line! And then you're in for a surprise again at 6 minutes.... I won't describe the music mathematically as that really does no justice to it, I'll just say it builds and breaks beautifully.

Now we arrive at my personal favorite track on this album, Bengali. I'm not generally a fan of the most uplifting tracks but this is an exception. The melodies are, as usual, numerous, well arranged and built together effectively. It just so happens that I absolutely love some of the melodies in this track such as the one that appears at 3 minutes, even if they may be a little cheesier. :)

The remix of Kalimba is nothing special; the original is much better. It loses the melody that was used by AP. It's not a bad track but it doesn't really stand out.

I don't like the MFG tracks as much as they don't match the style! I don't understand why they are here really. To me they aren't really considered part of "Asia 2001 - Live" anyways. Both are good remixes though, but I prefer the original of Overload.

This album is definitely a must have in my view.

Best tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8

WOW! This is just an absolutely amazing album. Massive kick drums throughout, swirling beautiful melodies, awesome synthlines etc... There wasn't one second of this album I did not enjoy. Gilbert gives us some of his best tracks and then MFG finishes it off with two of the greatest remixes I have ever heard. To me, the remix of "Magnetic Activity" sounds better than the original. Good luck finding it.