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Tiesto - Elements of Life |
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Title: Elements of Life
Artist: Tiesto
Label:
Genre: Trance
Price: £11.99
Buy Online: Click Here
Release Date: 23rd April 2007
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Track
Samples: N/A
Track
Listings: Click Here |
Details: Right, I am a trance fan and a Tiesto fan, but after several listens I just do not like this album. I have tried! It’s not bad, just not great and you expect more from Tiesto. There are a few good tunes but too many wishy washy ones that do nothing with guest vocalists (6 tunes out of 12 have guest vocalists). I can’t see too many of these tunes being played in a DJ set, it seems more designed to generate sales and to capitalise on his global popularity. Alot of the tracks are “safe”, almost in a pop sing-a-long mould, that will appeal to a lot of newer fans who go to the huge shows he does, but not to the trance fans who go clubbing everyweek. I suppose you could describe it as a “nice” album, which is not what we hoped for from the man who gave us Traffic and Adagio For Strings on his last album.
It opens well with Ten Seconds Before Sunrise, which would make a good intro to a mix CD. Nice strings and vocal sample, quite chilled but uplifting.
Everything features a good vocal from Jes, which is very cool and chilled, and would fit right in on CD1 of his In Search of Sunrise compilations.
I love the vocal on Do You Feel Me, reminds me of Maria Nayler on Tilt’s Angry Skies from years ago. As with Everything, a very nice tune and again CD1 material.
Carpe Noctum is by far my favourite tune on here. This is much more like it big man! It has elements of the mighty Traffic in there and also Sander Van Doorn’s Grasshopper. It has a great simple bassline, then the tune builds and builds and holds…then…as you anticipate something big…it drops straight back to the bassline just as in Grasshopper! This happens several times and there are some big trancey stabs in there too to keep it all flowing. This definitely will get played. Wicked!
Driving to Heaven is ok, quite chilled again with a stuttering vocal sample but nothing to get excited about.
Next up is Sweet Things, which is quite a nice song, but again…yup you guessed it…very chilled!!
Bright Morningstar promises more but fails to deliver. Starts off with nice string intro, then moves onto some quality progressive trance sounds. Great so far! Just when you think its going to be a big Tiesto track we get a breakdown and it all goes very chilled again, losing all the momentum built up in the first half of the tune.
I don’t like Break My Fall with BT. I mean BT was the trance master years ago and now he’s reduced to this? Not a patch on their previous collaboration Love Comes Again. Not a lot to say about it really!
In The Dark is good. It’s another male vocal track but quite uplifting and energetic. Typical Tiesto you could say.
Now, Dance For Life has been featured in a Dutch commercial for ages and this will be the biggest tune by miles on this album. It’s not great, and I don’t like it but it has all the elements for success; those big trancey riffs and stabs plus the vocals of Maxi Jazz of Faithless. The vocal even starts like the mighty Insomnia, but why oh why do we get told H.I.V. AIDS is lethal at the very end?? What a cheery way to finish the tune! Now even Tiesto has started giving us tips on life!
Elements of Life reminds me of Nyana. Its one of those bleepy trancey ones, and is quite uplifting too. Not amazing though.
The bonus track is cool; He’s a Pirate. Uptempo trance that you could actually dance to with a twist! Its driving..at last!...and has a huge riff in it that reminds me of something from an Oakenfold album. The breakdown is cool with cinematic strings, then it builds and becomes a full on jump up and down with a big smile on your face tune!
So, overall, it’s not bad, but to be honest, I won’t play it again, apart from a couple of tunes here and there. Artist albums are notoriously difficult, as these guys are known for being DJs first and foremost, with the best of a whole genre (or more) at their disposal. To create a whole album of great tunes can’t be easy, but not even the best tunes on here will be up there with the classics we all know and love.
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Choice Tracks:
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| Rating: 6 / 10 – Silver Award |
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