Above & Beyond – Anjunabeats Volume 10

This was around the time that I became disillusioned with the direction the label (and generally trance) was taking, as you begin to see festival/big room influences into the tunes which I found a little cheap at the time. A decade later this volume has actually aged relatively well, and it continues to detail the evolution of the Anjuna sound. In this compilation we start seeing tracks that are still played in sets as the modern festival Ajuna sound was elucidated, with track like Sunny Lax's Isla Margarita which is an absolute delight. Volume 10 builds on the proglifting/trance 2.0 sound from Volume 9, but is far more cohesive as a mix, even if there are some questionable releases at this time.

Disc 1:

Strong start from disc 1 defining the new sound for the label, with Isla Margarita really setting the high energy tone. Audien's classic tro Wayfarer carries on, and the Mike Shiver's track which I have not yet noticed playing acts as filler before A&B with their terrific Alchemy. I do wish that they had used the album mix (which is much trancier), but the sawtooth club mix fits their festival sound more and gets the nod, decent nonetheless. Some decent offerings from Jaytech, Boon Jinx, Oliver Smith and Ronski Speed, before A&B (with Andrew Bayer, which is pretty clear from the production) coming in with their stadium anthem Walter White. It took me years to understand the appeal with Walter White, as it deviates pretty far from trance, but the wall of sound vibes that carried the late 10s through make it sound less grating. The ending peters out slightly with the tracks being hard to discern from eachother, before Maor Levi turns in a respectable remix of Liquid Love. 3.5/5

Disc 2:
Disc 2 picks up where Disc 1 left off, with roaring sawtooth synths representative of the A&B festival sets of the time. Its a pretty "noisy" disc which gets a little old, especially with fart tracks like Right On and KO, but there are a few gems woven in like Sinai and Genix on the remix of Home, however the disc still feels uninspired. There is an exception for the superb Sanity Dub from Ronski Speed which really shines, but the rest of the disc is balls-to-the-wall steroid sawtooth trouse. The Group Therapy club mixes were quite a pity, as the album mixes were quite trancey and there were some great remixes, but the A&B club mixes from this era are all very aggressive -- great at a festival but boring on headphones. 3/5

Top Tracks:

Sunny Lax – Isla Margarita
ilan Bluestone – Sinai
Ronski Speed – Sanity Dub (Exclusive Volume 10 Mix)

After Volume 9, at first listen I got mixed feelings with this one. Two of the tracks should be really excluded from the compilation:

- Mike Shiver - Ohh
A totally uninspired, plastic-clear big room house tune, which is not different at all from any Z-category Avicii (God speed..) or Swedish House Maffia-copy remixes. The mid section of the EQ-ing is terribly mastered, hihats are too much silent; there is nothing in it which is potmetered right. Works with good melody, but sounds like something in a wooden box.

- Nitrous Oxide Pres. N2O - K.O.
Beside the false info that this was the first track by Kris with this project, it was any like any of his uplifting aliases before. I appreciate the try to bring something significantly different, but it has totally gone wrong in the end. The arrangement is just horrifying terrible, changing the climax parts with a 3-sound-difficult, empty drop afterwise, is a total miss. Also, the Sylenth melody doesn't really help the thing, but more minoring the track into a full generic, amateur Big Room mishmash. Luckily, he didn't make stuff like this anymore.

Beside those, the compilation still deserves some respect. CD1's evergreen festival banger "Wayfarer" truly standed the test of time, Ollie's "Pressure" also moves and rolls very hard. After these ones, the last half hour is just too much magical: the angelic vocals and rich melancholy of "Pink Skye", the atomic multi-phase bomb "Walter White", the yummy electro grooves of "Glühwürmchen" and the epic remix of "Liquid Love" by Israeli mastermind Maor Levi are all top level. Of course, an exception comes with Ost & Meyer's "Here We Go", which works with very decent sound design, but gives nothing like atmosphere or feelings - from Volume 9 how atmo-heavy "Britanica" was.
On CD2, Andrew Bayer slaps on the table with "England" - proves again why is he a unique phenomenon. Some enjoyable fillers arrive with Norin & Rad and Genix... until K.O., which I don't bother to mention again ever. Super8&Tab's "L.A." practicly sounds like a numerous follow-up to "Helsinki Scorchin", "Elektra" and so on, but still brings the driving atmosphere which were the guy's trademark back then. ilan Bluestone's "Sinai" not only gave me goosebumps, but got me into tears with the beautiful glass-sharp strings and the ancient vocals - one of his best tunes ever. Then, a series of average fillers arrive: that 7 Skies and N2O collaboration was almost something which I found below mediocre. The bassline is just so weak that my speakers are praying to shake - N2O somehow really lost the line on this compilation, which is very-very sad. I wasn't blew up too much from "Believe In Me" by Arty, compared to what a hit it was presented by practicly everyone back then. The Club Mix of "Black Room Boy" by Above & Beyond is so-so okay (those lyrics by Tony are MAD deep!), but the first drop just sounds like something that's... unfinished, I guess. Eximinds' "Revolved" is an exciting colour spoil, these electro grooves perfectly balances on the sharp edge of electro house and progressive trance, while the melodies and vocal chops push it to the latter. Genix's version of A&B's "Home" holds the original's atmosphere, but the drop is just out of touch for me - could use that lead melody in a much more impactful and creative way. Ronski's brilliant "Sanity Dub" recalls the energy again; but Lange and Genix's "Immersion" just miserably pushing it back to an average level. Works with good sounds, but doesn't work with the potential in them (the ilan Bluestone remix is so much better imo). Same goes to the Mike Koglin and 7 Skies collab.
But... the end, again... ambivalently, made me deeply sad and exceptionally happy at the same time. "Only Totally" by Who.Is absolutely sounds like a farewell, "a kiss from the past" (nod to Allure). It's a shame how fast Bart Claessen left his roots back with his bandwagon Electro stuff and back his career later without saying any goodbye. With that in mind, I could do nothing but heavily appreciate this - with tears again. Not as monumental as "Cryptanalysis" or "We.Are", but still powerful.
Summary, beside some miss points, I recommend this double disc journey to anyone outside of Trance; but not sure about it will earn his / her trust.