Search - Various Artists :: Ministry of Sound - Annual 2003 America: Mixed By DJ Sammy

2003? OLD SONGS/BAD MIXING

Barhoc | Detroit | 12/14/2002

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, where do I begin? First of all this is by far THE worst dance compilation I have ever heard. I could of mixed this better on my computer. Better on my turntables. DJ Sammy needs to stick to what he is a little better at.... cliche dance songs for the masses. If there was at least some songs on the 2 cds worth playing again I would of given a higher rating. Do not buy this cd unless you like old songs and bad mixing."

Hit N Miss w/ MOS

discodoc | Virginia Beach, VA | 12/17/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Perhaps it was the excitement of the hype that I had built up for myself to purchase The Annual 2003 America. After all, there are several very hot titles on the track list, and you couldn't have picked a better DJ to mix the year's "Best" than DJ Sammy, who had a very big year in his own right. But upon listening to this 2CD set, I couldn't help getting that unfulfilled feeling, like the post holiday letdown of not getting QUITE what you wanted for Christmas. To begin with, while DJ Sammy was a wonderful choice to mix the American edition, his mixing was not quite what I had hoped. Oh don't get me wrong, his talent was blatently evident, and had I been listening to this on the radio or in a club I would have completely enjoyed myself. But when I purchase a CD, I want to have songs that I can use myself in my own mixes, and unfortunately many of the songs are mixed so tightly that there were no breaks, intro's or outtro's to be found. Some songs had vocals from the previous song still going several lines into the lyrics of the next song. Yes, beautiful for listening, but not so great for USE... Next complaint: some of the songs selected for this compilated were subpar. Like a sore thumb, Res' "They- Say Vision" sticks out as a major mistake, not because of the song itself, but because of the particular remix used (Robbie Rivera's Vox Part 2). Take a wonderful song like "They-Say Vision" and completely dismantle it with useless dub nonsense, and you've just destroyed one of the biggest hits of (and major reasons to purchase) the compilation. Major hits included are from Iio ("Rapture"), Daniel Bedingfield ("Gotta Get Through This" Catchy!), Mary J Blige ("Family Affair" Spanish Fly Remix), DB Boulevard ("Point of View" LOVE IT!), Mad'house ("Like A Prayer" better than the Madonna version), Narcotic Thrust ("Safe From Harm" overrated), 4 Strings ("Take Me Away"), Moby ("We Are All Made of Stars" DJ Tiesto Remix), Kosheen ("Hide U"), DJ Encore ("Walking In The Sky" inferior to "I See Right Through To You"), Ian Van Dahl ("Will I?" their best by far!), Dee Dee ("Forever," I'm bored as ever with this song) and Perpetuous Dreamer ("The Sound of Goodbye"). Other than that, you're looking at mainly "filler" material. When you're talking about a 26 song set, having half of the songs being "filler" is not a great ratio. Sometimes these filler tracks can be suprisingly satisfying, but in this case a breakout hit like that would be the exception rather than the rule. Tina Ann's "In My Dreams" is probably the "best of the rest." While DJ Tiesto can certainly create a mighty fine remix (Moby's "...Stars"), his own music is quite boring. Tiesto is deep, vocaless trance music, and "Flight 643" contained herein is a perfect example. I didn't mention Who Da Funk's "Shiny Disco Balls," Sophie Ellis Bextor's "Murder On The Dancefloor" or Amber's "Yes" among the "big hits" only because they were not hits in my own music world. However, each has generated major buzz in some circles, so perhaps these would entice you, the reader to buy. The Annual was not entirely devoid of merit, however. Some of the remixes were different, and thus somewhat fresh, such as the John Creamer & Stephanie K remixes of "Rapture" and "Hide U." While neither remix was necessarily better than the original track, each did have a fresh new spin. On the other hand, the Spanish Fly Remix of "Family Affair" and the DJ Tiesto remix of "We Are All Made of Stars" are far superior to their original versions. Oh yeah, there's a nice double-sided poster that comes with this CD. One side features the Ministry of Sound logo and the other is a photo of a large club crowd with the logo and "Global Dance Party" at the top. I guess if the music isn't quite enough to sell CD's, gotta throw in a little extra, eh? All in all, 3 stars outta do it.-discodoc"

Hardly original

Erica Anderson | Minneapolis, MN | 12/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I can't believe I'm going to say this but this compilation is definitely not one of Ministry of Sound's better cds. If anything, I already have heard the majority of the music on MoS's latest "Club Nation America volume 2" as well as "Clubber's Guide to Ibiza 2002", give or take a few tracks here and there. I think MoS is starting to falter a bit and are beginning to put out the same compilation over and over, just with a different title. I could have sworn I was listening to "Club Nation America volume 2" and "Clubber's Guide to Ibiza 2002" on disc 1, the worst of the two disc compilation. Maybe it is because I'm not into house music as I once was but a lot of the tracks were just not very good. The only highlights on disc 1 is IIO's "Rapture", Amber's "Yes", and Res's "They Say". I am not really sure what to think of the housed up version of Mary J. Blige's "Family Affair". I dug the dance version of "No More Drama" on "Club Nation America volume 2" but "Family Affair"? It was fine as it was until I heard that godawful mix. Disc 2 gets slightly better since there is more of a trance feel through out the disc. Still, nothing new that I haven't heard before. I think it is time that MoS finds new songs for each of their compilations, not to mention djs who are far more talented than DJ Sammy whose taste in music is obviously outdated judging by some of the songs he chose on this cd."