I bought this purely from the recommendation of members of amazon.co.uk, as usual.

It’s different. Different, in an amazing way. With old English samples, accordions and all sorts of instruments it feels familiar and peaceful. According to minister-of-dub of amazon.co.uk:

Second Light is like a spliff - fuelled trek across the English Countryside, taking in caves, oceans and sailors (could just be me!)with Mr. Kipling at your side. Theres an even more spititual feel about this album; it is so chilled out it just fills you with a sense of peace and well being.

I agree, it’s a beautiful album and definitely worth it if you like something very different from any dance you’ve heard before!

My rating: 4/5

Amazon rating: 5/5

This is a compilation of Daft Punk’s work plus a few remixes, so in a way I’m reviewing all of their work (though some of their best stuff is left out). Interestingly, Daft Punk fell way below Justice in the Top 100 DJs list, even though Justice imitate them.

Unfortunately, the tracks not a continuous in the mix CD since it’s a compilation, so the jumble of tracks leave it far from Daft Punk’s Alive 2007 album which is brilliant. Also, many of the tracks aren’t Daft Punk’s best, ‘Musique’ and ‘Something About Us’ for instance include a lame robot voice and are uninteresting. ‘Robot Rock’ has potential to be brilliant but in 4 and a half minutes Daft Punk hardly change a thing. ‘Da Funk’ is great, along with ‘Around the World’ and ‘One More Time’. The remixes suck. Buy Alive 2007 if you like Daft Punk, even if it costs much more.

Commonly seen as a disappointment by the Chemical Brothers, and it’s easy to tell why.  Exit Planet Dust was good, Dig Your Own Hole was brilliant and then they changed their genre - losing the big beat factor that they were so good at.  Surrender was mediocre, and so is this, dropping the standard.

‘Come With Us’ and ‘It Began in Afrika’ are alright at the right time, but sometimes feel loud and boring.  Lots of the album is just normal - nothing special, setting the trend for the whole thing.  The song to note is ‘The Test’, which uses the right instruments to create the druggy experience Richard Ashcroft of the Verve is singing about. 

Don’t let the snarling grin put you off.  It’s a different album (not just because it has body parts all over the back as well).

The songs are varied, but the drum machine is way-over used.  Some songs are experimental, and good: ‘Goon Gumpas’ sounds like something out a fairytale and it’s interesting.  However, the album is the shortest of my whole collection at only 30 minutes.  Considering I paid the same amount for 150 minutes of Sasha in Global Underground, which is better without being longer anyway, I really don’t think I’ve got my money’s worth.

Mr R Baker says something I completely agree with:

I’m the odd one out because I can’t appreciate this album as much as his others. It’s over before you have time to get into it, and upon repeat listens it seems to do very little but show off. Sounds to me like Mr. James was trying to include as many variations of one rhythm into each song, at the expensive of listenability.
It’s impressive, but a little too self-indulgent for my liking.
That said, “4″, “Yellow Calx” and (especially) “Girl/Boy Song” are fantastic tracks.
Disappointing…but what can you do?

He’s not the odd one out, he’s exactly right.

Yes, it’s Christian dance music, but don’t let that put you off at all. This is a classy album. In the words of Flap Jackson from Amazon:

Fact: The British like to dance.
Fact: This album is so pumped with adrenaline, it’s bad to drive to this. You’ll find yourself doing 100 MPH. Yes, it’s that good. “Open My Eyes” is pure adrenaline, say goodbye to coffee, because this is a pure action song. You’d expect it to be played in huge action movie scene, like a high-speed car chase.

“Lifelight” is a song that actually has lyrics, but that doesn’t hinder the song, as it’s still a great dance song, and it could fit right in with the club scene. The rest of the album is filled with great beats, and cool vibes. Overall, a great unique album for the Christian music industry. This album is so cool on every level, even Andy Hunter’s name sounds totally cool. I just wish more people could hear him. So try it out, but don’t drive to it. You’ll get a ticket.

Basically, it’s very energetic, some of the best hardcore dance you’ll get.

Bought this on the recommendation of those on Amazon, who you can usually trust. It’s a chillout CD from French band Air.

It’s quite a decent CD. ‘La Femme d’Argent’ is a very nice sounding chill song, but it runs into ‘Sexy Boy’, which isn’t. The robotic voice is annoying, and the CD feels annoyingly long even though it’s one of the shortest I have, because all the songs are the same.

Let’s leave it to Gustav on Amazon to explain the rest:

Moon Safari gets a bit of praise and claim to be the best Air album. I honestly cannot tell why. There is only two or three songs on here worth listening to and one is basically a continuation of the other.

“La femme d’argent” - a fantastic track. Its the only song on this cd worth listening to.
“Sexy Boy” - a terrible, horrible, disgusting track. Every time it starts I hit the Next button. I can’t stand this song.

“All I Need” - bores me to tears.
“Kelly Watch The Stars” - tries to be a good song but doesn’t quite make it.
“Talisman” - This one is more a “La femme d’argent” part 2 so its good as well.
“Remember” - This one tries to be good too. Its slightly better than “Kelly Watch The Stars”
“You Make It Easy” - another continuation. This time it’s “All I Need” part 2. Still bores me to tears.
“Ce matin-là” - On the level of “Kelly Watch The Stars.”
“New Star In The Sky” - listen to this on as well. Its very good.
“Le voyage de Penelope” - On the level of “Remember”

Since I’ve mentioned this album a few times, recently in Faithless - Sunday 8PM, I decided it was time to review.  Commonly seen as the best British dance album ever, its the atmopshere that holds this together.  Somehow the greeny ambient colour on the cover art explains the delicate, ‘green’ atmosphere throughout the album.

‘Release the Pressure’ is deep and spiritual, ‘Afro-Left’ energetic and powerful, ‘Melt’ beautiful, ‘Song of Life’ again beautiful - I have something to say about every song, since though they change they are all good and feel the same, like a certain emotion.  Top album, and very easy to get hold of. 

Interesting CD that I was inclined to buy in HMV the other day. They charge very high prices, and this just happened to be £4 (and was rated rather well I remember) along with Leftfield - Leftism (WTH? That’s the best one there!)

Unfortunately some parts of the album are pretty poor. I can see where it’s going, it’s a bit like Massive Attack, and it seems more spiritual and indulging. There are one or two brilliant tracks, however, that make up for the lacking, such as God is a DJ which feels… different than other music.

This is big in America, not so much in UK. It’s a strong album, with a nice bassy techno sound. Great music to drive to/walk to etc. A lot of the tracks sound similar which joins them together better than the Chemical Brothers ever did it but it’s the main problem with the album, there’s not a lot of variation in the music.

“High Roller” is a pulsey, acid track and it’s my favourite on there. ‘Coming Back’ has some creepy female vocals on it as do a few others, but mostly its the same male voice throughout the album. I like this album but it’s not perfect, and doesn’t even come close to Sasha’s work for me since the work isn’t varied enough.

Hunting for the best dance music? Look no further! I have experience here and only list the very best.

Sasha and John Digweed - Northern Exposure 1 (Best ambient music ever. You’ll have some trouble getting hold of it though.)

Sasha - Global Underground 9 San Francisco (The trance mix which has the best power to play with your emotions)

Hybrid - Wider Angle (Combines classical music and dance - beautiful)

Leftfield - Leftism (What a delicate atmosphere.)

Sasha - Global Underground 13 Ibiza (Another great mix from Sasha, with some awesome tracks!)

Chill Out - KLF (Just chill out)

Orbital - In Sides (Happy, sad, dark, this CD moves through them all!)

Music for the Jilted Generation - The Prodigy (Rave, rave)

Total Euphoria - Dave Pearce (Dance anthems, if you feel in the mood.)

Massive Attack - Mezzanine (Dark, dark, dark. Depressive!)

Sasha and John Digweed - Northern Exposure 2 (Nothing like number 1, but some tracks are awesome)

Underworld - Dubnobasswithmyheadman (A bit more random, but classic from 1994)

Future Sound of London - Lifeforms (Pure ambience - I thought I was in a rainforest!)

Paul Van Dyk - Out There and Back (Sounds of hope)

Now why did I choose these? The ATMOSPHERE. It’s rarely the case that a few brilliant tracks (cough Chemical Brothers) make a great album, the reason why these are all good is the whole album leaves you changed. It’s the atmosphere of them, whether it’s dark, uplifting, ambient. Buy one and see.