So-so sorting of ambient trance
Richard Diaz | 10/22/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The problem with nearly every Cream release to date has been their desire to court two vastly different audiences; the youthful partygoer who wants the hits they heard in the club, and the obsessive anoraks who check album track listings for exclusive remixes and pre-release material. Serving both groups inevitably results in cramming forty tracks over two discs, choppy flow that barely sustains a groove - dropping the hook then cutting out for the next piece. Same here, Future Chill offering up ambient mixes of trance and house hits, typically pairing luxuriant synth drones and spaced beats to the original melody, with lots of powderpuff vocals on top. For club kids, embarrassing claptrap from X-Press 2 in "Lazy" and Moby's "no one can stop us now, `cause we are all made of stars" junk each disc front, while Moony's "Dove" must have been a furious ten minutes of cliché notation on a napkin. With Jask's "Beautiful" lyrics squeezed in the remaining space. Yet elsewhere, notably on disc two, the strength of the original pieces overcomes the somewhat limited soundset these remixers have to work with, best served when there's a beautiful song already; Kartelle's positivity piece "Sisters of the Sun," and Oakenfold's angelic "Southern Sun," in probably it's best form. Or when the synths are dropped entirely, noting the beep line and light piano of Spooky's "Belong" or the surprising Timo Maas does Royksopp "Bad Days" discovery. Ultimately, the result with nearly every Cream release to date, Future Chill sorta-serves as a good listening experience, but an actual DJ, less tracks, better mixing, and much better sequencing would do wonders from separating the cream from the cheese. If you like this, try The Very Best Euphoric Chillout Mixes Vol.2"
Only the opening tracks on each need to be skipped.
acumen pro | New York, NY | 02/22/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is just full of lush soundscapes for anyone that wants to hear some heavenly tracks. I was blown away. Not sure what the previous reviewer missed, looking in the wrong place. After you get past the X-press 2 & Moby tracks, this is pure ecstasy."
Track Listings (36) - Disc #1