Search - Various Artists :: Essential Chill Collection

Good variety of Down Tempo music styles

Joshua A Martin | Plattsburgh, NY United States | 03/31/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Contrary to other reviewers opionions this set has a lot going for it. This collection features everything from Trip-Hop to Ambient Drum and Bass to Slow House. Now, there are better albums out there if you want the best trip hop, or the best ambient drum and bass experience. The point here is though you get a great variety for something like $4.40 a piece ($3.60 per going off of amazons price). I also enjoy the comments about this set being "boring." I would hope a box set called "The Essential Chill Collection" wouldnt make me want to jump out of my seat. The point is to relax you and just lay back and enjoy.



This set features a variety of CDs that were origionally released over the years by themselves. What i find interesting is that one CD featured in the set is called "Later" by various artists. It is a double disc and provides two of the CDs in the set. This CD sold seperately on amazon sells for $21 and has good reviews. So if youre buying from amazon, you add an extra $4 and you get FIVE more CDs.



Discs 1, 2, and 5 feature predominately Trip Hop. Being a big fan of trip hop I was pleased with these albums. Some tracks were a bit lacking but i got to hear a lot of artists ive never heard before. Basically though if you like trip hop, youll like these discs.



Disc 3 is an ambient drum and bass CD. Its no LTJ Bukem but it offers a nice laid back dnb vibe. My one real problem with this CD is that it was a bit short.



Disc 4 brought me back to the 90s with the old school kind of chill techno that was common back then. Certainly was not something i was expecting in this collection, but i found was a decent addition.



Disc 6 was more of a mainstream slightly higher tempo CD. It featured a lot of housey chillout tracks. Noteables on this CD being Underworld, Moby, Air, Kosheen etc.



Disc 7 is labeled "Chillhouse" and thats exactly what it is. Definately the CD that impressed me the least. You know, the typical cheap vocals and house beat.



All that said I was happy with my purchase. Now, could there be a better collection of chillout tunes? Certainly. Is this still a great deal? Absolutely."

Essential for what?

Randy | vancouver, BC Canada | 12/27/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

"The only chill I got was thinking how much I wasted on this purchase. Having recently acquired "Ibiza -The History of Chillout" (which I highly recommend) on a whim during a recent trip to London I guess I was just on a Chillout boxed set high. I decided to try my luck again and purchased this simply because the store clerk said it had arrived recently, and at a whopping seven cd's in the set I was sure it was loaded with good stuff. Unfortunately this volume just means more to suffer while trying to plow your way through the complete set. Of course there are a few good tunes in the set by a few of the standard artists, as prominently noted on the box cover in order to suck you in. However why purchase 7 cd's simply to pare it down to the equivalent of one good one? As well those cuts featured by these artists are not anything new and exiting if you already have a good collection of Moby and the like. A week too late for me to heed any advice after I made the purchase a local critic reviewed this set as "passionless tunes and mediocre producers" and in his words, "what good is bad music when silence will suffice?""

I Loved It!!!

Spider Dude | Austin, TX | 09/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like Chill Out...probably my favorite genre of Electronica...then this is a great CD to add to your collection. If you don't know much about Chill Out or other "Ambient" type music, then you might also want to consider purchasing this as it's got a good selection of different things.



It's actually a collection of several separately sold CD's including: Later (2 CD Set); Electrochill; Electroburn; chillhouse; Chill, Vol.1; and Carol C. First Impressions. I would put them in about that order in terms of best to worst although all have something to offer. The 1st 3 (4 if you count Later as two) CD's are awesome but the quality falls off somewhat after that. You can't beat it for ~$20 though. FYI...somebody else on here said they liked "The Essential Trance Collection" but not this one. If feel exactly the opposite..."Trance" was a joke, but "Chill" is a must have for those who enjoy Ambient and Lounge type music!"