Essential Selection, Vol. 1: Essential Selection: Amazon.ca: Music

Disc: 1
1. Walter Wanderley - Summer Samba
2. Armand Van Helden - Necessary Evil
3. Alan Braxe - Vertigo (Virgo Edit)
4. Hardy Hard - Funky Music
5. Major Force - Return of the Original Art Form
6. Ceasefire V. Deadly Avenger - Evil Knievel
7. Art of Noise - Metaforce
8. Size 9 - I'm Ready
9. Fatboy Slim - Everybody Loves a Carnival
10. Fatboy Slim - Jack it Up (DJ Delite)
See all 18 tracks on this disc
Disc: 2
1. Jaya - Precession (Subterranean EP)
2. Luzon - The Baguio Track
3. The Unknown - The Spirit
4. Mono Culture - Free (Extended Vocal Mix)
5. Perfect State - Perfect State (Original Mix)
6. Brainchild - Symmetry C (Lange Breakbeat Remix)
7. Skip Raider Featuring Jada - Another Day
8. Jan Johnston - Flesh (Tilt Mix)
9. Solar Stone - Seven Cities
10. Z2 - I Want You
See all 12 tracks on this disc

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Fatboy Slim and Paul Oakenfold, two of the most famous DJs in the world and kings of big beat and house, respectively, are supremely showcased in this double-CD collection. The Essential Selection, Vol. 1 glorifies each mixmaster's equal, yet mutually exclusive talents in roof raising. The back-to-back discs are an enlightening example of the yin and yang of club music; Fatboy Slim's grounded, drier, giddier expressions of overlapping funk and disco juxtapose Oakenfold's spatial, entrancing continuum supplemented with buzzing, flatulent bass lines, and celestial synths. Both DJs are experts in flow, building beats seamlessly into climactic moments of frenzied, adrenaline-fueled euphoria, then swinging the vibe down again with the subtlety and patience of a free-falling feather. No doubt Fatboy Slim is known for his deliberate lack of subtlety stylistically, but when placed in this context, immediately compared to Oakenfold's ethereal grooves, it's evident that Stormin' Norman possesses copious finesse. Because of their stylistic polarity, like platinum and gold, these DJs shine with matched but multihued brilliance, and like soil and sun, are indispensable components of a diverse dance music ecology. --Beth Massa

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Customer Reviews

44 Reviews

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

Average Customer Review

4.0 out of 5 stars (44 customer reviews)

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3.0 out of 5 stars This is Comical!!!, Oct 25 2002

By

ShoKK "djshokk" (Mid-west, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Selection, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Boy, do I love this. Fatboy Slim tears it up on his CD, Oakenfold continues to put me to sleep!!! All I have to say is, if you have the extra money to drop on these CDs, buy it for Fatboy Slim's Disc. Truely one of his better...

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4.0 out of 5 stars Two genres, two discs, two different moods, Sep 28 2002

By

Mark Emanuel (St. Louis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Essential Selection, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

First of all, if you've never been exposed to electronic music, buy this double CD set. It is a rarity among dance mix compilations since it includes two popular but very different styles of dance mixed by two of the biggest DJs in the world. Almost all other dance mix sets contain one style exclusively, so this album is truly a 2-for-1 deal.
If you happen to be an electronica guru, this compilation may not whet your thirst for innovation. The first CD, Fatboy Slim's big beat mix, sounds dated, despite being fairly high energy. True, there are it's fine points, such as the few tracks in the middle of the mix that create an enjoyable climax, but as a whole the mix sounds old and worn. Unless you're a truly big Fatboy Slim fan, his mix probably will have you hitting the "skip" button on your CD player over and over again to escape the repetition of annoying beats.
As for the Oakenfold mix, it's the reason I gave the album 4 stars. Stand-alone, this CD is one of the best trance mixes to come out just before the trance genre began to flood with exhausted, overplayed, producer driven stagnation. Some critics have panned the Oakenfold mix claiming the song selection was second rate. I could not disagree more. Most of the songs are wonderful selections on their own right, utilizing pure emotion. The CD begins with a surrealistic soundbyte of a New York Thanksgiving day television weathercast, which quickly builds into an energetic hill with the likes of "The Spirit" and "Free". The 3 song climax is among the best I've ever heard, and one that can't be missed. Of note is Solarstone's "Seven Cities", which literally makes the listener feel as if he/she is truly on an emotional ride. The closing two songs on the mix are a wonderful cool-down, of note is "Viola" which is one of the best late night driving songs ever.
Overall I think it's a ...investment well worth the cost.

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3.0 out of 5 stars big beat and trance together?, Jan 19 2002

By

seb (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Selection, Vol. 1 (Audio CD)

Fatboy Slim and Paul Oakenfold are two of the biggest dj's out there right now, producing great mix cd's and doing sellout shows. so where did they go wrong on this album???

The first disc, the Fatboy Slim essential mix, rolls with the likes of The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Art Of Noise, Groove Armada, and of course Fatboy Slim. Each track follows right on into each other but no track is very similar to another. Pinpointing the genre of this disk would be difficult. If you've ever heard Fatboy live, you know what I mean. Funky swelling guitars, disco beats, and twisted vocals fill the air with sound as this disc wanders on. While his "On The Floor At The Boutique" mix had a bit more personality, this mix has more big tracks. The highlights are Fatboy's own "Everybody Loves A Carnival" (very similar to "Everybody Needs A 303"), Mr. Spring's funky "Blaxtraxx 3", Underworld's "Born Slippy" (very tweaked by Slim), and the closer with Groove Armada's "At The River" is the best part of the album. In my opinion, this disk is much better than the staggering disk2.

Disk 2 is Oakenfold's mix. While Oakey has been known for playing the big tracks everybody likes, I don't know what he was trying to do with this mix. His almost blasphemist use of "The Baguio Track" and the sickly tech-pop of "Free" and "Perfect State" make this disk unaccomlished. The best part of the mix comes on tracks 7-9 where his real talent finally begins to show with the strings in "Another Day" building up to heavy emotional trance on the awesome "Flesh" and "Seven Cities", the latter being the best track on the album by far. That vibe is way too soon deminished with the slow, housey closing tracks, which sound disturbingly out of place. His other mixes ("Tranceport", "GU004: Oslo", and "Another World") are MUCH better.

Listen before you buy.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Freaky
While most will say that these cds do not go together, I could not disagree with them more. Like most humans that walk this earth I am blessed with changing moods and need... Read more

Published on Nov 30 2001 by Phillip Butler

3.0 out of 5 stars Crazy-style
While this album is a valuable piece of my collection, it can be hit-or-miss on a track by track basis. Read more