Reflections: Paul Van Dyk: Amazon.ca: Music

1. Crush

2. Time of Our Lives

3. Like a Friend

4. Reflections

5. Nothing But You

6. Buenaventura

7. Homage

8. Never Forget

9. Knowledge

10. That's Life

11. Connected

12. Spellbound

13. Kaleidoscope

Product Description

From Amazon.com

Paul Van Dyk’s pop sense dominates Reflections, giving his squeaky-clean progressive trance a catchy, yet disposable weightlessness. As a DJ, Van Dyk is beyond human, existing in that rarefied "superstar DJ" realm filled with exotic locales and sweat-soaked masses of young, beautiful fans. But on record, his reputation as a master spinner takes a backseat to his songwriting/production work. Even 2001’s The Politics of Dancing, billed as the DJ’s first proper mix record, was given a dollop of post-production gloss. Too often, there’s a feeling something is missing, that blood and sweat has been replaced with something cold and muted. With a variety of guest vocalists on hand, Reflections comes close to a proper "crossover" record without taking the verse-chorus-verse plunge, and this actually gives it some heart. Jan Johnston’s cheerful mantra on "Like a Friend," for instance, makes for a lovely bounce, like a lullaby with a beat. More often though, the ear drifts into a nostalgic desire for early mornings spent in dark clubs, listening to Van Dyk spin music with a little more meat on its bones. --Matthew Cooke

Album Description

Paul Van Dyk's first new artist album in 3 years! Features 13 tracks. Mute. 2003.

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

68 Reviews

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

Average Customer Review

3.6 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars paul van dyk goes crap, July 18 2004

By

mark twain "25354" (Monrovia, Liberia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reflections (Audio CD)

listening to this cd, you will hear such profunditities as, "In the kaleidescope of chaos; we're going to extremes; and people have lost their dreams (no dreams)" You will also, after a lengthy intro, hear a generic house soul sister petulantly intone, "I know you want meeee" just before the groove starts ramping. You will also hear various well-trammelled hip-hopisms like a black man saying "yeeeah... right about now..." and various other penetrating observations. If this sounds like a must hear, go nuts.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

4.0 out of 5 stars It's PvD, July 14 2004

By

Cesar Alcala (Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Reflections (Audio CD)

I just bought the album as soon as it was released in 2003 - And recently I bought the Special Edition of Reflections which comes with a bonus CD with nice remixes on tracks like 'That's life' and 'Buenaventura'. I have read some of the reviews and most people did find the new album somehow different to what most people is accustomed to hear from Paul van Dyk. Like if something is missing.

On the one hand, I think the album has strong and weak points. Some tracks didn`t quite fit on the album and I agree with the idea that it is almost full on vocals, which makes the album sound poppy and cheesy. But on the other hand I think that Paul is just being honest with the music he produces. As Paul himself has explained 'every track has its own little story' and so I think that in order to understand the album you need to sort of find out what's the message the artist wants to bring across. There are some articles and video interviews on Paul van Dyk that you can look for.

Even though this album is not a masterpiece of art. I think this albums still has some nice tracks: 'Crush' 'Time of Our Lives' 'Like a friend'&'Connected' are some of them. But other than it doesn`t present anything new, anything innventive that can be called 'Electronic Dance'. I have to admit the fact that thanks to Paul I got into Electronic Music... and you may start as I did. Before I knew nothing about PvD I bought the album 'Out There & Back' (More mature and intense album), then after that you can buy 'Seven Ways (Experimental and mistical album)' which was the album that catapulted Paul into the top 100 salecharts (This album was voted as number 1 Album of the Year by the readers of DJ Magazine when it came out).

As a mention before I liked 'Reflections' even though it doesn`t measure up that well and there's too much variety on the tracks. But if you have the opportunity to buy Paul's previous albums and/or see him live you won`t be dissapointed. On the contrary, you will be amazed of what a DJ and producer like Paul van Dyk can do (I have seen him a couple of times and he`s just amazing in a way).

So my advice is: Do not listen to this album until you have listened to the previous ones ('Out There & Back' and 'Seven Ways').

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

5.0 out of 5 stars Paul Van Dyk Rocks The Block With Reflections, July 11 2004

By

Rodrigo Pinto M�ller (Guatemala, Guatemala City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Reflections (Audio CD)

Well it's the newest album of Paul Van Dyk, it really shakes your world!! First of all the 1st track called Crush is simply awesome, good vocal background and nice beat, the 2nd one called Time Of Our Lives is a total fable with a teaching, really touches with Vega4 in the vocals. The 3rd one is called Like A Friend truly dazzling, the 4th track is Reflections and this track really moves the mood of everybody, the 5th song Nothing But You is sensationally performed by Hemstock & Jennings moves the soul, the 6th song Buenaventura is highly dazzling keeps you moving, the 7th song Homage is one of the greatest in this album touches the soul and mood of everyone, the 8th song Never Forget is outstanding and with a great beat, the 9th song Knowledge is kind of funky and with fresh beats brought to you by the greatest Paul Van Dyk, the 10th song That's Life really shakes you a 5 stars. the 11th song Connected it sensationally moves your body, the 12th song Spellbound is really hypnotizing and puts you on the groove, and finally but not last one of my favorites is Kaleidoscope with a kind of moving and grooving sounds from a synthetizer it really probes what Paul Van Dyk is: The Best DJ in the world!!!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Report abuse

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 68 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Want to see more reviews on this item?

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 82 reviews 3.7 out of 5 stars

Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars It's PVD...
Though many people would disagree, but I think this is the best PVD album yet!

Crush - This was really Second Sun's creation, PVD just took it, remixed it, and called it his... Read more

Published on Jun 24 2004 by Nicholas Chan

3.0 out of 5 stars Mainstream music since you can't really call it trance
It resembles PVD, but why did he put so many vocals on. Its not trance anymore its becoming pop. Why on earth all superstar djs putting so much vocals on. Read more