Is it just me or is there too much waffle in Gamemaster? I chose it as my favourite but it really does take away from the song. It makes no sense, the only line u really need is the last one...
Ya know, I'm surprised no one has voted for PPK's Resurrection. It's not the best one in my opinion, but, for instance, it certainly is better than Darude's Sandstorm or AVB's Communication and those have a few votes. Reason being, Resurrection was an incredibly long & progressive track with one of the most memorable melodies out of all the songs on the list. Best of all, about halfway through the song, it totally shifts into a whole new gear. Other than Children, Resurrection undeniably would have been in the top five for my considerations.
True actually... that and For an Angel.. but Resurection considering its mainstream success. Agree about the melody, apparently it was extracted from an old Russian film which is hard to believe because to me, it sounds like one of the most futuristic songs I've ever heard. And from my memory, I can't recall any trance song that was in the charts for so long (at least in recent times anyway (BTW DHT-Listen to Your Heart doesn't count, it's just another awful, awful remix that must just kick the guts out of the artists that actually produce good music) ).
It doesn't matter if they're the greatest trance djs, this list is of greatest SONG not artist. And btw, do you really think they are two of the greatest djs? They're good but certainly not up there with the best.
I personally dont even like ATB to much and Ive never heard of that other mixer. I dont think ATB is even comparable to Tiesto, Miles, or Three Drives. Im not criticizing your taste at all but its good to keep an open mind to other Dj's! Im with TranceAddict. They may be good or in your taste but are they really the best? Dont focus on ONLY mainstrean artist. There is a huge selection of Dj's out there.
I do agree,Children was beautiful( my favorite song from the 90's [great times]). That song got me into trance when I was a wee young lad in 96'. I also have a taste for suburban train. Outta today's artist, Tiesto keeps it oldskewl. in fact his sound today is almost as good as it was under his other aliases from back in the day. Greece 2000 is pretty good too. HOW DID SANDSTORM MAKE IT ON THIS LIST?!?!?!?!?
Sandstorm kinda lost its charm after being played like 10 times in a row on its first day airing! If You like Darude's modern sound, Id suggest you listen to Music(Bostik Radio Edit) and ignore the other mixes if you run across them! Its got a lot more trance elements and its not like Sandstorm's repeat-a-beat sound (at least not TOO noticably).
-Voted for Children by Robert Miles:
1. First "trance" song I had ever herd in my life at the time.
2. When listening, I was overwhelmed with the beauity of its simplicity
3. Essentially, since it was the 1st, Children was the trance song that open up a whole new realm of music to me that I can not get enough of. Except for that "vocal trance" where the majority of vocalists have terrible voices and totally ruin the mood of the song. There are exceptions though. Miss Jane - It's a fine day is one example. The woman's voice is so soft yet incredibly hypnotic at the same time. Download it...it's SICK!
4. Now, I have come to hear many of the songs on this list(excellent by the way), but not one of them even comes close to how unique Children is. They may have phatt beats, rhythms, and melodies, but the emotional vibe from Children is unparallel to any other.
-My second vote would be for Solar Stone - Solarcoaser...(it is not up there), but have you heard it before Tranceaddict?
Couldn't agree with you more, Robert Miles - Children is one of the all time most beautiful pieces of music, never mind trance. The Dream Version is perfection itself, usually such a long buildup is pointless in these songs but somehow it works here, and really it wouldn't be the same without it. Besides this, it is also one of the most important 'recruit songs' in the history of trance. Excellent choice.
About vocal trance, euro-trance has destroyed it. It's people like Special D, Scooter, Milk. Inc and those who simply increase the tempo of a 60s, 70s or 80s classic to make a f*cking 'squeeky voice', aimed at kids whose voice hasn't broken to amaze them with their crapiness. But when vocal trance is done properly, it can be as good as anything. A few examples of vocal trance gone right:
Noemi - In My Dreams
Delerium - Silence
Chicane - Saltwater
IIO - Rapture
Underworld - Born Slippy
BT - Dreaming
Matt Darey - Beautiful
Agnelli & Nelson - Everyday
Kira - I'll Be Your Angel
...There are a lot of exceptions and some songs work with vocals, some don't. It would be hard to imagine any of these songs without vocals, they just wouldn't be the same.
About Solarcoaster, believe it or not, I actually had it in at the start, but as the list got longer I had to get rid of a few and Solarcoaster was one of them. It's a great song, it's just that Seven Cities is widely regarded as better.
Fu*k'n A! The dream version is totally sublime. Energy 92, a radio station here in San Fran, played a short 3 minute version of Children without the buildup, and it just seemed so awkward without it. The dream version definitely 'recruited' me into trance, but what do you mean by 'recruit songs?' Is Children played at night clubs in order to 'introduce' trance to people who have a narrow view of it or something? "Here, listen to this. I bet this will change the way you think about trance" type of thing...
Thanks for the 'vocal' track suggestions. I don't know what it is. Maybe I just don't ever get around to ever hearing the good vocal samples. You surely are correct in that many of them sound like that cheesy sped up Britney Spears techno pop. Energy 92 plays a lot of that sh*t.
Seven Cities has many many remix versions which is why, I guess, more people like it. The original version by Solar Stone, I thought, was a little too mellow though. Armin Van Buren does an excellent job of creating a much livelier version of the track. Almost every Van Buren remix that I have herd is better than the original.
The mellowness is a lot of what makes the Seven Cities original great, I think. It gets tiring always hearing one fast uberanthem after another, slower trance changes it up a bit, stops the style from getting too monotonous.
As for "recruit songs," they aren't tracks designed to get people into it, recruit songs are mainstream hits that came out of the trance genre. Because of their mainstream acceptance, many pop fans will hear them, and many of these pop fans will like them so much, that they'll go looking for other songs like them. Sometimes they'll lose interest, but other times, you'll get a bona fide new trance fan, in other words, a "recruit." So, it's a nickname, not an actual genre name.
(Of course, trance is a "recruit genre" into electronic music...most people, once getting into trance, will eventually move on to the other styles of electronic music.)
O...I see how it is...that makes sense. Amazingly, Children is probably the only non-vocal song that gets radio play even, what, seven years after it came out. 1998 or 1999 was it? Anyway, Seven Cites was indeed the first rack by Solar Stone that I heard. Now that you mention it, there are not too many tracks that have that “mellow, tranquil” mood associated them. I just love Solarcoaser because it is about half and half. Stars out slow and builds up. Plus, Airbase made a sIcK remix of Solarcoaster. You should hear it sometime.
Children, co-incidentally is one of the only few songs that is equally loved by mainstream media pop worshippers and true trance lovers. If there were ever an award for the most powerful recruit song, it has to go the Children... the sheer beauty of the song is overwhelming. I have a friend who procalims she's never heard trance and when I mentioned the name 'Children' she went on and on raving about it and in the end asks me,"Is THAT trance? WOW! MOTHERF*CKING CHRIST! Gimme more!". Many more recruit songs inlude the uber hit Castles in the Sky, Sandstorm, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Don't Give up etc etc etc. Wrongly popular 'trance' recruits consist almost solely of Venga(f*cking)byz and DJ Sammy. Either way, it's heartning to see that even today, Children features in many trance mixes.
It's...sort of trance: more technically it's "new-italo dance" - a short lived subgenre of eurodance that was defined simply by the presence of vocoders. Not bad music, but quite a stupid and suffocating formula: the EDM world quickly went on to better things once it's sole hit (Blue) had been produced.
Vocoder is a speech analyser and synthesizer. It was originally developed as a speech coder for telecommunications in the '30s, but some artirts use the vocorder in some of their songs like Kraftwerk, Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Daft Punk etc etc.
I'm not sure if Eiffel 65 uses them . I think "Blue" use Vocorders, but I'm not sure. I know Cher uses Vocorders in "Believe" and Kraftwerk too in "Tour de France".
Really? You didn't find it a little cliche and even cheesy? A good song nonetheless, but contender for greatest?
After all, it's a blatant ripoff of the superior "Gamemaster." It contains the same sort of meaningless rambling "new age" monologue, the same type of buildup, the same "string-styled" breakdown, etc.. The only real differences are the precise melodies used, the details of the monologue, and the atmosphere. Gamemaster employs a darker, more progressive sound, while Millenium goes for a weaker epic trance euphoria. Plus Gamemaster has an acid line, automatically making it 10 times more awesome.
Actually, you're right - I should probably take back my vote. I couldn't begin to pretend to imagine to consider myself able to name the "greatest" trance song, as I've heard so little of it. And even from what I've heard, "Remember" doesn't stand out musically, except that it happens to be my favorite. darktremor, if you'd like to send me "Gamemaster", I'd sure be grateful!
For some reason yousendit isn't working for me right now, but do you have g-mail? If not, I may be able to get it to you in a few days whenever yousendit decides to work for me again.
humate - love stimulation wins it for me. the piano breakdown is pure brilliance. heard it in a club in manchester and almost cried
i think atb deserves to be on this list.. let u go, ecstasy, 9pm, those are amazing
atb isnt that good
You forgot Tomorrow Never Knows the Beatles.
I almost take offense to the fact that Sandstorm is winning.
*votes for Strange World*
Faithless - Insomnia ... all the way!!!
Is it just me or is there too much waffle in Gamemaster? I chose it as my favourite but it really does take away from the song. It makes no sense, the only line u really need is the last one...
Ya know, I'm surprised no one has voted for PPK's Resurrection. It's not the best one in my opinion, but, for instance, it certainly is better than Darude's Sandstorm or AVB's Communication and those have a few votes. Reason being, Resurrection was an incredibly long & progressive track with one of the most memorable melodies out of all the songs on the list. Best of all, about halfway through the song, it totally shifts into a whole new gear. Other than Children, Resurrection undeniably would have been in the top five for my considerations.
True actually... that and For an Angel.. but Resurection considering its mainstream success. Agree about the melody, apparently it was extracted from an old Russian film which is hard to believe because to me, it sounds like one of the most futuristic songs I've ever heard. And from my memory, I can't recall any trance song that was in the charts for so long (at least in recent times anyway (BTW DHT-Listen to Your Heart doesn't count, it's just another awful, awful remix that must just kick the guts out of the artists that actually produce good music) ).
voted for born slipper - underworld wonderful list!! underworld is what started me into trance :D and I love it!!!
Thanks :-). Yeah it's a fine song alright but come on Café del Mar!! lol jk.
Not ONE song by ATB and Blank & Jones? They are one of the greastest trance DJs....
It doesn't matter if they're the greatest trance djs, this list is of greatest SONG not artist. And btw, do you really think they are two of the greatest djs? They're good but certainly not up there with the best.
I personally dont even like ATB to much and Ive never heard of that other mixer. I dont think ATB is even comparable to Tiesto, Miles, or Three Drives. Im not criticizing your taste at all but its good to keep an open mind to other Dj's! Im with TranceAddict. They may be good or in your taste but are they really the best? Dont focus on ONLY mainstrean artist. There is a huge selection of Dj's out there.
I do agree,Children was beautiful( my favorite song from the 90's [great times]). That song got me into trance when I was a wee young lad in 96'. I also have a taste for suburban train. Outta today's artist, Tiesto keeps it oldskewl. in fact his sound today is almost as good as it was under his other aliases from back in the day. Greece 2000 is pretty good too. HOW DID SANDSTORM MAKE IT ON THIS LIST?!?!?!?!?
What's wrong with Sandstorm? I think it's a pretty good track that has just been overplayed to the point of exhaustion, not Darude's fault for that.
I agree, Children, Suburban Train and Greece 2000 are all brilliant songs.
Sandstorm kinda lost its charm after being played like 10 times in a row on its first day airing! If You like Darude's modern sound, Id suggest you listen to Music(Bostik Radio Edit) and ignore the other mixes if you run across them! Its got a lot more trance elements and its not like Sandstorm's repeat-a-beat sound (at least not TOO noticably).
-Voted for Children by Robert Miles:
1. First "trance" song I had ever herd in my life at the time.
2. When listening, I was overwhelmed with the beauity of its simplicity
3. Essentially, since it was the 1st, Children was the trance song that open up a whole new realm of music to me that I can not get enough of. Except for that "vocal trance" where the majority of vocalists have terrible voices and totally ruin the mood of the song. There are exceptions though. Miss Jane - It's a fine day is one example. The woman's voice is so soft yet incredibly hypnotic at the same time. Download it...it's SICK!
4. Now, I have come to hear many of the songs on this list(excellent by the way), but not one of them even comes close to how unique Children is. They may have phatt beats, rhythms, and melodies, but the emotional vibe from Children is unparallel to any other.
-My second vote would be for Solar Stone - Solarcoaser...(it is not up there), but have you heard it before Tranceaddict?
Couldn't agree with you more, Robert Miles - Children is one of the all time most beautiful pieces of music, never mind trance. The Dream Version is perfection itself, usually such a long buildup is pointless in these songs but somehow it works here, and really it wouldn't be the same without it. Besides this, it is also one of the most important 'recruit songs' in the history of trance. Excellent choice.
About vocal trance, euro-trance has destroyed it. It's people like Special D, Scooter, Milk. Inc and those who simply increase the tempo of a 60s, 70s or 80s classic to make a f*cking 'squeeky voice', aimed at kids whose voice hasn't broken to amaze them with their crapiness. But when vocal trance is done properly, it can be as good as anything. A few examples of vocal trance gone right:
Noemi - In My Dreams
Delerium - Silence
Chicane - Saltwater
IIO - Rapture
Underworld - Born Slippy
BT - Dreaming
Matt Darey - Beautiful
Agnelli & Nelson - Everyday
Kira - I'll Be Your Angel
...There are a lot of exceptions and some songs work with vocals, some don't. It would be hard to imagine any of these songs without vocals, they just wouldn't be the same.
About Solarcoaster, believe it or not, I actually had it in at the start, but as the list got longer I had to get rid of a few and Solarcoaster was one of them. It's a great song, it's just that Seven Cities is widely regarded as better.
Fu*k'n A! The dream version is totally sublime. Energy 92, a radio station here in San Fran, played a short 3 minute version of Children without the buildup, and it just seemed so awkward without it. The dream version definitely 'recruited' me into trance, but what do you mean by 'recruit songs?' Is Children played at night clubs in order to 'introduce' trance to people who have a narrow view of it or something? "Here, listen to this. I bet this will change the way you think about trance" type of thing...
Thanks for the 'vocal' track suggestions. I don't know what it is. Maybe I just don't ever get around to ever hearing the good vocal samples. You surely are correct in that many of them sound like that cheesy sped up Britney Spears techno pop. Energy 92 plays a lot of that sh*t.
Seven Cities has many many remix versions which is why, I guess, more people like it. The original version by Solar Stone, I thought, was a little too mellow though. Armin Van Buren does an excellent job of creating a much livelier version of the track. Almost every Van Buren remix that I have herd is better than the original.
The mellowness is a lot of what makes the Seven Cities original great, I think. It gets tiring always hearing one fast uberanthem after another, slower trance changes it up a bit, stops the style from getting too monotonous.
As for "recruit songs," they aren't tracks designed to get people into it, recruit songs are mainstream hits that came out of the trance genre. Because of their mainstream acceptance, many pop fans will hear them, and many of these pop fans will like them so much, that they'll go looking for other songs like them. Sometimes they'll lose interest, but other times, you'll get a bona fide new trance fan, in other words, a "recruit." So, it's a nickname, not an actual genre name.
(Of course, trance is a "recruit genre" into electronic music...most people, once getting into trance, will eventually move on to the other styles of electronic music.)
O...I see how it is...that makes sense. Amazingly, Children is probably the only non-vocal song that gets radio play even, what, seven years after it came out. 1998 or 1999 was it? Anyway, Seven Cites was indeed the first rack by Solar Stone that I heard. Now that you mention it, there are not too many tracks that have that “mellow, tranquil” mood associated them. I just love Solarcoaser because it is about half and half. Stars out slow and builds up. Plus, Airbase made a sIcK remix of Solarcoaster. You should hear it sometime.
Children, co-incidentally is one of the only few songs that is equally loved by mainstream media pop worshippers and true trance lovers. If there were ever an award for the most powerful recruit song, it has to go the Children... the sheer beauty of the song is overwhelming. I have a friend who procalims she's never heard trance and when I mentioned the name 'Children' she went on and on raving about it and in the end asks me,"Is THAT trance? WOW! MOTHERF*CKING CHRIST! Gimme more!". Many more recruit songs inlude the uber hit Castles in the Sky, Sandstorm, Hey Boy Hey Girl, Don't Give up etc etc etc. Wrongly popular 'trance' recruits consist almost solely of Venga(f*cking)byz and DJ Sammy. Either way, it's heartning to see that even today, Children features in many trance mixes.
I want to vote for worse, can't stand Blue.
You're right, it does seem to be an odd inclusion for greatest track...
And is it really trance?
I really just put in in because it was such a huge hit, probably one of the biggest Trance songs ever, so people are bound to like it.
It's...sort of trance: more technically it's "new-italo dance" - a short lived subgenre of eurodance that was defined simply by the presence of vocoders. Not bad music, but quite a stupid and suffocating formula: the EDM world quickly went on to better things once it's sole hit (Blue) had been produced.
I honestly don't know what vocoders are. And besides Blue, I thinks Eiffel 65 also had this another rip off from Blue itself - Move your body.
Vocoder is a speech analyser and synthesizer. It was originally developed as a speech coder for telecommunications in the '30s, but some artirts use the vocorder in some of their songs like Kraftwerk, Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Daft Punk etc etc.
They always sound totally awesome in a song, for some reason.
I'm still confused...does Eiffel 65 use it? Which songs (egs., I mean) have it?
I'm not sure if Eiffel 65 uses them . I think "Blue" use Vocorders, but I'm not sure. I know Cher uses Vocorders in "Believe" and Kraftwerk too in "Tour de France".
Voted born slippy. Still love the damn song. Zombie Nation is great too.
Good choice... Thanks :)
Morrighan - Remember (To the Millenium) (Lange Remix)
Really? You didn't find it a little cliche and even cheesy? A good song nonetheless, but contender for greatest?
After all, it's a blatant ripoff of the superior "Gamemaster." It contains the same sort of meaningless rambling "new age" monologue, the same type of buildup, the same "string-styled" breakdown, etc.. The only real differences are the precise melodies used, the details of the monologue, and the atmosphere. Gamemaster employs a darker, more progressive sound, while Millenium goes for a weaker epic trance euphoria. Plus Gamemaster has an acid line, automatically making it 10 times more awesome.
Gamemaster is awful. Is it just me or the new breed of trance is actaully souding all the same?
Actually, you're right - I should probably take back my vote. I couldn't begin to pretend to imagine to consider myself able to name the "greatest" trance song, as I've heard so little of it. And even from what I've heard, "Remember" doesn't stand out musically, except that it happens to be my favorite. darktremor, if you'd like to send me "Gamemaster", I'd sure be grateful!
For some reason yousendit isn't working for me right now, but do you have g-mail? If not, I may be able to get it to you in a few days whenever yousendit decides to work for me again.
Perhaps dropload, then? Though, they make you sign up for a quick, free account.
What about Orbital - Halcyon On & On?
LSG - Netherworld?
Isn't that song ambient techno?
Up they go.^