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| Artist: Armin Van Buuren
Label: Ultra Records
List Price: $19.98
Buy New: $13.16
You Save: $6.82 (34%)
New (39) Used (7) from $13.16
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 23239
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 1545
UPC: 617465154522
EAN: 0617465154522
ASIN: B000PSJBKW
Release Date: June 5, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: IMPORT CD. Brand new and factory sealed! Free upgrade to First Class for US orders and to Air Mail for international orders!
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 54
 A commendable achievement June 13, 2007
Travis Godbold (Gilbert, AZ United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Again, I would like to commend Armin on another very enjoyable melodic trip into a state of trance. This album is a little more psychedelic then his previous mix works, for its lack of vocals, but all the more enticing for its electronic beats and rifts. I still prefer 2006 over his latest compilation, only for its better mixes and the incomparable prestige of his own add to the piece, Sail, a different and almost incomparable song amongst other Trance beats.
This CD has two trends: On the Beach and In the Club, like ASOT 2006.
CD01 On the Beach: Is a very soothing and euphoric journey, with much vocals, but the title of this CD should have been different, just to be original, like Amazon, Icescape, Downtown. Some of the songs surprised me with their excellent refinement by Armin, but found the introductory track was too comparable to his opening song on ASOT 2006, with its soothing beach and seagull sounds, and euphoric vocals that I was kind of disappointed but he compensates this with very original and great mixes of other tracks later in the CD. One of the songs I recognized on Track 5 had tunes taken from an old NES game I still love and enjoy, the 1986 Jaws, with its depth charge blips and the eerie underwater tune, but Armin mixes it to prestige to make a very awesome piece.
CD02 In the Club: This is a very phenomenal CD, although it opens very darkly with Armin's first track Misere, and its not hard to visualize misery while listening to its initial tune that starts off with this very deep, dark melody and heavy breathing which seems to reach into some abysmal and nightmarish depths, but then later sees the light with a church choir chorus that leads to Armin's production, a commendable trance creation, Rush Hour, a song that has both a dark and break beat quality. Track 15, "Day Seven" by Sophie Sugar was kind of reminiscent to the good old Night Rider theme song, and could have been a spin-off to a soundtrack for this great 1980's series which made David Hasselhoff big and famous before Baywatch with shiny black sport cars named Kit. The other tracks are very euphoric and mesmerizing with a great beat which makes for high pulsed listening or if you're meditative, fast-paced trips on the other side.
4 stars for a commendable DJ.
 This mix is incomplete! Why??? July 16, 2007
V. Morlock (Los Angeles, CA USA)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
As brilliant as Armin's mixes are, why are we again short-changed by a track on disc 2 compared to the European release? This already happened once with ASOT 2005! Could someone please explain this to me? As a fan, this is very frustrating... are we not worthy of a complete mix???
 Very disappointed... July 19, 2007
chuckno (Bothell, WA)
2 out of 7 found this review helpful
I read the reviews before buying and all of them said this was the best trance cd of 2007. Ha! Not really! I downloaded the tracks immediatley to my ipod. When I played the tracks there was of course a break in between the songs so I didn't think there was a big deal when the next song sounded different. Then I played the cd on my stereo without the pause in between tracks and noticed that it sounded the same. "What the hell is going on?" I thought. I'll tell you. The mixing sucks! It's too fast and lasts about 10-15 seconds. Then the next song starts like it's a brand new song without the slight sound of the previous song. This is poor mixing in my opinion for the #3 DJ in the world! For a mix CD to be the best there has to be some mixing. Check out In Search of Sunrise Vol 5 by DJ Tiesto and you will see what I mean. Also the tracks aren't that great. I tend to go for the high energy uplifitng trance. This is just background trance and I hardly get motivated when working out to this. If you want a good mix trance CD, check out DJ Tiesto and ATB. They seem to be the best at mixing songs like a true DJ should!
 Armin's Trance album of the year !!! August 8, 2007
Christos Sakkos (NY, NY)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
this album is HOT. over the past 5 or so years i've noticed that the harder club music being played is moving further away from my personal tastes, but overall i am still a trance fan and would take disc 2 (in the club) any day over the stuff you'd find on an Ultra.Trance series album.
but my personal favorites reside on disc 1 (on the beach). the first track "light the skies" starts off with a rhythm and type of bass beat that i can't get enough of. the vocals on this track are also superb. "wouldn't change a thing", "kalopsia", "in & out"....as well as most of the others are tunes i warmed up to right after the first play. normally, i'll listen to something new 2 times before i get into it, but this album was very fluid and feels like a natural extension of A State Of Trance 2006.
disc 2 is also pretty hot, some of my favorite tracks are "ascent", "evergreen", "firefly" (off the hook) and "anthem" (also off the hook)....
the flow on this disc is also very fluid and strong.
overall, A State Of Trance 2007 deserves those 5 stars. i'll be listening to it often this year.
A very different ASOT... August 23, 2007
Hitronica (California)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I would like to start my review by stating that Armin has been my favorite Trance DJ for several years due to his superb mixing, producing, and dedication and love for his fans. I have been a big fan of the radio show A State of Trance and through it I have discovered many of my favorite trance tunes. I have collected ASOT 04,05,06 as well as his Universal Religion mixes and artist CD's. This information was included not so I could prove how big a fan I am or not, but to show you where I am coming from in my critique of the album.
Initial observations:
Tracklist differences from previous ASOT's:
1. Has many of the big names on other ASOT CD's and the radio show along with some new faces.
2. A lot of vocal tracks on Disc 1 (compared to previous ASOT's where there were only several key vocal tracks)
3. Only 1 Kyau & Albert song (each previous ASOT CD featured 2) (K&A are some of my favorite artists as well)
4. Only 1 Armin van Buuren Trance song...Misere is an intro track. (each previous ASOT CD featured 2)
5. No M.I.K.E. track ('04, '06 and the European '05 did)
Mixing:
Like some other reviewers, I found Armin's mixing on `07 to be inferior to what he can do live or even on other mixed CD's. Most of the transitions were very quick and abrupt, and while they're not bad, they aren't particularly great either. Just a quick and bland crossover to the new track. I love exciting transitions that take two different songs and bring together in a new way that takes the listener to a new place, and there is a major lack of these transitions in ASOT '07 with the exception of Perspective into Space We Are.
Conclusion:
Putting these two aspects of ASOT 2007 together leads me to conclude that Armin has created a very different A State of Trance than what he has done prior. I believe that the existence of many vocal tracks and less innovative mixing are signs of a Trance CD that is made to appeal to the masses. Although this is a rare thing for me, I feel that the Amazon.com review is the most true review of the album especially when it closes with "As with contemporaries like DJ Tiesto, Van Buuren seems to believe he needs to be all things to all people, but his more commercial instincts are too pronounced here, leaving his more devoted fan base with only half a mix to enjoy." If you take a good listen to the mixes of DJ before and after their breakout in popularity on the world dance scene, there is often sadly a stark drop in quality for the latter. This is due to the inevitable pressure to play all the crowd favorites and pack as much record and ticket selling goodies as possible. I had thought that Armin had been largely resisting this for a good portion of his popularity but I feel that this has changed with ASOT '07.
However, Armin does deliver a very appealing mix. It has many great trance and progressive songs from this past year, and I would urge any Armin van Buuren fan to get it, but don't expect anything particularly groundbreaking in terms of mixing. I love enchanting/exciting trance vocal tracks and I feel that they are much more effective and powerful when surrounded by non vocal tracks to build up to the climax of the vocal track. I feel that Disc 1 could have been better if it did not have so many vocals, so as to highlight the key vocal tracks like Armin does on Disc 2 and other mixes. However, I was very glad to get this album and I enjoy listening to it, and to have songs such as Space We Are, Rush Hour, Wouldn't Change a Thing, Anthem and many more. It is indeed a very entertaining and fun album to listen to and Armin has been a master of creating good times for thousands of people, which is what the dance music scene really is all about. If Armin has done that for you with this album, then it is a success. I find that some of the songs and the mixing are not quite to my taste and so I defer to ASOT 2006 as his best so far. I am looking forward to enjoying Armin van Buuren's music and the ASOT series for many years to come.
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