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Invol2ver
Participated by Sasha
Studio : Global Underground UK
by Global Underground UK
Release Date : 2008-09-09
Publisher : Global Underground UK
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
EAN : 0828272130221
UPC : 828272130221
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 24 reviews)
List Price : $15.49
Our Price : $10.04
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Product Description |
Invol2ver is no ordinary mix CD. Its's a painstakingly created blend of mix and artist album in which a world class DJ pushes his creativity to its very limits, helped by a crack team of studio experts. This is Sasha cutting loose. Taking a diverse collection of the widest tracks imaginable.
Picking them apart. then weaving them into a colourful tapestry that is completely his own. Involver 2 is the sound of one of the world's finest DJs at the peak of his powers, mixing you the future. |
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Either a Master, or a Master of Deception? |
I have always had a strange relationship with Sasha's studio productions. Either he is a true mixing master or is the beneficiary of a lot of hype. I still haven't quite figured out which even after listening to the follow-up to the first Involver.
This latest effort is incredibly detailed, with so many smooth transitions going on, and is so full of atomsphere that the word that comes to mind while listening is "elegant." It is elegant trance music. None of the harsh, jarring and head-crushing dribble that keeps permeating the dance scene after all these years.
Involver2 is not soft. It's not lounge. It is dance music to be sure -- but it is also to be listened to, and really absorbed. Is it unique, NO. Is it new, NO. Is it innovative, not really. Is it good, yes. It's excellent in fact. But it still seems like it is only half - the softer half - of the classic work he did with Digweed (whose Transitions 4 is superb, by the way). So it seems incomplete, as if some ingredients are missing from a great meal. Good songs, good mixing, but directionless.
Sasha has either created something new: a detailed and intricately mixed atomsphere of danceable trance, or he is just throwing similar sounding tracks on a disk, mixing them well and selling it as a complete work, as with Fundacion (3 stars) and the first Involver (3 stars).
With Involver 2, Sasha has produced creative music that we all will eventually catch up to or he has us all fooled. |
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Letdown!! |
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A true letdown from the original Involver! Nothing jives in this new CD. Don't get me wrong, Sasha rocks, but there is much work to be done here. Sorry! The ladder part of the CD starts coming together and you start to feel... and then it ends making you want more. Cheers! |
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Novice work |
Just to prove that I have nothing against Sasha, I continue buying and listening to his music, good or bad. And I do so hoping (for a very long time now) that Sasha will be resurrected from his self inflicted wounds that lead to his musical demise as I have stated before in another review. I mean, he is an icon whether we like it or not. But it just hurts (at least for me) all that more every time this legend's downfall is substantiated. I mean The EmFire Collection got absolutely nowhere and now we have Invol2ver in our hands, with fond memories of the old involver, and a big letdown.
The work:
What's with all the other reviews of "more of the same", "just like the first one" & "as good as the first one" really mean? I honestly don't believe that that should be understood as a complement to Sasha's Invol2ver work. Although Sasha's original involver was stellar for it's time, not to mention its merits as a compilation, the work was done more than 4 years ago and things have changed drastically since then with works such as Digweed's Transitions (4). Therefore, such statements resembling the old work with the new (a point I would agree with by the way) carries hidden negative perception than meets the eye. Before I ordered Invol2ver from Americancivilwar, I took a look at the reviews, and even though I cringed from what I had read I still went ahead and purchased it. The outcome, after such a long time between the original involver and the new one is more of the same, I am afraid. That's not good. It's like if Ferrari made another Testarossa for 2008. Yes, the Testarossa was breathtaking in 1984 and it broke all super-car molds, but with car design envelopes being shattered right and left, it would look out of place right now. And although it's not appropriate to compare works of different arts, the comparison here resonate similarity to the point I am trying to make, whether I am successful or not that's a different story.
The music:
CD intro is so classic Sasha, with the emphasis on the word `classic'. Atmospheric sounds swirling right and left with bits of ticks and tacks here and there reminiscent of all his work since Airdrawndagger. The music continue on its trancy feel with vocal tracks carrying the mood up to track 4, at which the tempo picks up a notch and you begin to sink your teeth into the meat of the comp; however, the "taste" is not what you would expect from a master chef. Vocal, vocal and more of empty vocal tracks seem to be the theme here, all wedged in a stale formula. The only highlight of the whole comp is track 5 (Lowlife - Sasha vs. Adam Parker), and although I admire Thom Yorke's work a lot, the remix of The Eraser is nothing to brag about and seem engineered only as a vehicle to reach pop charts. The ending track of Invol2ver is, to say the least, boring.
It is interesting to see that the last 4 words in Americancivilwar's Editorial Review of Sasha's Invol2ver were "mixing you the future".... I beg to differ my friends. It is more like "mixing us the past".
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Less Involved |
I am disappointed with the direction Sasha has taken over the last several years, compared to the days of Global Underground Ibiza and the first Involver. These CDs had so much emotion, so many melodies and chords that would take you through an uplifting journey.
However, with the new Invol2ver, Sasha has unfortunately fallen into the recent trends of club music; that is, he has embraced the minimal sound since it became so popular and this has sadly influenced his music overall.
Of course, the tracks on this CD are labeled as "progressive house," and although there are some good ones (M83 "Couleurs" and Thom Yorke's "The Eraser"), I felt that most of the other tracks were really lacking, carrying to much of the minimal sound.
With that said, I should be fair by adding that the Sasha team did encounter a lot of legal issues with which tracks they could add to this compilation; in an interview floating around, Charlie May mentions that they had some really great tracks lined up for the CD, but due to legal issues, they had to fill the gap for these pre-conceived tracks.
If you are expecting the same sound of Involver, one that had more emotion and uplift, you are not going to find it in this new compilation. |
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Sasha Does It Again! |
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Great disc, a bit too reminicient of GU13 and Involver, but great stuff nonetheless! Gets played over and over and over! |
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