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Don't look away, not just yet. If all you've done is glanced at the extensive track listing for Oakenfold Anthems, then you could be forgiven for thinking it's just another rehash of late 90s/early 00s trance biggies shoehorned into a different order and released under a different name.
It is that, of course - but it's a lot more besides. Unlike one of those ‘Now That's What I Call Banging Trance Old Skool Washing Machine' mixes, with smoother than silk digital edits that manage to remove the very essence of the music they're trying to mix, Oakenfold has gone all traditional on us and actually invested some thought in his mixes.
And so, with the exception of a jolt connecting Barber's Adagio for Strings with Underworld's Born Slippy, the mixing is faultless and brilliantly conceived on the basis of key, so that tracks such as Gouryella's self-titled opus and Binary Finary's thundering 1999 are seamlessly linked.
Not only does Oakenfold manage that, he also gives each track some room to breathe. Moments such as the breakdown in Energy 52's peerless Café Del Mar are all the more special if they have some before and after time, as they do here. BT's Flaming June, too, occupies a good amount of space - enough to give it real stature as the lead-off track.
So what of the anthems themselves? Most transport the listener back to the time of Oakenfold's Cream and Home residencies, though some earlier classics shine out - the mix into Jam & Spoon's Stella particularly effective, coming as it does from Kosheen's rather wonderful Hide U.
Inevitably traces of Oakenfold's production work are included, which is only right as they served to shape his DJ sound. A powerful remix of U2's Beautiful Day hits the spot, on its way towards his transformation of Mansun into moody house/trance material. The Planet Perfecto Bullet In The Gun will perhaps bring the most vivid memories of Home, and is probably the least effective of his work here, though is quickly turned on by the soaring melody of Verracocha's Carte Blanche.
With three discs of such concentrated material the rewards are many and frequent, with genuine trance anthems transformed thanks to their logical proximity. Clearly Oakenfold went on something of a trip when making this - and he's ensured his listeners will too, though they won't be able to stand still.
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