Disc 1
1. BT - Flaming June (BT & PVD mix)
2. Grace - Not Over Yet
3. Energy 52 - Cafe Del Mar (Original Three 'n' One mix)
4. Ascension - Someone
5. Marmion - Shoneberg (Moonmen Over Marmion mix)
6. Paul Oakenfold - Southern Sun (DJ Tiesto mix)
7. The Art Of Trance - Madagascar
8. U2 - Beautiful Day (Perfecto mix)
9. Schiller - Das Glockenspiel
10. Mansun Wide Open Space (Perfecto mix)
11. Tastexperience & Natasha Pearl - Summersault
12. Leftfield - Not Forgotten
13. ATB 9pm - (Till I Come)
14. Humate - Love Stimulation (Love mix)
15. Delerium - Silence (Tiesto In Search Of Sunrise mix)
16. Lost Tribe - Gamesmaster
17. Mauro Picotto - Lizard (Claxixx mix)
Disc 2
1. Kosheen - Hide U
2. Jam & Spoon - Stella
3. Iio - Rapture (Creamer & K mix)
4. Three Drives - Greece 2000
5. Chicane - Offshore
6. Push - Universal Nation (Ferry Corsten mix)
7. Planet Perfecto - Bullet In The Gun (Club mix)
8. Verracocha - Carte Blanche
9. Airwave - Venus Of My Dreams
10. Robert Miles - Children
11. Freefall & Jan Johnston - Skydive (I Feel Wonderful)
12. Blank & Jones - Cream (Club mix)
13. B.B.E. - Seven Days And One Week
14. Zombie Nation - Kernkraft (DJ Gius mix)
15. William Orbit - Adagio For Strings (Barber/Ferry Corsten mix)
16. Underworld - Born Slippy (Paul Oakenfold mix)
Disc 3
1. Y-Traxx - Mystery Land
2. Tilt - Butterfly (mechanism mix)
3. Timo Maas - Ubik (The Dance)
4. Josh Wink - Higher State Of Consciousness (Dex & Jonesy mix)
5. Faithless - Salva Mea
6. Brainbug - Nightmare (Sinister Strings mix)
7. Lustral - Everytime (Nalin & Kane mix)
8. Nalin & Kane - Beachball
9. Groovezone - Eisbaer
10. Moonman - Galaxia (Solarstone mix)
11. Gouryella - Gouryella
12. Binary Finary - 1998 (Matt Darey mix)
13. System F - Out Of The Blue
14. Thrillseekers - Synaesthesia (En Motion mix)
15. PPK - Resurrection (Perfecto edit)
16. Hybrid - Finished Symphony
17. Olive - You're Not Alone (Oakenfold & Osborne mix)
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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