Marc et Claude – You Own The Sound

On the face of it Marc et Claudewould appear to have missed the boat. Trance music’sheyday commercially was surely in 1999, with the likesof ATB, Paul Van Dyk and FerryCorsten coining it in from summer single hits,whilst the Ministry, Cream, Euphoria and Gatecrasherclaimed the compilation market.

Marc Romboy and Klaus Derichs,the two behind this project, were in on the act withtheir Alphabet City label, breaking through with thesingles La and I Need Your Lovin’. The latter was abig hit in the UK, registering high on the cheesescale at the same time.

All of which makes me wonder ifYou Own The Sound is four years too late, compiling asit does a selection of Marc et Claude tracks from asearly as 1997. Initial impressions aren’t good, withthe breathy intro The Sound and weaker single Tremble,whose main hook is not really memorable enough. Stickwith it though, as the duo crank things up a bit withFree Spirit and the excellent La, before a version ofI Need Your Lovin’ that wisely majors on the excellenttrance riff rather than the vocal.

There’s a creditable stab atpost-Moby chill out blues (Laserbeam Butterfly) whichgives the record some welcome variety, with a goodvocal from none other than Moped John. Cape Town isalso an excellent downtempo track,brooding andatmospheric. This leads into the nippy Feel You, aTony Hadley collaboration that is musicallysound – a driving trance track – but lyrically inane,despite its suggestiveness (“so hard I’m onfire!”)

Loving You ’03, the currentsingle, works better in radio edit (ie. shorter!) butThe History Of Acid House is the pick of the album, arobotic floor filler. There’s a sense of deja-vu asthe album closes with a longer version of The Sound -much better this time – and the Riva remix ofTremble.

An inconsistent collection then,and too long at 78 minutes – the CD programmer will beuseful here! But this is by no means formulaic trance,and is well worth hearing in places. Whether the genrewill regain the dizzy heights of 1999 is anothermatter, but this is still infinitely better than thelikes of DJ Sammy of Flip & Fill. Let’sface it, what wouldn’t be?!