Really no introduction is necessary here, but the long awaited debut album for the Ferry Corsten alias now see's a release on Positiva. The aim was to create an album with a lot of variety ranging from trance, electro, chilled, etc. Was this achieved? Read on...

The Tracklist:

01. Ferry Corsten - Sublime
02. Ferry Corsten - Whatever
03. Ferry Corsten - Rock Your Body Rock
04. Ferry Corsten - Right Of Way
05. Ferry Corsten - Kyoto
06. Ferry Corsten & Shelley Harland - Holding On
07. Ferry Corsten - Sweet Sorrow
08. Ferry Corsten - Hearts Connected
09. Ferry Corsten - Punk
10. Ferry Corsten - It's Time
11. Ferry Corsten feat. Birgit - Show Your Style
12. Ferry Corsten - Star Traveller
13. Ferry Corsten & Shelley Harland - Skindeep
14. Ferry Corsten - In My Dreams




We start with a track that has had a huge amount of speculation about it during 2003. Sublime is collaboration between Ferry Corsten and The Thrillseekers (Steve Helstrip), and a mighty unique one at that. It is a superb melodic trancer to start the album, which originally was rumored never to actually see a release. The intro starts with some breakbeats, before getting into the full swing of things. The melody to sublime is fantastic, with a combination of Steve Helstrip's synths and Ferry Corsten's kick. I always thought it was custom to save the best till last, but in this case I guess they wanted to start the album with a bang!

Next on the album is a track that Ferry briefly describes as one with a 'folk' kind of feel to it. It has some electro elements to it, and certainly does have an eighties theme to it. The story behind the track in a nutshell, is that sometimes when things happen in every day life, you just feel like saying "Whatever!" to them; hence the vocals "bla bla bla." There is a very small section in the track with some superb synths that I absolutely adore. It's just a quick short couple of seconds break before the "bla bla" vocals kick in again. I wish this section could be extended and incorporated into the track a bit more. A most unusual track, that I have personally not seen from Ferry before, but I am pleasantly surprised with it.

Third track on the album is one of which left a huge mark on 2003: Rock Your Body Rock. If you have experienced this track at any of the festivals last year along with 15000 - 35000+ others, you will know exactly what I mean. This has often referred to as the sequel to Punk, because it has that really simple, but ever so catchy melody that you just can't help humming along to. And at the end of the day who can resist a bit of electro! The robotic vocals that I believe were done by Ferry himself go: "I wanna rock your body rock," and are very fitting to the electro synths. This is one of the few tracks on the album that will also see a separate single release with remixes, so be sure to look out for that to.

The album on a whole has an uplifting feel to it, but the next track (that also holds the album title), has a bit of a darker feel to it. Right Of Way still has an electro feel to it, with stabs of synths which sound great. The melody is quite driving, and as Ferry has said himself sounds fantastic in a club. Over a lot of the track there is a great computer effects sound that accompanies the melody quite nicely. This is definitely one of the album highlights.

Ferry Corsten - Kyoto. This again is another quite driving track, that starts quite 'regressively.' It holds a very typical Ferry Corsten bassline, quite hard and pounding. But soon, almost out of nowhere, comes a very superb and uplifting melody. It's not your typical anthem sounding type of uplifting melody, but a much more beautiful and subtle riff that really hits the spot! You have to hear it to understand properly what I mean by this, but if you can recall the sort of style that Adam Sheridan's Electrik track follows, then you might get a better idea of what to expect from this uplifting stormer.

Holding On is a much more chilled track, produced with Shelley Harland. The vocals are slow, but nice, and the melody quite repetitive.

Half way through the album now and next up is Sweet Sorrow, and another very unique track, with a style that I have never really seen from Ferry Corsten. This again is another track from the album that had a lot of rumors about it; One being that it was believed to be a remix of DJ Tiesto's Nyana. Personally never saw the resemblance myself. The track has breakbeats throughout, accompanied with a very cool sounding melody plus some very unusual computer synths.

Track 8 on the album, Hearts Connected, and has a very unusual intro, with some unusual robotic sounds along with Ferry's typical kick. Hearts Connected is probably the most experimental track on the album, and I find it very regressive, but also kind of 'funky' sounding. The bassline is certainly quite funky, especially with these robotic effects plus very relaxed and laid back vocals.

Punk! A track that took 2002 by storm, and even nowadays still gets dug out of Ferry's records box. Could it be this track that inspired Ferry to go on and create a whole album based on the electro style of Punk? With such huge feedback on the dance floor, it must be so overwhelming to be standing behind the decks, so it's certainly most possible. Punk see's quite a short edit for the album. Like it or not, it will always be remembered as a classic.

It's Time shows a more commercial side to the album, with some very slow paced vocals and a very 'pop' like melody. Not a fan of this myself, but it's always nice to see that an artist who is most associated with one type of genre is still capable of branching out and creating under another one.

Track 11 on the album, Show Your Style features Rock/Pop artist Birgit Schuurman. It's not just Paul van Dyk that knows how to combine trance with rock sounding vocals. Ferry does a good job here of combining these catchy vocals with this breakbeat/electro track.

As the album draws to a close, we are greeted with another uplifting trancer; Star Traveller. The melody is driving, and the synths very powerful. With this in mind, plus a Ferry Corsten kick, you can't really go wrong. It's great to see that Ferry still has it when it comes to creating melodies like this.

Skindeep is another track on the album with Shelly Ballard. I think the vocals for this are great. The track itself is breakbeat, with a very relaxed theme. I'm not too fond of the first Ballard track, Holding On, but Skindeep is superb and shows the true extent of the versatility of Ferry Corsten.

For the final track on the album, we are left with yet another very experimental track. Again, another breakbeat track, with the most unusual of basslines for a track of the electronica variety. The vocals are great, and the short stabs of uplifting synths are great. A very nice way to close the album.

Conclusion:
The album offers a massive variation of tracks, so I’m sure it will be a hit with all fans of electronica. "Right of Way" is to be released on Positiva on February 23rd. Well done Ferry Corsten!