The career of Tiesto spans a long way back than 1998 but this new compilation puts the focus on his first three artist albums. Picking the very best classics from the three and inviting the scenes biggest talents to remix his classic gems of days gone by...

There is no doubting that Tiesto is one of the biggest electronic music talents in the world today. His CV speaks for itself, what other DJ have you ever known of to play a set at the Olympic Games? He's a man not without his critics within the scene but not even the harsh of them all can take away what he has achieved in his musical career.....so far. So far I say because he is far from sitting back, sliding into a nice pair of slippers and spending his evenings playing Bingo. One bit of news that surprised me and a few others I’m sure is his split from Black Hole Recordings, with which he has enjoyed considerable success with his music. A notable highlight would be the seven 'In Search of Sunrise' compilations he mixed and a series he created and gave it the reputation it has amongst dance fanatics today. He came out with his fourth studio album this year 'Kaleidoscope' and since its release has been packing out arenas and clubs on the road with his album tour. If you were not overly impressed with the album, it did have the odd questionable track, you won’t be disappointed with his live sets on tour. Another thing you wont be disappointed with is this album, which takes a retrospective look back at the very best tracks spread over his first three artist albums, 'In My Memory', 'Just Be' and 'Elements of Life'. Why you may ask? I shall tell you!

DISC ONE

1. Flight 643
2. Suburban Train
3. Lethal Industry
4. In My Memory (featuring Nicola Hitchcock)
5. Traffic
6. Love Comes Again (featuring BT)
7. Just Be (featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw)
8. Adagio For Strings
9. Dance4Life (featuring Maxi Jazz)
10. In The Dark (featuring Christian Burns)
11. Break My Fall (featuring BT)
12. Elements Of Life (Live From Copenhagen)
13. 643 (Love's On Fire) (featuring Suzanne Palmer)
14. Goldrush
15. Magikal Circus
16. Obsession (vs. Junkie XL)
17. Forever Today

DISC TWO

1. In The Dark (featuring Christian Burns) (Tiësto 2010 Remix)
2. In My Memory (featuring Nicola Hitchcock) (Tiësto Remix)
3. Just Be (featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw) (Tiësto Remix)
4. Lethal Industry (Hardwell Remix)
5. Carpe Noctum (Spencer & Hill Dub)
6. Everything (featuring JES) (Andrew Bennett Remix)
7. Elements Of Life (Airbase Remix)
8. Traffic (Richard Durand Remix)
9. Flight 643 (Laidback Luke 2010 Rework)
10. Suburban Train (Sean Tyas Dirty Mix)
11. Love Comes Again (featuring BT) (Bart Claessen Remix)

If you were asked to name one of your favourite Tiesto tracks then I'd put my bottom dollar on it being one of the tracks on the first disc. Spread over the seventeen records is some pure Tiesto gold that you may not have forgotten about but not heard in a long time. Flight 643 when it first came out was one of those that had to grow on me, but over times its become a real favourite of mine. It's bundled in here short and sweet, no messing just down to the point and features again featuring the re-release version using vocals from Suzanne Palmer. I hated it when it came out as a single (why would want a vocal over a track like that? Ah yeah, £'s) and its not doing anything for me here. That’s the only bad point of the whole compilation for me but not an issue that needs to be explored right now in this review. You have his classic hits like Traffic, Lethal Industry, Suburban Train and each of his album title tracks In My Memory, Just Be and Elements of Life.

They are records that all go down as classics within the trance genre even if a few do sit outside the box of the definition of the style a little. Love Comes Again I am glad to see featured in here as its a favourite Tiesto record for me, featuring a powerful male vocal that does not sound out of place and works with the sound of the track. As I remember Signum did a nice remix of it when it first came out. The tracks are all pretty much in radio edit form, the major 'hits' anyway but looking deeper into the disc and you get the full length versions of Goldrush, Forever Today and Magikal Circus(The full twelve minutes of it!). Odd selection you may think but looking deeper into it they are records that need to be there in their entirety for you to appreciate. Goldrush is a super progressive little track with a thunderous bass line that words can never describe the effect of. A little classical orchestral vibe fills Magikal Circus with the vocal that is used in there. Forever Today is a track that Tiesto must have got the inspiration from off the second Terminator film, might just be me but that melody has something familiar about it. The three collaborations top off the highlights from the first disc with Tiesto inviting Maxi Jazz, BT and Junkie XL to help him out with Dance For Life, Break My Fall and Obsession. His effort with Maxi was a single he did for the 'Dance For Life' charity which leads the fight against aids and is a classic ramble from one half of one of dance music’s biggest acts, Faithless.

You will be familiar with the tracks featured on the first disc and indeed the records featured on the second, but, not the mixes. A nice addition to this collection of hits rather than just the old hits compiled together is a second disc full of new version by some of the scenes talented trance, techno and house stars including new mixes from Tiesto himself. One of which opens the CD with Tiesto's new remix of In The Dark, a classic trance mix with Tiesto's deep beat and rumbling bass line in good effect in taking a nice uplifting approach to his original. The vocal is still in there and works well with the new update. It's not the only Tiesto uodate on the disc as he has included new mixes of In My Memory and Just Be. His uodate of In My Memory is not as 'soft' as his original version but keeps within the same tone, just beefed up the beat and added more life to the synth's, especially with the main melody, its a whole lot more uplifting. His new mix of Just Be is a bit of an impacting affair withh a prominate lead riff kicking in over the vocal. The similartiy with its original is there but things are a little different with the layers and builds. There does seem to be more things going off with his new mix.

So far so very good Tiesto! The polishing o the while compilation for me are the external efforts from his chosen remix partners. You have a nice mixture of styles taking on some of Tiesto's biggest anthems. Thankfully, as you would expect in the hands of people like Richard Durand, Airbase, Bart Claessen and Sean Tyas, they have not disappointed. I think the reason why, is the new mixes have kept the original's main sense of sound. Take, the Hardwell remix of Lethal Industry, the main riff is like the original down to the letter, it’s just surrounded within a progressive tech house series of beats and percussion. Don’t mess with the main ingredients; just change the flavour of the topping as they say. Prizes to driving the most melodic and euphoric atmosphere in their new mixes goes to Andrew Bennett and Airbase, with the latter ripping up Elements of Life into a true to form peak time trancer! Two highly tasty mixes on paper are Sean Tyas and Richard Durand with new mixes of Traffic and Suburban Train. Could he have picked anyone more suitable than his In Search of Sunrise protégé Mr Durrand to update the quirky Traffic? I suspect not as his tech approach and sound fits Traffic down to a tea and the resulting remix is superb. Sean Tyas’s mix may be described as ‘Dirty’ but it did no offence to my ear drums as he’s used the original’s elements and inject that energetic Tyas beat heard many times before. One of the best remixes on the second disc for me! One of the most quirky comes from house chap Laidback Luke. His take on Flight 643 (not the vocal one thank god) is a pure tech house joyride from start to finish and one you wont fail to enjoy.

WIN A COPY OF THE COMPLIALTION

Thanks to our friends over at Nebula we have two copies of this fantastic new album from Tiesto to give away! To be in with a chance of winning one of them all you have to do is answer this very straightforward Tiesto theme question.

:: What is Tiesto's real name?

I'm sure you won’t need to look that up to find the answer. To enter the competition just fire over the answer to competition@ivibes.nu and include your full name and postal address. The closing date is the 1st June. Good luck!

Conclusion:
Essential cuts from one of the biggest and most iconic names in dance music, as simple as that. The new mixes are top quality and don’t do the original version any disrespect at all. While we wait for the new mix compilation from Tiesto and his new label this is the perfect retrospective look back on the music that has made him of the world’s biggest trance and electronic icons.