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    Totaldance Volume 1
    Sony Music Video/Sony BMG . R4 . COLOR . 95 mins . E . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    Every time a special compilation CD or DVD is scheduled for release, the eyes light up with excitement, anticipatingly counting down the days. Yet, every time, disappointment shortly ensues. So too, the promise here of Totaldance is quite misleading. Hence, the fairest way to review this disc is to tally up the great songs, and find a percentage of good tracks vs. bad tracks. That is how that score has been achieved – 15 great tracks out of 27 - 55% rounds up to 60%. So since when is that considered to be Totaldance?

    Starting off the line-up is Tim Deluxe with ultra-sexy track It Just Won’t Do, featuring some luscious women and a spunky guy who... well it’s dance music so you know how it goes. Moony, and not the full bare moon variety, is up with her track published on the UK release of the Ministry of Sound Annual for 2003, I’ll Be Loving You, which features some really cool editing and a catchy pop beat. Up next is one for fans of several people – top 40 airheads, covers lovers and pumping trance music with a trip through Bryan Adams’ Heaven by DJ Sammy. This clip includes nice textual elements to help convey an idea, rather than cryptically leaving it to the pictures. Euro-dance trio Lasgo pop up next with a heartfelt Something, as well as some atrocious dancing in Ian Van Dahl’s Will I?. In amongst these cool party hits is also a track Club Bizarre by Brooklyn Bounce. Have you heard of Brooklyn Bounce before? Didn’t think so. The only logical reason why this track has been included is that it is published by Sony Music. Of course they have to put some of their own blood on there...

    Rui Da Silva’s Touch Me takes off, and you’re all sure to have heard this one on the Frutopia ad from 2002. Probably the biggest highlight in terms of video and musical quality would lie in Darude’s Sandstorm, featuring some kickarse editing techniques and a pumping track to go along with them. Plus there’s some nice eye candy in there as well. So if that kicks off your party, you’ll need to fuel it, and the best way to do that is with Safri Duo’s Played-a-Live (The Bongo Song) which has more energy than any Energizer bunny with a phat beat, awesome percussion and twilighty trance line over the top. Safri Duo, for those who don’t know, are trained in classical music and create some awesome dance tracks using many forms of tribal percussion, creating a conglomerate of new and old styles and this is just an awesome example of the duo’s work. Trance legend Sash! has his place firmly on this disc with a track that no one has really heard of, Ganbareh. What about Stay - something people will really recognise. Still, Ganbareh is a funky clip with a cool track behind it and is, as you would expect, up to Sash!’s high standard. The next bracket finishes on dangerous territory where we see Mad’house doing a cover of Madonna’s Like a Prayer. Tough crowd to beat – even harder than covering Bryan Adams.

    Chart toppers iiO are in place with their hit Rapture, as well as another interesting cover - Mandy by Mandy and Randy featuring some rather scary computer animation. Notably included is Alexia, but her club classic Uh La La La is sadly absent and we get some other pop song. The biggest gripe would be with the large number of artists who feel possessed to sing their own name during songs. Is it really necessary? We (sadly) know who you are... Brookyln Bounce, SM Trax, Warp Brothers to name a few. Get over yourselves - we have.

    Overall, the compilation is promising, but with a score of six it’s still missing those points to make it really Totaldance. For a total dance compilation you’ll need to include tracks from legends including BT, Hybrid, Paul Oakenfold, Moloko, Paul Van Dyk as well as favourites including Chicane, 4 Strings and ATB. But even pioneers of the house genre such as BT can’t be classified in some people’s eyes as total dance. Open them up and see that he’s had a lot of input into the evolution of many of the genres included on this disc. Oh well, rumours have it that he has his own DVD coming out soon, so fingers crossed!

    Track listing...

    Tim Deluxe - It Just Won’t Do
    In-Grid - You Promised Me (Tu Es Fountu)
    Moony - Dove (I’ll Be Loving You)
    DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do - Heaven
    Lasgo - Something
    Brooklyn Bounce - Club Bizarre
    Ian Van Dahl - Will I?
    Rui Da Silva featuring Cassandra - Touch Me
    Darude - Sandstorm
    Kal Tracid - Trance and Acid
    Safri Duo - Played-a-Live (The Bongo Song)
    Scooter - Nessaja
    Warp Brothers vs Aquagen - Phatt Bass
    Sash! - Ganbareh
    SM Trax - Got the Groove
    Space Frog featuring The Grim Reaper - (X Ray) Follow Me 2002
    Mad’house - Like a Prayer
    DJ Jean - The Launch
    Bomfunk MCs - (Crack It) Something Going On
    iiO - Rapture
    Kate Ryan - Desenchantee
    Watergate - Heart of Asia
    Alexia - Don’t You Know (Dimmi Come...)
    Mandy & Randy - Mandy
    Run-DMC vs Jason Nevins - It’s Like That
    Master Blaster - Hypnotic Tango
    Demon - You Are My High

      Video
      Audio
      Extras
    Contract

    The clips are presented in a single title, cut into individual chapters. The overall presentation is in a 1.33:1 aspect, with some clips framed at a widescreen aspect – well, many widescreen aspects to be exact. Throw the standards book out the window and get ready to do your own thing! The entire presentation is very serviceable with no major flaws. Colours are bright and realistic, and dark shades mastered with strength and precision. The clarity of the image is quite nice, with the artistic flares in focus and the like appropriately mastered. Fast action, bright colours and loads of flashing all feature and look great. Look at it this way, it could have been much worse. The only worry is with some slightly... ahem... embarrassing dancing, as well as some... err... interesting makeup. OK, note to self, if a music video is made, keep a mirror on hand...

    With 95 minutes featured on a single layer, it would be stupid for us to get excited with the prospect of a 5.1 DD track. Well, bingo, because all we get is a DD 2.0 track, no surround-enhancements at all. Even for the anally-retentive audio-enthusiasts, there is no LPCM track to keep them occupied. But what we do get is fine – it’s a decent mix with some heavy bass and clear treble, so it’s hard to argue with that. Hint for those with Pro-Logic II capabilities – turn that baby on for a more enveloping mix, which sounds much better for a party.

    You’ve gotta love advertising, with a lovely Sony clip flogging how interactive Sony Music DVDs can be, with interviews, hidden features, subtitles, multiple angles and the like. Well that’s nice to know, but next time include some of these functions on these DVDs, rather than just telling us about them! Upon sticking this disc in, you get a bit of a trailer for the Absolute audio CDs (but for a better mix, get Ministry of Sound any day), followed by that Sony clip. Each of the menus are thematically built on the cover art for this disc, and each page of the song selections, as well as the main page, features a different looping audio clip.

    Totaldance it ain’t, but Volume 1 does include some pretty cool clips to liven up your next party. The video and audio is entirely serviceable, and this disc is great for just some chill out time – great music, great clips, nice eye candy and a decent presentation. If you’re into more of the mainstream dance music, give this a go!


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  •   And I quote...
    "Totaldance still isn’t as total as its cracked up to be..."
    - Martin Friedel
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