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(More customer reviews)Tiësto's "Elements of Life" is a testament to his mastery of the studio and ability to collaborate with other artists. It features several big name vocalists (including the awesome trance diva JES) as well as his signature "epic" sound on tracks such as Ten Seconds Before Sunrise. However, the album loses some steam somewhere in the middle due to not dabbling in "new" sounds.
During the progress of the album, the album uses the same "genre", that being a crisp, clean upbeat trance sound that can be best described as "artistic commercial trance with pop hooks".
The only time that Tiësto takes any risks on this disks is on the track Carpe Noctum (and a couple other tracks, which will be mentioned shortly). This track starts out with a simplistic but catchy bass driven progressive house beat. It then grows as drum patterns are thrown onto it and finally it takes full form with some smooth, dreamy classical Tiësto trance synths. And in the end, this track in particular is nothing original. It sounds similar to Tiësto's "Traffic". Still, Carpe Noctum is strangely addictive . Perhaps it's similarity to "Traffic" is what makes it so enjoyable. Maybe its safe to say that we WANTED at "Traffic 2.0", and Tiësto has delivered.
Another track that features some diversity in sound is the epic "10 Seconds Before Sunrise", which is arguably the best track on the album. This song features all of the things you would expect from an opener on a Tiesto album. Big production, world music sounds, flowing drum loops, string instruments and a beautiful blending of all of the previously mentioned with some top notch trance synths. There are also some choruses thrown in for good measure. This song would make a great opener to a "In Search of Sunrise" CD, which I am sure that's what Tiësto was thinking when he made this song. Just look at the name! If not, then he might have made this song as a homage to his seemingly favorite mix compilation series.
Tiesto also tries something slightly different on the third to last track, "Dance for Life". This song however is nothing new to the scene, as it was previously released last year. The song still is a welcome addition to the album, as it was a somewhat difficult to track down single beforehand (unless you bought it off of a music download website such as [...]). The song comes off something like a progressive house song due to the weird notes that open it up. Maxi Jazz' vocals are odd as well, making this song unique. Critics of this track (and Tiësto in general) will not be impressed with the inclusion of this track, but fans will be delighted to finally have it on a mainstream CD release.
The penultimate track, "Elements for Life" is also a slight deviation from the "pop trance" course that this album goes on. This song is another "epic, big production" song in the Tiësto fashion. It however features some really weird, almost Moog sounding synthesizers inside it. If it had to be compared, it sounds like an electro take on his remix of Adagio for Strings. Similar in fashion and construction, but ultimately they are not the same song.
As for the remainder of the album, the ratings are across the board. The first single for the album "In The Dark" sounds passionate and features some great vocal work by Christian Burns. Unfortunantly, Burns and Tiësto did not seem to put much thought into the lyrics, so they sound a little cliché. This is especially emphasized towards the end of the song when Burns just starts repeating the chorus over and over again (with successively less vocal strength.) Still, the song features some very catchy and fast paced melodies and trance synthesizers, so it comes off as decent. It still could have used some more inspiring lyrics.
Tiësto' work with JES on "Everything" is hard to hate, especially since JES has such a wonderful voice. Tiësto and his crew did a very good job making a song to compliment her voice. Yes, her voice is the main thing going on in this song. But to clarify, there is still some good instrumentation going on in this song. Personally, I find this song more enjoyable than JES' work with Gabriel & Dresden on "As the Rush Comes" (but that might just be a personal bias coming from being a Tiësto fan).
Final picks that are worth a listen are Tiësto's newest collaboration with BT on "Break My Fall", the instrumental "Bright Morningstar" and if you still haven't heard it, the remix of "He's a Pirate".
Suffice to say, Tiësto's "Elements of Life" is a good disk. Its a shame that it lacks some bigger surprises, but it still shows its strengths when it comes to the things we've come to expect from Tiesto - Big production and great collaboration with other artists. If anything, hopefully on his next artist album, Tiësto will take another stab at "industrial" sounding Trance like on "In My Memory" or just totally surprise us with something we haven't seen him do yet.
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Tiësto is undeniably one of the greatest DJ talents of thisera. Internationally recognized as the world's premier DJ and producer, Tiësto continually takes electronic music to thenext level - pushing boundaries with his addictive and creative trance creations. With his prior albumreleases enjoying outstanding success in the States, the time has come for his next installment: ELEMENTS OFLIFE. This record includes brilliant collaborations from the likes of BT, Maxi Jazz (Faithless) andother incredible female vocalists; a stunning collection of uplifting trance ensues. Supporting this releasewith performances at Coachella, WMC and an extensive national tour through Summer 07, Elements of Life willbe THE electronic album of 2007.
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