Audio CD review:
Sasha - Global Underground: San Francisco

Sasha - Global Underground: San Francisco

Band: Sasha Title: Global Underground: San Francisco Rating: Release Date: 1998-11-16 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Intro - Street Bums 2: Platform - Freaky Chakra 3: Solid Space Business - Attaboy 4: Protect Your Mind - DJ Sakin & Friends (Van Bellen mix) 5: Resurrection - Classified Project 6: Resurrection E.P. - Medway 7: Lecture - Slickmick 8: Blue Stream - Sneaky Alien 9: Empress II - Funk Function 10: Bulgarian - Travel (Incisions remix) 11: Soul To Bare - Joi Cardwell (C Hornbostel remix) 12: Everything's Not You - Quivver (Quivver's Space mix) 13: I'm Free - Morgan King (William Orbit mix) 14: Anomaly (Calling Your Name) - Taylor (Albion mix) 15: Intro - Sasha 16: Narcotik - Blue 17: Hale Bopp - Der Dritte Raum 18: Illuminatus - Hope 19: Clarkness - Dave Kane 20: Acoustic Principles - Eclipse 8 21: Psionic - Mana 22: The Chain - Breeder 23: Change Me - Paragliders 24: Twilo Thunder - Breeder 25: Movin' Thru Your System - Jark Prongo 26: The Mission - DJ Tomcraft 27: I Dream - Tilt (Tilt's Resurrection mix)

Too Much Treble...Not Enough Bass Deemed by many as his finest mix to date?! Can't say I agree with that bold statement. Sasha's first appearance under Global Underground came with the ninth release of its city series: San Francisco. To me, San Francisco is a very forgetable album in all aspects except for Sasha's impecable mixing (which is a feature on almost all of his commercial and live sets). Disc 1 is marginally better than disc 2 in its track selection save the overabundance of vocal tracks. Disc 2 can actually get annoying if listened to from start to finish (at least it is for me today). Too many old school trance rhythms that helped to segregate the genre of trance music as "white boy" music. Thin baselines, drum-rolls, and the ever present organ sound. Sounds too similar to something Oakenfold would sling together. You have to commend the Welch native for making such an incredible second effort with his subsequent GU release: Ibiza. After hearing this album, I never fathomed Sasha could produce such a masterpiece. Disc 1 gets 3/5 stars, Disc 2, 2/5 stars. There Has To Be Better Mixes Out There... I picked up this CD since it had Tilt's - I Dream (Resurection Remix) - (which is the only track that carries a captivating beat - truly awesome) thinking that the rest of the CD would be just as incredible. I bought this CD already familiar with the Dance/Trance/Techno scene for years, listened to a few times and never picked it up again. Unless your gonna get sloshed or shoot up on something and freak dance to strobe lights amist a booming sound system, don't waste your money on this one. Until I personally decide to do this myself, only then would I rate this a five. Sasha must have better mixes out there that I have not yet discovered, but whatever the case, this CD is a disappointment. Rather than letting this CD uselessly spin in my CD deck, I simply use it as a coaster. I know many will disagree with this review but given the fact that I gave this CD an honest shot, I not writing this as a hater. I simply have not been impressed with this one. This mix carries the same monotonous beat from start to finish. Honestly, there has to be better mixes out there by Sasha. . . But don't waste your ears on this one. If you liked other CDs like: Trance Mix USA, BT - Movement In Still Life, ATB - Dj In The Mix, Crystal Method - Vegas & Community Service, any mixes by Dj Micro, Tansport by Paul Oakenfold, Dj Tiesto's In Search of Sunrise, or any Gatecrasher Mix. . . . This CD may not be the one for you. ZRODN not loud enough no consistent sound or evovled framework that i normally hear from this artist at live raw performances in dance trance genre. once again to slow but fast with pitch and bpm off sound rotation. i mean this artist is the best but needs to fire the sound or cd production team if you were to hear or see what i see in live performance you kinda wonder why cant anybody bring that brilliance to cd for home use. a lot of good musicians dont have a clue what they are selling to the public because the master copy sounds different from what is being sold and that ofcourse comes from poor planning or bad management team. Dont get me wrong this musician/dj is off the hook but once agian this cd is embarassing and sounds bad i know i can get school kids to blare faster and better beats off a turn table burn it on cd and have all these so called music critics claim that it was the best meshed euphoric sound they have heard , serve the masses nonsense but never claim to understand proper dance format. Awesome CD 2 didn't do it for me like cd1 did, but overall this is how house and trance should be. From the intro to the last track, these cd's are amazing. Not a disappointing album in the least. Plus this is old school from 1999. I like this one better than Ibiza, but that is just preference. One of the best mix CDs ever Out of all 28 volumes (plus all other GU series) this is the best of them all. I am bias towards Global underground, but they produce the best mix CDs out. Every song fits perfectly into a progressive trance/house set. Starting off trippy with grovy mellow tones and by the end of the second CD thumping trance that stays clear of rythms found on most trace mixes (e. g. tiesto), rather dark samples and basslines. This CD is just as good as Northern Exposure Expeditions and if you are a GU fan or digweed and sasha fan this this is a must have. There are no exceptions, buy it now! If you like my advice then try these CDs out from the global underground series: - Trafik - bullet (my fav. album) - Steve Lawler - Lights out 3 - Nick Warren - Budapest (11) and Shang hi (28) - Anthony Pappa - NuBreed - Sasha - Involver (one of my fav. mixes) - GU10 - Limited edition 4 disc velvet box If you only listen to one of the above make sure it's trafik - bullet a great group uner the GUMusic label. You can see a complete list of all Sasha discography, or go back to the Sasha tabs