(Shock/Positiva Records)

Quality trance compilations are harder to find than a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. For a style that remains the music of choice for party people around the globe, an awful lot of average content hits the CD racks, but brace yourselves people because this is the big one. Paul van Dyk’s original Politics of Dancing has taken its place among the greatest trance compilations ever released, one of the few mix CDs to stand the test of time with its superbly considered sense of flow and unprecedented level of post production. At the tail end of 2005, the follow up Politics of Dancing 2 finally sees the light of day.

One of its predecessors most noted features was its tight editing and programming, but this is taken even further in Politics of Dancing 2, a stunning example of how effectively digital technology can be harnessed in constructing musical journeys. Eschewing the bland ProTools approach, nearly every single track has been reworked, remixed, rearranged or edited by PVD, resulting in a transitionless mix even more impressive than some of the recent Ableton Live efforts from Sasha and Armin Van Buuren. The samples are smoothly blended, and the textures wound so tightly together that it becomes seamless on a level rarely heard in a dance compilation, morphing each 80-minute mix into a one giant organic piece of music. You think you’ve picked the transition between tracks, but looking over to the CD player reveals you’ve already missed it by two minutes.

The first mix takes a softer and more melodic approach than your typical pumping club set, with the tunes as layered, sophisticated and progressive as anything Armin or Above and Beyond have been pushing as of late. Kicking things off ambient and soft, van Dyk quickly moves it up a shimmering level that sends shivers down your spine. Big progressive build-ups and smoothly constructed breakdowns, it’s classic journey music that is impeccably paced and flows perfectly. PVD lifts the pace up, gently pushes it back down again, bringing it to plateau in the middle before finally peaking it with some real hands-in-the-air anthems towards the end of the mix. Gorgeous and emotional with crisp, tight production, it’s 80 minutes of soft, angelic trance that washes back as irresistibly smooth as a shot of Sambuca down the back of your throat.

If the first CD pushes a softer progressive vibe, then the second roars straight into tougher territory, kicking off with PVD’s epic new single The Other Side. Intermittedly euphoric but still hard and pumping throughout, the driving kickdrum is a constant and the mix has more in common with the frenetic energy of one of his live sets. Nonetheless, an immaculate consideration is again given to the flow. PVD knows it doesn’t work just to bang out one high-octane massive tune after the other, evident in his choice of more low-key tracks interspersed to make it all roll perfectly into one. A touch of tech from Marco V to spice things up, a dash of electro-trance from the Dallas Superstars and the latin-infused contribution from Agnello & Ingrosso, all running alongside the floor-shaking club behemoth that is Mark Norman’s T34.

While the pace is rip-roaring, it demonstrates how far forward trance has progressed in the past few years: even the harder-edged club sounds are showing more sophistication in their musical arrangements and studio production. Very little of it is predictable, obvious or formulaic, and once again PVD keeps a tight hold on the energy of the mix. He wrenches it back with something as tough as Simon & Shaker’s Make It and then throws it back into euphoria with Parasma’s Swing 2 Harmony, before taking it a little deeper in its conclusion with Holden & Thompson’s Nothing. The result – classic PVD, and the perfect harder-edged trance journey.

In spite of the cheesy reputation trance has garnered since it hit its peak in ‘99, individuals like PVD deserve credit for keeping the credibility alive, a fact reflected in his securing of the top spot of the DJ Mag Top 100 Poll in 2005. Fans have been forced to endure a damn long wait for his next compilation, but such a long hiatus has paid off with a journey that’ll carry you all the way through to the end. This isn’t just another compilation rolled off the production line, this is something special. It has everything you could ask from a trance mix – it’s passionate, it’s uplifting, it’s hard, it’s driving, it’s sophisticated in its execution, with a heavy dose of the trance emotion. In short, it’s a smooth, rollicking and seamless musical journey like no other, and van Dyk has pipped Armin Van Buuren at the post to deliver the best trance CD of the year. Grab it now.