Music Review: Paul van Dyk - Hands On In Between - Page 2

Disc 2 begins with a very convincing attempt at an actual Paul van Dyk remix. Giuseppe Ottaviani's mix of "Get Back" is very classic trance. Obviously indebted to others, but a strong and excellent mix. Martin Accorsi's remix of "White Lies" is... someone spilled their house music on my trance track. Enough said. Fortunately, as a chaser, "Haunted" is treated to a very spacey, trippy turn by Tyler Michaud that offers an interesting new twist from the original.

Tom Calontonio gives "Complicated" the proper treatment, with another classic-style mix for this set. Although a bit by-the-books, his mix is nonetheless done absolutely correct, and with energetic precision. Ottaviani quickly returns with his Reminder remix of "Far Away," and shows more classic PvD-style flair. The Re:locate mix of "Get Back" falls a bit short in light of the previous remix of this track, but is overall competently done. Things close out nicely enough with the Reaves & Ahorn take on "Detournement." Again, the mix doesn't particularly add much to the track, but neither does it bother.

The strength of the set may also be its greatest weakness for some. The energy level, as well as the style, stays consistent throughout. This is aggressive, pounding trance to end a night out. However, there's also little variety to be found. The remixes are all solid on their own, but some tend to bleed into each other when played back to back. Also, it would have been more interesting to go ahead and remix everything from In Between instead of having multiple remixes of some tracks. For example, although both remixes of "New York City" are good, it would have added to the value of the package to instead have, say, a huge mix of "Another Sunday."

Overall, these are largely quality mixes. Some add to the energy of the originals, while others merely extend and augment it. But fans of Paul's DJ sets will find these unmixed entries to be in much the same vein.

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