The Clubber's Guide to Nowhere and Somewhere via Anywhere (Clubbers Guide to Summer 2009 - Ministry Of Sound)

Member Name: plipplop

Product:	Clubbers Guide to Summer 2009 - Ministry Of Sound
Date:	03/08/09 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some excellent tracks

Disadvantages: A real mish mash and an inconsistent mix - you can't actually dance to a lot of this

A review of the standard 2-disc edition of the Ministry of Sound compilation, Clubber's Guide to Summer 2009. The 2-disc CD set retails for around a tenner and features 40 tracks in two continuous mixes. The album can also be downloaded at www.amazon.co.uk or the iTunes UK store, but because it can be downloaded song by song, it features each track in full, with two separate mixes versions added on to the end. Arguably, the MP3 version is better value with the same number of songs for £7.99 - about £3 less than the cd set. The track listing shown at the end reflects the CD version.

For the more credible clubber out there (that is, one that doesn't drive a Vauxhall Nova and/or live near Wigan) it can be hard to find a club music compilation that has the right combination of credible tunes and dancefloor friendly anthems. Ministry of Sound attempts to cater for this market with its Clubber's Guide series. The Clubber's Guides are released twice a year; once in or around January to capture the New Year frenzy and then one subsequent volume in June or July to capitalise on the Ibiza market. Normally, the winter compilation suffers terribly from being released almost immediately after the Christmas Annual and it's normally left to the Summer compilation to at least feature a sound selection of new and upcoming tunes.

For me, the Summer compilations are a bit hit and miss. 2003, for example, kind of limped along after the previous years' fixation with big trance and didn't really know what to do with itself. Summer 2008, however, was a much more solid set, with two discs of funky house, spattered with a bit of electro house. Summer 2009 is more a case of two very different halves. Disc one suffers terribly from an identity crisis, apparently trying to cater for varying tastes and in itself therefore holding no continuity or atmosphere. Disc two, however, is much, much better; an uplifting set of funky house, electro house and slightly more commercial sounds that, to me at least, really hit the spot where summer clubbing is concerned.

Disc one opens weakly and pretty much goes downhill from there. It's the disc that tries to grab some attention with some radio-friendly 'hits' that, whilst having some credibility, sit alongside one another extremely uncomfortably. Opening with Dizzee Rascal's Bonkers, for example, might enable the album to boast a number one single, but it's a noisy, tuneless mess and so is Don Diablo's Hooligans that comes later. Launching straight into the new Prodigy single thereafter is therefore a bit of a mistake - hasn't the world moved on from this now. Angello and Laidback Luke's new tune is OK (Angello's other new tune Isabel is also featured here) but rather bland, not unlike the eighties-inspired instrumental that follows it from Pryda. There's a strong 80's electro theme to much of the material here, (Arno's Cyan sounds like something off Baywatch) but the trouble is that it feels as though the 80's thing has been done to death, meaning that John Dahlback's Out There has far less impact than it should. There are some 'good' tracks on the disc. Deadmau5's gorgeous, dreamy I Remember is a blissful, haunting slice of electro house but it's actually more a chill out tune that finds itself nestled between more uplifting material. The new Faithless one (Music Matters) is much the same and Norman Doray's Last Forever is a grower for sure but by the time you get to this part of the disc, it's hard not to find yourself compelled to fast forward to something with a bit more welly.

The trouble with much of disc one is that it tries a bit too hard to be cool. Groove Armada's new one is a good case in point. Always a bit hit-and-miss, the Armada's stuff is never what I would describe as 'dance floor friendly' and Drop The Tough is pretty dull. Another strong contender for most over-rated artist goes to Fatboy Slim, who crawls out of the woodwork again with another rotten remix of his most irritating song ever, Rockerfella Skank. The other trouble with disc one is that it's just too much of a mixed bag, with a mix that includes tunes that range from the excruciatingly bad (hello Fatboy Slim) to three stonkingly wonderful trance anthems (God, please let Ferry Corsten's Made of Love get to number one, closely followed by Above and Beyond's On a Good Day, both of which rate as some of the strongest vocal trance material we've heard for ages.)

Thank heavens, therefore for disc two, which certainly goes some way to redeem some of the disappointment of the first volume. It's not flawless; of the 20 tracks here, just over half are worthy of 'anthem' status with the others straggling some way behind. Highlights include The Dubguru's house workout of Cappella's U Got 2 Know, which is just outstanding. September's new tune Until I Die gets a very radio-friendly remix here (even if it does sound like she's singing, "until the f***ing day I die" over and over again). Fragma's Memory is probably the best thing they've done for years and the Cahill remix here is softer and more in keeping with the melancholy nature of the song compared to some of the harder mixes doing the rounds. Moony's new song (I Don't Know Why) is great and Meck's cover of Windmills certainly does the business with its mixture of house and trance sounds overlaid against the very famous vocals. The Slumdogz millionaire-inspired funky house workout Jai Ho is featured here with Wez Clarke's remix (probably the most accessible one doing the rounds.)

It all stalls a bit in the middle of the mix. It turns a bit 'pure council' with Platnum's horrific new song Trippin' and Joey Negro proves he should just bog off once and for all with yet another tiring, heartless disco house number. There are a couple of crazies in the middle too, including a pointless new remix of Heller and Farley's Ultra Flava and a slice of Spanish lunacy called Shingaling that sounds like a Lynx advert.

Most of the tracks featured on the two discs are around the four-minute mark, so few last long enough to outlive their welcome, although some are arguably too short too. The aforementioned Dubguru tune is here only for two minutes and twenty-six seconds and feels like a bit of an afterthought, particularly because it's stuck on the end of the second disc. The mix here is very conventional; each track is merged very quickly and into the next without innovation. It feels as though the mix was arranged as best it could be but despite being a continuous mix, each track generally works on its own too. The mixed bag of sounds here also means that the lengthiest section of the mix that feels cohesive runs for around six of seven tunes before something a bit wacky pops up. I would, personally, have run Booty Luv's likeable new song Say It into the Moony tune, maintaining a better vocal house set that is rather interrupted here.

All in, it's a bit of a mixed bag and not a terribly convincing display of what's doing the rounds at the moment. The new Cream Ibiza compilation seems more consistent and with Eddie Halliwell at the mix, is likely to have a bit more credibility too. Unforgivably for a series that only features two releases per year, there are some tracks duplicated with the Clubbers Guide to 2009 too. Chris Lake and Meck feature on both editions with the same tune and many other artists appear on each with different tunes. That aside, there are some very appealing sections to this album that shouldn't be entirely overlooked. I'd wait for the Christmas sale, to be honest, when it should fall below a fiver.

Disc 1
1. Bonkers - Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden
2. Warrior's Dance - The Prodigy
3. The World Behind - Axwell, Ingrosso, Angello & Laidback Luke Feat. Deborah Cox Leave
4. Melo - Pryda
5. I Remember - Deadmau5 & Kaskade
6. Out There - John Dahlbäck Feat. Basto!
7. Music Matters (Axwell Remix) - Faithless Feat. Cass Fox
8. Drop The Tough (Van She Remix) - Groove Armada
9. Illin N Fillin It (Malente's The Monster Is Loose Mix) - Armand Van Helden
10. Rockerfella Skank (Koen Groeneveld Remix) - Fatboy Slim Vs Koen Groeneveld
11. Last Forever - Norman Doray & Tristian Garner Feat. Errol Reid
12. Cost Cyan - Arno
13. Shoes (Spencer & Hill Remix) - Tiga
14. Isabel - Steve Angello
15. Letter To No One - Yousef
16. We Just Are Finalizer - The Japanese Popstars
17. Hooligans - Don Diablo & Example
18. In And Out Of Love - Armin Van Buuren Feat. Sharon Den Adel
19. Made Of Love - Ferry Corsten
20. On A Good Day (Above & Beyond Club Mix) - Above & Beyond Present OceanLab

Disc 2

1. In The Heat Of The Night - Star Pilots
2. Hold On (StoneBridge Edit) - Lazee Feat. Neverstore
3. Until I Die (Long Club Mix) - September
4. Blame It On You (Wideboys Stadium Remix) - Gathania
5. Memory (Cahill Remix) - Fragma
6. Say It (Warren Clarke Vocal Mix) - Booty Luv
7. Trippin' (Wawa Remix) - Platnum
8. Love Is The Answer (Freemasons Remix) - Funk Fanatics
9. Get Down Again (Raul Rincon Vocal Mix) - Malibu Sneakers
10. Ride The Rhythm (Joey Negro Club Mix) - Joey Negro
11. People In A Digital World Rose Rouge - Analog
12. Ultra Flava (Mark Trophy Remix) - The Heller & Farley Project
13. Shingaling - Jean Claude Ades & Vincent Thomas
14. I Don't Know Why (erome Isma-ae Remix) - Moony
15. 5 Reasons - Sylvia Tosun & Loverush UK!
16. Windmills - Meck
17. If You Knew - Chris Lake Feat. Nastala
18. Jai Ho (Wez Clarke Mix) - Slumdogz
19. U Got 2 Know - The Dubguru
20. Time To Burn 09 - Storm

Summary: The latest MOS compilation leaves something to be desired