Another World

by John Bush Perhaps realizing that the market for progressive trance mix albums was fast approaching saturation amidst a raft of inferior products, Paul Oakenfold displayed a touch more variety with his 2000 edition, Perfecto Presents Another World. Scattered all over this collection are the usual trance producers (Timo Maas, Salt Tank, Tone Depth, LSG) and signings to his Perfecto label one would expect, but Oakenfold also incorporates snippets from more atmospheric sources, including Dead Can Dance and Vangelis' soundtrack classic, Blade Runner. And he even tapped Perfecto stalwart Quivver to apply the trance treatment to Led Zeppelin's "Baby I'm Gonna Leave You," a process that doesn't transform the song as much as it applies a sleek backing to a few of Robert Plant's bluesier vocal lines. Except for these stylistic detours (two tracks from Blade Runner, with one each from Dead Can Dance and the group's vocalist Lisa Gerrard), Another World is the same old trance album. There are a few intriguing anthems that manage to wear out their welcome over the course of seven minutes and up, plenty of breakdowns to maintain attention on the dancefloor, and an overall pleasant sound that simply floats by without making much of a positive impact. Oakenfold is probably treading dangerous ground here, considering that nods to traditional non-dance artists fly right over the heads of his core audience, even while they seem like calculated gestures to those who recognize the references.