Trance Nation America, Vol. 2

by Jason BirchmeierTrance Nation America, Vol. 2 follows the precedent established by the many other Ministry of Sound mix albums, featuring two discs, two famous DJs, and lots of current hits. For this particular volume, the British dance label recruits ATB and George Acosta in its hope of marketing trance to America. The results are a bit lackluster, even with the multitude of popular songs of the moment (which are themselves lackluster, particularly when strewn together with little variation). Acosta's other mix albums give him much more liberty than Ministry of Sound allows him here, and that makes a big difference, since he takes few chances and rarely attempts a daring mix. The same can be said about ATB to an even greater extent, except that he isn't well known as a DJ. In fact, he isn't a DJ at all, but rather a producer with one really well-known song in America, "9 P.M. (Till I Come)," which seemingly makes his name as good as any to market this album.