Once Upon a Night 4

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a review for Volume 1 of this series using the same header. As phenomenal as I find this second volume, unlike the first volume it took some repeated listenings for me to get into the tracks offered here. But since growing on me over the last couple months, the tracks on this album have enjoyed heavy daily rotation on my playlist. As I mentioned in my first review, I have been very picky when it comes to purchasing actual physical albums the last few years, and there is again definitely no buyer's remorse with this trance effort. This second volume also offers extremely danceable tracks mixed by Corsten that provide a great headphone backdrop at work while needing deep concentration, or a way to energetically drown out the environment while working down long stretches of a work commute when alternative web radio is not an option. While this effort is much better mixed than the first volume, it was interesting to find that the number of tracks with lyrics has multiplied. At first I was not sure whether I could tolerate this aspect of the album, but except for the single track #8 "Sunshine" on disk one, the lyrics flow seamlessly and provide little distraction from the music. The short samples provided here make it difficult to judge whether a purchase will be worthy, but trance lovers will probably not regret. Personal favorites come in sets of three consecutive tracks, just like they did for me on the first album: the first set on disk one consists of #5 "Festival", one of the most cheerful trance tracks I have ever heard, #6 "Lose it All" (Ibiza Sunrise Mix), and #7 "Always" (Chicane Mix), and the second set on disk two consists of #2 "Eden's Light", #3 "Halicarnassus" (Progressive Mix), and #4 "Luna".

When I first stuck in CD1, I had to make sure it wasn't an Above & Beyond mix comp. A new direction for Ferry. A good solid CD that was much more mellow than I come to expect from him. The major treat here though is CD2!CD2 is possibly the most amazing Trance I have heard in a long time. It's different, darker, and beautiful! I am not the best with knowing the labeling of some of Trance's sub-genres, but this will be a term I'm sure no one ever thought of or heard before to describe it: Trance-Shoegaze. I was a big fan of the Shoegazer bands of the early 1990s, and CD2, especially the middle part of the CD, reminded me of it. Now of course this was not Trance layered with layers upon layers of guitars, but it had the feel that the Shoegazing sound gave me when listening to this CD. It is a sound that is new and fresh. Not some of the newer Trance garbage I have been hearing lately from George Acosta, Cosmic Gate, and Marco V to name a few. Getting off subject a bit, but I can't believe how amazing Acosta was and how awful his new sound is. Enough of that though. It shouldn't surprise me it would be Ferry coming up with some of the most innovative sounding Trance I've heard in forever, and his mixing on CD2 is pure genius.I just saw before reviewing this that Volume 2 will be out shortly, and I sure hope there is more of this on there! Some amazing stuff here guys. Check this out. Let's hear more of CD2 Ferry...please! Also, I may be adding more of my thoughts to this review since it has been hard to put into words how phenomenal it is...

May as well just copy/paste my review of Volume 1 here, because everything I said about that album still applies. Once Upon a Night (Volume 1) was the first album I've bought a physical copy of in roughly 10 years. Volume 2 is the second.Ferry has done something really special with his 2010 mixes. Playing both CDs of this album back to back gets you over 2 and a half hours hours of music that's solid and beautiful pretty much all the way through. The tracks rarely ever get bogged down with cheesy vocals, long boring sections, corny samples, or dramatically sudden shifts in mood, all of which I feel are problems that are inherent to the trance genre. The music is layered, lush, and warm, yet it never loses it's sharp bite. The beats tend to be more interesting and full than your typical slamming metronome trance kicks. I'm not even sure if you could call it trance specifically, but who needs genres anyway? Most importantly, it makes you feel good. Corsten has stated that many of the original tracks in his 2010 mixes are from Russia, and it shows, because these albums are a breath of fresh air for a stale genre that up until now has mostly been dominated by Western Europe (no offense guys!)I've been listening to this album as well as Volume 1 for about a month now, nearly every day, and I only appreciate them more as the days go by. I finally decided to go ahead and get physical copies in support of the artist(s) responsible for this music, and to hopefully encourage Ferry to continue mixing music of this caliber in years to come. It's more mature, lush, and re-listenable than any other electonica I've ever heard, let alone trance.

Took a chance on this CD as it was only a few pounds and I'm a fan of Ferry's work, however this double CD compilation is not his usual standard. Too many of the tracks are samey and for me there were no standout must listen to repeatedly tracks. Just average really.

A little disappointing from a DJ who produces great music himself. There a some quality stand out tracks such as "Stay on the Way" and "Festival", but much of it seems a little bland and monotone. Volume one was better.

Ferry corsten is back with another beautyful dobbtl cd comp. with many new names and still with tiesto as backman!!His work is awesome and uplifting and i wonder why he hasents been number 1 yet???

It totally met my expectations. Lovely tunes and uplifting tunes. The vereaction from track to track is brilliant. Ferry always delivers and doesn't diss appoint atall. I would recommend this and many if his work.