You Can Live With or Without It.
The Groove | Boston, MA | 04/13/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
""The Annual 2003" is a mix of the good, the bad, and the cheesy in dance music. True to its formula, Ministry of Sound takes 40 songs, trims them down to 3 minutes or less, and crams them into two CDs. While some of the material is good, cruising through a whopping 40 tracks on two 80-minute CDs is a sometimes exhausting exercise that proves that less is often more. But there are highlights in the form of DJ Sammy's cover of the Don Henley hit "Boys of Summer," Royksopp's frisky "Eple" (the track was released in 2001 but appears on a 2003 CD anyway); and Oliver Cheatham's "Get Down Saturday Night," a retro 70's jam that ends up being the lone grain of soul on these two CDs. Elsewhere, we get samples of hyper trance and house that ranges from the serviceable to the forgettable. And what's with the abundance of 80s covers? Soda Club's "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" works fine, but Novaspace's cover of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" is so cheesy it should be off limits to the lactose intolerant. The verdict? Not a bad CD collection, but not a very good one, either. On a scale of 1 to 10, "The Annual Spring 2003" rates a 6."
It's OK
frankblackman | 11/25/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Not the best, not the worst, a couple of new songs here and there, a couple of nice trancey ones. I've heard better CDs"