Search - Various Artists :: Innovators Series: Armand Van Helden 1

Good Not Great

77todd77 | Seattle, WA | 01/01/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Armand Van Heldon seemed to come out of nowhere with his incredible remixes of 'Professional Widow' by Tori amos, 'Spin Spin Sugar' by the Sneaker Pimps, 'Insomnia' by Faithless and 'Sugar is Sweeter' by C.J. Bolland - all in the space of about a year. Based on those mixes and many others, Van Heldon proved himself to be one of the best in the business. His albums on the other hand, can be erratic and sometimes frustratingly inconsistant. 'Nervous Tracks Vol. 1' is one of his less than great releases. Only a couple of the ten tracks are actually remixed by him. The rest are tracks that he selected. The album has an unbalanced feel to it. It doesn't help matters that two of the tracks appear more than once in different mixes. It has the feel of something that was thrown together at the last minute. There are however, moments of the funky brilliance that we have come to expect from Armand. The 'Sound Factory Mix' of 'Nightlife' is incredible. The track by 'Jungle Juice' that opens the album is also a funky, tribal gem. If Armand Van Heldon can put an album like this together in his sleep, just imagine what he's capable of when firing on all four cylinders. Similar Artists: Ananda Project, Timo Maas, Global Underground:Danny Tenaglia(London)"