Perfecto & Perfecto Fluoro
Over the last ten years, Paul has become the singularly most influential DJ to come out of this genre and filter through into the mainstream. His clubs and his music - from Grace's high house to Virus' underground trance, his DJing - from Cream to U2's world tour, his remixes - for Stone Roses and Happy Mondays to Snoop Doggy Dogg, his record labels Perfecto and Fluoro, all embrace his eclectic tastes and have deepend his influence over the evolution of youth culture.
When he DJs, Paul has 10,000 records to choose from. One tenth of these are movie soundtracks. He loves the emotions and visions they provoke with their magnificient strings and spooked sounds: tripping you out, like the best trance music. It's all part of the same thing. It's not just about DJing to bpms but key and melody.
So it goes without saying that Paul Oakenfold wouldn't put out yet-another-dance-compilation featuring the same tracks that everybody else has been playing to death. Inspired by his Radio One Goa mix for which he won an award, the 'Perfecto Fluoro' album is more like his album than a mix CD. It doesn't contain music just from the dance scene: nine of the pieces are from movies; there's Terrorvision and Bjork too; while many of the tracks are exclusive to this album.
What it is all about though, is trance, his love of the genre reflected through Fluoro and his trips to the East. This is music: layered, with additional keyboards and production within the mix, and clever use of vocals; that takes you from dancefloor bliss-outs to Indian riverbanks, from childhood reflection, to heartbreak and leaves you on a stable high. Why not stay in one night and try it because you won't find anything quite like it in clubland? And here's some subtitles from Paul, as he says, "This is my own movie".
Stolen from the "old" Perfecto Web Site
Compilation: Global Underground - Paul Oakenfold Live in Oslo
[GU004CD]
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Released '97. Live in Oslo is a double CD continuous mix from Oaky. Disc one consists of mainly fat beats and break beats, with the odd trancy track intermingled, whilst disc two concentrates on the trance/prog house theme. Personally I prefer the second disc, although both CD's are blinding and make for a wicked compilation.
Single: Ascension - Someone
[PERF141T / PERF141T]
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Released in '97. A storming piece of progressive house/trance from Ascension, brought to you by the producers of Space Brothers and Chakra (R.Simmonds and S.Jones). Vocals are provided from Joanna Law, who's sublime vocals graced Way Out West's The Gift. Slacker provides a couple of wicked remixes too. An all round fab single - a must to buy!
Single: California Sunshine - Summer '89
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Released in '97. California Sunshine are P Har-Ell and DJ Miko. I expected summer vibes and an uplifting stomper from this track - needless to say I was disappointed. Its a bland offering which should have been titled Winter '89, and neither Oakey or Spangle Factory can rescue this track. Oakenfold's edit (how long is the full version then?) opens with familiar whale samples, which the observant will recognise from Bt....i'm sad to say that's probably the highlight of the whole track!
Single: Floorplay - Automatic
[PERF115CD / PERF115T]
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Floorplay is a project of A. Fresco and S. Gali, under the production of Disco Volante. 'Automatic' is another stomping slice of goa trance, which is superbly reworked by Biff and Memphis.
Single: Grace - Not Over Yet
[PERF104CD / PERF104T]
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Released '95. Written by Davies, Oakenfold and Wyzgowski. Produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osbourne. Vocals by Grace. If cheesy vocals aren't your cup of tea then you'd better look away now. However, if you're partial to uplifting cheesy anthems then this oldie classic is not to be missed.
Single: The Infinity Project - Stimuli
[PERF113CD / PERF113T]
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Released in '95 on Perfecto Fluoro. The Infinity Project are R. Rothfield, G. Wood and S. Postford. I'm not overly keen on this track - its a bit bland and uninspiring.
Single: Johann - New Kicks
[PERF118CD / PERF118T]
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Johann is a project of Johann Bley (who also works with Ben Watkins aka Juno Reactor). More stomping goa'n trance on the Perfecto Fluoro label. Tracks 3 & 4 are remixed by the Space Kittens, with the Goa mix taking the prize for full-on stompingness - Don't miss!
Single: Juno Reactor - Jungle High
[PERF133CD / PERF133T]
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I was quite surprised to see this track released on the Perfecto record label since Juno Reactor are probably better known for their (Ben Watkins and Johann Bley) hard trance releases on Blue Room records. More info on Juno Reactor here.
Single : Legend B - Lost in Love
[PERF132CD / PERF132T]
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Legend B are Pete Blaze and J. Ahrens. This golden oldie club smash (originally released in '95 on Ascension Plus/Rising High Records - click here for more details) has been dug up and repolished by Red Jerry - and he takes the reward for best remix by far! Another must for the collection.
Single: Man With No Name - Floor-Essence
[PERF108CD / PERF108T]
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The Man With No Name actually has got a name - its Martin
Freeland. With a debut album and a string of singles tucked under his belt, Man With No Name is a key element of Paul Oakenfolds Goa Trance label Perfecto Fluoro. This was the single that shot Man With No Name to fame. Classic stuff.
Single: Man With No Name - Paint a Picture feat. Hannah
[PERF114CD / PERF114T]
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If you like uplifting cheesy vocals then head for the vocal mix - otherwise stick to the stomping Colourama Dub. The remix of Floor-Essence is also a welcome bonus.
Single: Man With No Name - Teleport / Sugar Rush
[PERF126CD / PERF126T]
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A little on the weak side - another dose of goa trance that doesn't really stand out from the crowd.
Single: Our House - Floorspace
[PERF125CD / PERF125T]
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Our House is Kasey Taylor and Sean Quinn. Not sure what it is about the word floor these days, but what with Floorspace, Floor Essence and Floorplay (all on Perfecto!) I think we are running out of possible floor phrases. Anyway, what about this track? - I can only sum it up as wicked! Just buy it and you'll see what I mean! Our House have remixed Virus's
latest single titled Moon.
Single: Oakenfold & Osborne - Rise
[YZ839CD]
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A storming track from the past ('94). Paul Oakenfold blasts out a Goa stomp in tracks 3 and 4, well before the words Goa Trance became fashionable.
Single: Section-X - Atlantis
[PERF136CD / PERF136T]
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Quite a weak affair, even with the presence of Way Out West and Man With No Name.
Remix: Tilt feat. Zee - Butterfly
[PERF 154T]
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1998 release on Perfecto, and yet another dance floor stormer thanks to the Quadrophonic Mix of the track Rendezvous provided by PVD. Another must for the collection. Note that this 12" is titled Tilt featuring Zee - Butterfly, although the original working title of the track was prior to release was Storm. Other mixes of the track Butterfly feature on the 2 x CD format, although only cd2 [PERF CD2] features the PVD mix of Rendezvous.
Single: Transa - Prophase
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Released in '97. Written and produced by Transa. The original version of this track was released on Hook Recordings. Run of the mill goa-trance from Transa, with X-cabs providing harder trance remixes, especially the X-Cabs Remix Two; both mixes will make good mid-set tracks. Oliver Lieb (L.S.G.) provides a slower, more laid back percussion based mix of this track which is nothing inspirational.
Single: Wild Colour - Dreams
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Released in '95. Written by Stevie Nicks and produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne. Davis and Dane provide vocals in this cheesy perfecto house number, which even the master of epic trance (BT) can't rescue from the dairy.
Single: Virus - Sun
[PERF107CD / PERF107T]
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Virus is a project written and produced by Paul Oakenfold and Steve Osborne, and was one of the first goa type tracks to be released by Oakenfold on his perfecto label back in '95. Both Jam El Mar (of Jam and Spoon) and
the Man With No Name provide excellent mixes of this track, although it already is starting to sound a bit dated. The Jam El Mar mix also features on the Abduction compilation.
Single: Virus - Moon
[PERF134CD / PERF134T]
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Taken from the Perfecto Fluoro album (mixed by Paul Oakenfold), this '97 single is another great track to be added to the list of Perfecto hits.
For more information on Paul Oakenfold see the official web site @ http://www.perfecto-fc.com, or this unofficial site @ http://www.pauloakenfold.co.uk.
