thepremier's Full Review: Parade of the Athletes by DJ Ti?sto
DJ Tiesto
Parade of the Athletes - 2004
Electronic music for the uninitiated.
DJ Tiesto is probably the most popular DJ in the whole world, both loved and criticized for his huge success, and partially credited for bringing the genre of electronic music to the mainstream music world. In a daring and bold maneuver, the organizing committee of the Athens 2004 Olympic Games recruited Tiesto to compose the first ever electronic soundtrack for the Olympiad. And whoa. Tiesto’s house, trance, and techno gave us phenomenal music to showcase these unbelievable dream games.
PotA combines many elements of Tiesto’s talents, but truly demonstrates his skill in sound tracking - his ability to create atmosphere, to build tension and suspense, and capture the emotion of the moment. It also showcases some of his past work, like the track “Lethal Industry“. Tiesto has the scope to bring entire stadiums to their feet and start dancing to the most addictive beats as well as the ability to create haunting almost tearful pieces as well.
Parade of the Athletes contains over an hour of music, 12 tracks total - 9 of which have never been heard on an album before.
The Music
The album opens with a new piece, one of several with Olympic tributes, called “Heroes”, that has great drum rhythms, a funky bass line, and a smooth, almost somber middle section. The next track, “Breda 8pm” (named after his hometown in Holland) is quick paced, and a bit harder after DJ Montana’s remix.
Third track is one of my favorites, “Ancient History”, which has fantastic and diverse percussion, some very ancient sounding flutes that perfectly compliment the mood and title of the piece, and everything is built up with great suspense until the piece is an explosion of sound. This piece is also a free interpretation of a song called "Zanaradikos" by Thrace.
“Traffic” is considered to be one of Tiesto’s greatest, but I find most of it a bit too repetitive, as if it’s just simply looped forever. “Euphoria” is a more mellow track, its bass line gentle, and features delicate synth work.
Tiesto pays respect the goddess “Athena” in the sixth track, another softer track with a droning and powerful bass line and otherworldly and smooth synth work. “Olympic Flame”, now more setting the tempo up again, has a powerful bass line, and builds great drama and a sense of wonder throughout the piece, greatly representing the importance of the flame, and the anticipation of the lighting of the great cauldron.
“Lethal Industry” is another of Tiesto’s greatest, a textbook example of trance. “Coming Home” (in reference to the games) is a much harder house sound, and is almost celebratory in its mood. “Adagio for Strings” is Tiesto’s interpretation of Samuel Barber’s track, a piece heard elsewhere as well. “Victorious” has a toe tapping bass rhythm and gentler trance melodies through most of it, which eventually build up and then the percussion starts again in a dramatic finish. The piece is suitable for athletes receiving medals on the podium. The ending mixes directly into the final track, “Forever Today”, which continues the party atmosphere and up tempo established in the previous piece. It is slightly more repetitive until midway through, where some synth breaks up the percussion and bass line.
Conclusions
Beyond being an excellent soundtrack to the most memorable Olympics in history (sorry, John Williams, you’ve done quite a lot and we love ya, but sometimes we need something different) Parade of the Athletes is probably the best album to introduce either yourself or someone else to the world of trance and electronic music. Tiesto’s work bridges the classical heritage of the music of the past with the sparkle and technology of the modern age. It showcases fine music from the genre’s top artist and is equally suitable as club dance music for your next party, or music to simply listen to while typing Epinions reviews. Enjoy!
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.