Various – Trance Europe Express 3

Biosphere The Third Planet is the best track on this compilation and is still not available on vinyl anywhere else.

Third in the Trance Europe series and always been, for my money, the best of the lot. Disc 1 is more dance orientated with a great 808 State track and Kincajou, probably Banco Da Gaia's catchiest track and a finishing up with a very intense Caustic Window track.

Disc 2 is a much more mellow affair. Highlights include something really quite lovely by Alter Ego, something with more going on than most of Link's usual (never less than excellent) material, and some wonderfully wobbly oddness from Mouse On Mars. It finishes up with my favourite track, 3:7:8 by Emergency Broadcast Network. It sounds like absolutely nothing else on here - frantic and a bit jazzy and much of its own.

That this album still stands up well after 27 years (at time of writing) is a testament to its quality. The fact, as mentioned by another contributor, that much of this stuff is unavailable elsewhere is one of many reason to snap this up because it really is a bargain.

Whether your tastes is the more esoteric electronica, or some straighter dance music this is a very fine collection indeed.

Quite a lot of the tracks are exclusive to this release and still can't be found anywhere else.

Quite a lot of the tracks are exclusive to this release and still can't be found anywhere else.

Appalling pressing quality, so don't bother buying a copy of this on vinyl if you're planning to mix with it. It's so quiet and 'thin' that the tracks lose any impact at all when mixed with tracks that have been pressed properly, even if you bang the EQ's up. Such a shame, because tracks like Resistance D's 'Unknown' and Holy Language / Dr Motte's 'Energy' aren't available on vinyl anywhere else to my knowledge, which is close to criminal! Worth getting on CD for all the tracks that are unavailable elsewhere, or pick up a copy of the Darren Emerson / Alex Patterson 'Textures' mix, which contains several of the tracks including the two I've mentioned, and is brilliant!

One of the first techno compilations I managed to pick up. My friend had picked up Volume 2 which was a great exposure to different techno artists at the time. This was like '93-'94. When Volume 3 hit the stores I immediately grabbed my own copy.

This was the first time I had heard most of these artists. I was listing to this album recently and many of the songs still hold up pretty well. 808 State, Banco de Gaia and Luke Slater are all solid. Disc 1 even ends with a who's who of Rephlex artists from back in the day. Topped off with a hard track by Aphex Twin alter ego Caustic Window.

Disc 2 starts out with some dubbed out and groovy electronics from Mouse on Mars and Ultramarine. The compilation ends with a number of tracks from some of the original Detroit techno artists. Juan Atkins and Eddie "Flashin'" Fowlkes are both included.

Looking back at this compilation, quite a few of these artists went on to become pretty sucessful. Other personal favorites include the tracks by Inner Space and Biosphere.

Highly recommended!!