While talking to Paul on the phone this summer in an interview to help promote a date here in Nashville, he mentioned that he was "going back to his roots" after the success of his artist CD "Bunkka" and releasing a DJ disc. Well, that was a lie. His new DJ mix is actually *two* discs of pure Perfecto magic. Normally on a two-disc release there's a tendency to fill out the project, but it became really clear during the conversation with "Oakie" that he's really concerned about taking care of his fans and the last thing on his mind is making a few extra bucks off a double disc set when he's only got enough material for one. How would you boil Great Wall down to one disc? Leave off the Madonna's "Hollywood" on disc 1, or Bjork's "Pagan Poetry" on disc 2? Skip Raiders or Layo & Bushwacka!? John B's "Mercury Skies" trance bomb or his work with Libby Picken on "Electrofreek!?" (OK, that's two sentences in a row that end with "!?" - I don't think you can you top that, can you Peter Cooper?!") Not to say that all 19 tracks are instant classics, but it really is pretty much all killer no filler on this one.
Oakenfold fans will not be amazed by this disc, but they certainly won't be disappointed either.
In fact, if Paul is serious about his goal of bringing progressive dance music more into the mainstream, this may well be the album to do it. The Great Wall of China used to be the only human artifact you could see from space - wouldn't it be cool if you could see people dancing to an Oakenfold beat on it today?!
