Mike Rizzo & DJ Drew - Trance Nation America Three

Ultra Records continues its winning streak of signing and releasing some of the hottest European Trance Music for the U.S. market. This time, the DJs doing the mixing honors are none other than Mike Rizzo and DJ Drew.

Disc one features Rizzo's mix which starts out in a rather perplexing manner, as the first song is NOT a Trance Song. Rizzo starts off the mix with Gabriel & Dresden's Unplugged Mix of Andain's "Beautiful Things." The mix is more Tech-House than anything else, definitely not Trance. Not to fear though, as the rest of the mix is pure Trance bliss! Rizzo really keeps the energy going with such high-octane monsters as Candy Jay's "If I Were You" (Michael Wood's Remix)(a newly discovered favorite of mine), QED's "Hardly A Day" (Valentin Mix), and Lasgo's "Surrender." I have to admit that the second half of the mix gets a little boring as it contains several vocal-less tracks. While I loved Darude's "Sandstorm"(who didn't?) and Safri Duo's "Played-A-Live"(The Bongo Song)(ditto), there are too many vocal-less Trance songs that fail to impress.

Disc Two contains DJ Drew's mix, which in my opinion, is more pop-friendly. Laced with such jams as the Whitney Houston sampled "Take Me To The Clouds Above" (Flip & Fill Remix) by LMC vs. U2, "Force of Gravity" (Tiesto Remix) by BT featuring J.C. Chasez, "Crush" (PVD Remix) by Paul Van Dyk Presents Second Sun and "Summer Jam" (DJ FRANK's Summermix Extended". Also interesting on this disc (although not as pop-friendly as the previously mentioned songs) are "Clear Blue (Airwave Remix) by Markus Schulz Presents Elevation and "Nothing I Won't Do" by Special D. I have to admit that with all of the great remixes that Mike Rizzo has done, I was surprised to find myself liking DJ Drew's mix better, not having heard anything from him before.

Ultra has put together another hot compilation that is sure to get your pulse racing. Both of these discs are perfect for a workout cleaning your house.