Various - Trance Europe Express 3 (T.E.E.)

The third in a line of innovative concepts from the Volume people. If you haven't yet discovered Trance Europe Express, it's an excellent guide to what's happening in ambient house, this new compilation boasting an encyclopaedic 25 tracks (across 2 discs) with a 194 page colour booklet! Innovative pieces come from a lot of the top names of the scene including Air Liquide, 808 State, Ultramarine, William Orbit, U-Ziq and Volume-favourites Sun Electric and not-so innovative tracks from Joey Beltram and The Grid, but then if you've got a good idea, milk it I say!.

'Kincajou' by Banco De Gaia is a very funky slice of rhythm that could be mixed into both an ambient set and a hardcore dance set to give everyone a breather. Currently some artists seem to concentrate too much on sounds and textures at the expense of melody and groove, so when Luke Slater comes in after Banco it begins to sound like filler. Luckily Pulse are then mixed in, 'Carino (Silencio)' is a bleep anthem highly befitting to the compilations title.

With so much music it's difficult to separate the wood from the trees, but disc two definitely works best for me. Biosphere never fail to impress and their 'The Third Planet' is a spaced-out space view of the planet in question (earth!) viewed from afar... The second disc ends with a unique piece by Emergency Broadcast Network - '3:78' - which sounds like a never-before-heard meeting of jungle betas and jazz samples and on page 188 of the booklet we find that they have a taste for military hardware and perform multimedia "press conferences" featuring painting, music and video!

In a fit of unbridled generosity 808 State who have offered a free copy of the package to the first person that writes to them (@ PO Box 808, Hook, Basingstoke, RG25 1UF) with the answer to this question: Ambient music - where will it all end?! (7)


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Sylvian | Fripp - Damage (Venture)

Last year David Sylvian and Robert Fripp released an album of awesome potential, which only really lifted off when they went on the road. Perfecting the tracks around Europe, they finished off with two dates at the Royal Albert Hall where this CD was recorded. Songwriting that took the duo off into new territory with Fripp's current anger and Sylvian coming into a more optimistic writing style lead to a show that sucked the audience into their world, purely with music.

With stick player Trey Gunn, a drummer and guitarist extraordinaire Michael Brook the band plough through the entire 'The First Day' album before arriving at a ten minute jam of 'Darshan'. Moods swing from track to track, 'Brightness Falls' (which is half Hendrix tribute, half chill out) moves seemlessly to an instant audience hit - 'Every Colour You Are' from the Rain Tree Crow album of 1993. Three other old favourites from Sylvian and Fripp's mid-80's collaboration for the Gone To Earth album are also given a fresh airing.

But it's the new music that was debuted at the concert that stands out. The first and last tracks of the CD - 'Damage' and 'The First Day' - are sublime 4-minute master pieces and certainly the best music from Sylvian and Fripp (both together and in their own right) that I've ever heard. They begin and end a page which, put with the limited edition 32 page booklet by Russell Mills, easily storms in as my favourite album of 1994. (9)


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