Track Listing

1. Haunted
2. White Lies (feat. Jessica Sutta)
3. Sabotage
4. Complicated (feat. Ashley Tomberlin)
5. Get Back (feat. Ashley Tomberlin)
6. Far Away
7. Another Sunday
8. Talk In Grey
9. In Circles
10. In Between
11. Stormy Skies (feat. Wayne Jackson)
12. Détournement
13. New York City (feat. Ashley Tomberlin)
14. Castaway
15. La Dolce Vita
16. Let Go (feat. Rea)
17. Fall With Me (feat. David Byrne)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #84283 in Music
• Released on: 2007-08-14
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
The world's #1 DJ Paul van Dyk is back with IN BETWEEN, a dynamic new effort that spotlights his incredible talent as a producer and recording artist. The album features a wide range of collaborations including David Byrne (Talking Heads), Jessica Sutta (Pussycat Dolls), Ashley Tomberlin (Luminary), Alex M.O.R.P.H, Lo Fi Sugar, Rea Garvey (Reamonn), Ryan Merchant and Wayne Jackson. Paul van Dyk received a Grammy nomination in 2005 for Best Dance/Electronic Album for his original album "Reflections" - this marked the first time NARAS recognized this category. His original productions from "Reflections" have been licensed for major television commercials, such as Motorola, Land Rover and most recently for Jeep.

Amazon.com
It's 2007 and trance has been left for dead. Pop swooped in and cherry-picked the genre's egalitarian appeal, repackaged it, and squeezed the whole thing dry. Meanwhile its other flank was shredded by dance music itself and its brutally dynamic nature, evolving and expanding and making the genre seem simple-minded--or worse, irrelevant. In response, Paul Van Dyk has spent the last several years concocting In Between, which, as its name implies, is an attempt to find a sweet spot connecting the progressive sweep of past efforts like Seven Ways and his own long-simmering commercial instincts. At least as gifted in the studio as he is on the decks, Van Dyk's record glitters with production depth and a veteran's panache. Guest vocalist Lo-Fi Sugar helps turn the lead track "Haunted" into a delightful shimmer, and for a moment we think he might spring an ambient record on us. But that notion is cleanly dismissed by the chunky synths of the electro-house excursion "White Lies," and from there, the DJ attempts with limited success to stuff the usual peaks and valleys into the tight confines of pop songs. He occasionally succeeds: "New York City" is especially good fun, as Van Dyk puts a siren sample in the background that'll have you reaching for your license and registration. But he's squeezed 17 tracks onto this single-disc release, and you can feel the struggle to sustain momentum--shorter tracks like "Talk in Grey" (featuring Ryan Merchant) end just as they might genuinely take off. Nothing sinks in with any depth. Van Dyk is a master practitioner and his efforts to evolve are laudable, but on In Between, his determination to cross over into pop too often mutes his more progressive and compelling instincts. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Ho-hum another mediocre album
PVD and I go a ways back, starting with his E-Werk remix of For An Angel. I own every studio and mix album the man's ever put out, plus a fair assortment of his remixes that I've managed to scrounge up. Thus, when it comes to one of Germany's greatest exports (the others being BMW, Porsche, and beer), I know of what I speak.

And those calling In Between a classic have no taste. Seriously. This is only marginally better than the last two clunkers that Tiesto has put out, and I'm willing to believe the only reason I'm saying it's better at all is I'm biased towards PVD.

In Between is exactly that: in between. It's in between greatness and, to put it politely, filler. The rise of electro-house music has been a tsunami on the dance world, so it's logical to see its influence popping up here (the catch electro-pop White Lies). And track Let Go (featuring Rea Garvey) is a superb synthesis of pop rock and dance music. If only the rest of the tracks worked so well. Most aren't really bad, and get the job done. They do, however, lack that certain something to make them truly memorable. Tracks like Far Away and Another Sunday are classic club anthems, and work well on their own right. The all-too-short Detournement is simply gorgeous, and the similarly lengthened Stormy Skies isn't half bad either.

But therein lies the problem: they're not half bad. But that doesn't make them truly good. I'm not going to sit here and complain about how trance has gone commercial and been invaded by pop and house, because frankly I don't care when the end result is a killer track like Deep Dish's Dire Straits remix Flashing For Money. But I am going to complain when PVD, who has put out some simply KILLER numbers in the past couple of years (The Other Side is one of his newest tracks, and is already one of my favorites, his UK club remix of Time Of Our Lives is pulse-pounding, and his Berlin mix of Nothing But You is fresh and terrific), offers an album like this up for inspection.

I give the man his credit, because his live sets are second to none, and God knows I couldn't produce anything remotely as good as his worst songs. Still, Seven Ways is a flat-out masterpiece, with Out There And Back following up nicely. Yet there's nothing here on In Between that makes me want to drive faster, or throw my hands up and dance. There's nothing here that sends a chill down my spine. For a man whose albums used to do that every time, that's a disappointment. If you're new to PVD, pick up his greatest hits, Global; there's more to appreciate on that disc than here.

very blah
Very blah tracks. Nothing good or memorable. Simon Cowell would call it "Completely forgettable."

For the best new stuff out try: Cosmic Gate - Back 2 Back 3; Markus Schulz - Amsterdam 08; Sander Van Doorn - Supernaturalistic.

Probably Paul's weakest release
First off, purchase the mp3 release. It contains more tracks and has longer running times than the CD release.

Second, PvD's famous (or infamous) 4-4 beat gets very tiresome here. It plagues just about every track. It works for some of the tracks, but in songs like 'New York City' it just gets ugly repetitive. And when that's pread over 17 tracks, it becomes hard to really distinguish and separate one track from the other.

Some of his best tracks here are 'Another Sunday' and 'La Dolce Vita'. Still, there's nothing quite as memorable, nothing that would stand alone as a classic PVD tune like 'Forbidden Fruit', 'Another Way', or 'Autumn'. I don't believe that these few tracks would, however, justify a purchase of this album except from the most ardent PVD fans and those just generally interested in what one of the world's top DJs produces. For that measure, I would recommend the Global CD/DVD.

On the upside, this album does return PVD more to his dance roots and I appreciate that. We saw a slight departure to a more artistic expression (and commercial) with Reflections (see my review) and him experimenting with hip-hop wasn't exactly a well-received experiment. But to be honest, Reflections sounds refreshing compared to this. Reflections had a bit of filler, but tracks like 'Time of our Lives', 'Reflections', and of course, the euphoric 'Nothing But You' were sonic heaven-- and all three tracks sounded different.

Still nothing beats a PVD live set or a PVD remix thrown in a PVD set, and the remixes for New York City and White Lies are rather good. Unfortunately, In Between is an album best served in small doses rather than in a large, single serving.