A State of Trance 2006

Armin van Buuren's style, from the countless mixes/broadcasts I have heard him put out, tends to waver with inconsistency. I think A State of Trance 2006 is where Armin finally hits his stride and is able to keep up with his own work.Disc 1 (On The Beach) is a really great opening disc. Whether you find yourself rocking to and fro in a hammock or grooving enthusiastically in the sand & summer sun, this CD acts as a nice soundtrack. More atmospheric and spacey, Armin illustrates his grasp of the wheel when he proves himself able to incorporate some type of a pulse - sometimes surprisingly quick and hard - into this kind of "spaced" motif. In other words, On The Beach is not by any stretch of the imagination something ambient, and yet it is. The unobtrusive bpm simply propels the music, which takes the forefront, onward.Disc 2 (At The Club) is where Armin has been known to shine; crazy, pulsating dance-floor-destroyer melodic trance comes pumping out of the speakers the minute the laser hits the disc. It doesn't become boring, and thankfully the vocals were really kept to a tolerable minimum in this mix. At The Club reminds me a lot of the frenetic, almost breakbeat melodic trance Armin dished out with his ASoT:2004, only this flows much better, linearly instead of jagged peaks and valleys. I loved ASoT:2004, but sometimes the lack of careful mixing or track placement makes it too hectic too enjoy - even on the dance floor, if you can believe that one.I feel like Armin's been tinkering with stylistic techniques during the previous State of Trance mixes - 2004 & 2005. I loved both, but each went off in some undesirable direction at some point and never quite seemed able to return to base. Armin seems to have taken the warmer from 2004 and the cooler from 2005 and rightly combined them to produce 2006; highlighting his electronica capabilities with flying colors and putting forth a set in which BOTH discs are equally as desirable.....No doubt this puts Armin back on the maps, even after releases like '76' temporarily took him off of my own. A great all-around CD to own, especially for Armin fans but also those of The Thrillseekers, Tiesto and Solarstone.~Lex

While this has to be one of the best orchestrated trance albums to date, nothing is really new and innovative on this cd. My first listen through this album at work yields a lot of the same feelings I had for his cd "Shivers". While shivers mostly suffered from annoying vox tracks and other quirks, the last few tracks on shivers are just like the majority of this album. Soft, Uneventful, and Blah-ish... In time I will proably come around to this album, and find out why everyone else here likes it so much; but for now, a state of trance 2005 reigns above this album because it has teeth, it's got the bite that this album lacks.My one complaint is the ignorance of a ton of the dj's out there oblivious to their recordings having plenty of clicking/crackle during LO-FI/filtered loops or simply problems with their hardware. For example, disc 1 trk 7 - exactly 17.075 seconds into the song it's clicky with the low-passed-sample that starts playing. I try to simply enjoy the music, but when I spend as much as I do on equipment, I get picky as hell. Don't believe me? Look at 17.075secs, High pass filter it to attenuate anything below 10KHz, and observe the peak that it pulls out... now what is this? It's EVERYWHERE too. I suck at making music compared to these guys, but even I watch out for simple stuff like this.

I'm a purist, and I've heard a LOT of trance. There is a very specific way I want my trance to make me feel and this album does it. I have a lot of trance CDs, and most of them scratch the surface, but only a few make it to this level. This is along side Matt Darey "Upfront Trance", AnjunaBeats 100, and disc 2 of "In Search of Sunrise 7" by Tiesto ( right before he sold out ), in my top trance collections.

This is a favorite of mine for quite some time and I just decided to own the disc. Classic mix by Armin Van Buuren. Perfect for listening in one session and in small bits. One of the great musicians.

Personally, I had doubts about buying this even after buying SOT 2005. I read the comments from people here and just bought it.Whooa! Was I pleasantly surprised! This album is amazing! I still have not 100% listened to the first CD because I am stuck in the club. The Club CD is just perfect. When I think of the Summer of 2006, I will only think of this album, it was just that good.Just buy it, you will not regret it at all.

Do not buy thrillseekers or DJ in the mix -ATB. but this album is solid, and a beautiful mixture. Listen to me, My review is the only one you will need to read. thrillseekers and ATB are horrible. but ASOT 2006 is worth evey penny and much much more. I bought thrillseekers and ATB and was disgusted I am sending them back but I have all three of Armin Van Burren's mixes of the asot This one is as good and even a little better than 2004.

... now all those songs on both discs are "classics". And, as such we got sooo used to them - love 'em. Great CD to have, because that's around the time (2006) when TRANCE started to move from underground to mainstream. Awesome collection. Raw and beautiful. Considered a TRANCE CLASSIC in my books. ... one you have to have.

I have a new favorite DJ! This compilation is amazing! I couldn't get out of the car..I was late for work!!I've had it on all day at my desk, and my jaw is on the floor!BUY THIS CD SET! AMAZING. I'm going now to pickup all his other music... WHY have I not been listening to this guy??

As a fan of trance music for a number of years I have been saddened to see it gradually subsumed into the general genre of popular EDM. This is sadly reflected in this release. There is however enough for trance fans to enjoy and those tracks tending towards pop are still of a high standard. Just about worth holding on to.

From chapter to chapter is getting worse and worse. Years a go I was a big fan on Armin but unfortunately this left on the past. So sad 😔

Fantastic mix from armin. 100 amazing tracks. Recommended for all dance music fans. A lot more trance than edm last year.

A seamlessly mixed feel good cd of electronic dance music.

Excellent