Contains the (Contemplative) mix of Loops Of Infinity which whilst didn't work as well in a Rave or club set as the 12" versions but when the distorted tuned kick drops 2/3's of the way through definitely for me makes it my favourite version.

I've always loved Cosmic Baby's classically-influenced trance from the early 90s - Stellar Supreme is an all time favorite - so in a recent nostalgia-induced buying spree I picked up this CD. Then I remembered why I hadn't listened to it in so long: it's just not that good. The album goes back and forth between meandering, forgettable piano interludes and upbeat trance, but the trance doesn't have the same impact as his work from before. Treptow is an especially good (bad?) example of this - when he starts playing piano notes on top of the music, it just sounds out of place and unappealing. It doesn't help that the mixing and mastering quality on this release is very thin and flat, with no low end presence at all (in my car stereo, which is pretty capable, I have to turn the bass up to the max setting to get anything close to a thump in the kick drum.) I realize a lot of early 90s trance releases had bad mastering, but there were plenty that sounded fine then and still stand on their own today. TAM is not one of them.The only saving grace here is the inclusion of Fantasia and Loops of Infinity, but that almost doesn't count, as they were both released as singles prior to this album and people had already heard them a ton before. I prefer different versions of each, but the originals are good as well, so at least there's that.When it comes to Cosmic Baby, his music from 1991-1993 is where it's at. Almost all of the music from that time period has great energy and memorable melodies. But from 94 on, it seemed Cosmic was more interested in making pseudo-classical music and nothing really stands out to me in this part of his career. I respect his refusal to join the mainstream trance movement, as his former partner PvD did, but the more I think about it, the more I think he should have stayed with it - who knows what kind of groundbreaking stuff he would have added to the repertoire by now.

This is a decent CD, thought not nearly as good as Stellar Supreme. My main beef with it is the horrible distortion/clipping present during most of the piano parts in track 1 and 8, and less noticeably track 2. It is just unlistenable and ruins the whole album. I'm not sure if I have the 41263 or 48540 release. My copy says both LUSA001 and 9591-59500-2, and credits Logic USA and BMG as the label/distie. I'm thinking perhaps these two discogs releases are really the same release! The original submitters should scan the back covers and upload them. I would love to hear from European release owners who can tell me if the distortion is on their versions too. If so, shame on Cosmic for releasing a substandard recording!

This is what "early trance" was all about. Racing tempo, spliced with hauntingly beautiful melodies. This release is a treat, with the first album, Stellar Supreme, included. If you want a reference for the origins of trance, this is it.