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Man With No Name - Moment Of Truth


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Great album indeed!

 

Not very powerfull tracks, but really well made I think. MWNN is one of the masters in the studio, and can lift the dancefloors spirit easily, either in lives or Dj sets. But I love it when he plays his own stuff, slightly altered to fit the atmosphere. It's also fun watching him groove at his own music when he plays, hehe, I always loved that on e performer.

 

I also think Earth Moving the Sun is his best on MWNN ever made, and it's also my first one of his.

 

There is also a notisable trend on the designs of his album covers, involving those rounded edge rectangles stuck on each other. I don't know if they mean anything. Anyone with more info on that, I would be very interested to hear about it.

 

Also the first track gave me one of my tripiest moments ever. As I clicked on my then freshly bought 56k modem to connect on the internet and it started doing those blicking souns like 'alien talk', the cd started playing and kept the alien talk going (that's how it starts). At first I thought the modem was dialing for longer than it should, or the wrong number, and kept on listening very concentrated to it, just to see i it's going to give any errors. It was the first time I was trying it out so I was waiting to see if it's going to work properly. And then suddently you hear the beats going off, and the amazing psychedelic melody building so naturally out of the alien talk, that made me think, wowww, what a magnificent modem device, it plays trance music, and right there I snapped out of it, returning to reallity, (on about the 3rd or 4th beat) as I knew it was no longer my modem but my CDplayer. It would be cool though if they would sell ADSL modems playing MWNN music when they are connected to the net!!!! B)

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 months later...

I listened to this yesterday for the first time and i must say... It's a very good album! Yes, some tracks are just fillers, but Azymuth is extremely blissful and emotional, and the refined mix of Sugar Rush is better than the original (more clean, no clipping or undesirable distortion). Low Commotion and Floor-Essence are super tracks aswell. The one downside is that he builds the tracks very similarly, and the melodies often induce the same feeling, so it's not that varied. But 11 solid tracks out of which some are total classics. I must point out that the sum is worse than the parts, because I'm sure any of these tracks would rule alone, but when listening through the CD, some of it feels like filler material due to the similarity between most of the tracks.

 

8/10

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  • 9 months later...

a pretty good album. i will agree with those who said there is a lot of fillers on here. some tracks either have it, or they don't... The few stand outs, in my opinion are: Floor-Essence, Azymuth and Sugar Rush. The rest are just okay to me.

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MAN WITH NO NAME - MOMENT OF TRUTH

1996

Short Review

 

01. Moment Of Truth - C+

02. Floor Essence (Dayglo Mix) - A-

03. Subterfuge - C-

04. Evolution - C

05. Azymuth - A-

06. Low Commotion - C+

07. Skydiving - C

08. Dawn Chorus C

09. Cairo - B-

10. Sugar Rush (Refined Mix) - B+

11. Cosmic Echoes - B-

 

 

I hate fillers. This album is loaded with fillers... songs that verge on average and below. They pale in comparison to few superb tracks existent on this very same album. Why couldn't he have made the entire album up to that level? This album established some awesome songs in goatrance which would later be classic according to hundreds (now thousands) of people throughout the world. While it doesn't really sound goa to me, FLOOR ESSENCE is a superb [CATCHY] trance dance song. AZYMUTH is excellent for Ambient Goa-Trance. SUGAR RUSH is good or great, probably the latter. And at least one or two others are (if even slightly) above average. All others are average at best.

 

A good amount of songs lack zest and good development (past the initially introduced melodies) as the song progresses. They could have been so much more. It's interesting when the melodies in LOW COMMOTION make the song more catchy, however by the 4th or 5th minute, when barely anything has changed or developed prior to that, the song gets tired fast. And that's my problem with much of this album. Many songs seem to lack something. They're repetitive, weak, and just not catchy enough. The weaker songs make the few songs that stand that much better I suppose, but it would have been cool if there were more great songs. Also, several songs are so excellent they make me excited with joy like a little kid on his birthday. Others sound more clubby, as if the artist was trying to appeal to two different sides. This artist is best when making Goa-Trance and Ambient Goa-Trance with one exception to trance being Floor Essence (Dayglo Mix). There is no doubt in my mind.

 

Final Words: This album is so old now that it seems more special in retrospect. But I retain the same score then that I give it now because its weakness' and strengths I find just as relevant as before, when one compares each and every track to the others throughout the album. It isn't a perfect bag people. Far from.

 

 

HIGHLIGHTS: FLOOR ESSENCE, AZYMUTH, SUGAR RUSH.

 

SCORE: 7.9/10 = C+

 

Sure the album appears more special now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take it to bed. :)

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  • 2 months later...

this one has grown on me a lot in the last couple of months.. infact its one of my favorite goa albums now. i still do think a couple of these tracks are just plain weak, but there are some real gems here. the retro feel to some of them blows my mind. i don't think i've ever heard trance quite like this again, maybe he made some real magic here because he crossed over from being just plain techno

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  • 9 months later...
  • 4 weeks later...

just listened to this album today and man is it some good stuff

what I like this album is that esch part as its own distinctive melodic interlude which makes each track unique

whats with people giving sixes just because its not absolutley perfect

theres plenty of trippy sounds and every track is good if not great

the last two tracks are definetly my favorite

9/10

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  • 2 months later...

about the commercial trance edge to most of the songs: yuk

 

about low commotion and dawn chorus: yes! :posford:

 

about azymuth: donkey kong country!! A+++

 

favs: 4,5,6,8

 

total score(for now): 6.5/10

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  • 4 years later...

Man With No Name ‎– Moment Of Truth - (1996)

I never was a big fan of "entire albums" of Man with no name. More single tracks that blew me away. And here it's a bit different.

All tracks are a bit the same but I do like it's level of trance and his approach not trying to be the most melodic and fastest

compared to other artist in 1996. This is all very floating and gentle. A combination of downtempo track and uptempo tracks.

If you are looking for euphoria this will be disappointing but if you are in the mood, laying back in your sofa,

and enjoying some relaxing goa tunes travelling in your mind.

Moment of Truth is absolute it.

 

Discogs: http://www.discogs.c...th/master/45607

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  • 3 months later...

Martin Freeland certainly has a classic on his hands. His debut seems to have all the elements so why is there such a discussion on its merits?

 

Normally I agree with almost everything that Jon Coco writes. He goes into detail that I could only wish for in an eloquent style that passed me by like a commuter train. But a C+? Allow me to take issue sir.

 

I believe this to be a classic that is goa through and through, but yes it's not without its problems. For me, there is no subtlety. No...if you'll pardon the optometry reference...no stereopsis. The depth is lacking in spots. It seems that all the sounds are at the same volume. On the converse there are tracks that are so good in spots that you'll forgive some of its minor flaws.

 

And some of those tracks are blistering. Moment of Truth reminds me of Transwave, and like most have said Floor-Essence is a dance floor bomb. It's some of the filler tracks that I think may be underestimated. Low Commotion shimmers with twinkling melodies and for me is one of the stand outs on this album.

 

Subterfuge takes a bit to get going, but once it does its dark goa style becomes apparent. Evolution while a little sparse still has that deep goa vibe with some good churning layers. Skydiving with it's bubbling and drifting pads has the benefits of a downtempo number as well as a mid-tempo one. And Dawn Chorus sits in the shadows waiting to strike with it's pumping bass.

 

The ones that I have the real problem with are the ones you gave B's. Sugar Rush? The commercial stink rising off this one is hard to stomach. Maybe he knew this and did it on purpose throwing the Creamfields crowd a bone. Cairo is a generic stumble through the mysterious Middle East complete with ethnic vocal. The funky house vibe on Cosmic Echoes whilst appealing seems glaringly out of place on this album.

 

So we'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

 

"I didn't agree to that!"

 

"Shaddup!"

 

 

Go get a classic.

 

Mdk

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