Buy This CD
Disc 1
1. Opening cradle
2. If I survive
3. I know
4. Beachcoma
5. Dreaming your dreams
6. Snyper
7. Theme from Wide Angle
8. Sinequanon
9. High life
10. Fatal beating
11. Finished symphony
12. Altitude (Red Square reprise)
Disc 2
1. Kid 2000
2. Burnin'
3. Snyper
4. Accelerator
5. High life
6. Finished symphony
7. Kill city (Bonus track)
8. Altitude (Bonus track)
9. Kid 2000 (12" original mix)
This, Hybrid's debut album, is now a couple of years old, having been re-released once with the extra disc a year after the original release. Hybrid are one of the foundations of the 'progressive breaks' segment of the dance market, along with Way Out West and BT: they have been around for some time releasing 12"s such as the phenomenal Kill City (part of Nick Warren's CD2 set on his first Global Underground outing). Wide Angle, the first CD, contains the singles 'If I Survive' and the much mixed 'Finished Symphony', but these serve merely as introductions to the guts of the album: tracks such as Snyper, Accelerator, and the floor-shaking Beachcoma rest snugly alongside more the peaceful offerings of I Know and the decidely French 'Sinequanon'. The album is a journey through many aspects of dance, with the distinctive undercurrent that is Hybrid remaining. And this is the only flaw: while the Hybrid sound remains fresh and subtle, it permeates the album a little strongly so that the listener starts to tire of it until the final stages, when Finished Symphony lifts the roof. It is perhaps then a CD which can be tackled as individual tracks or groups of, rather than as a full experience. Nevertheless, what's there is worth listening to again and again.
The second disc offers a new insight into the group, consisting mostly of an explosive live set - Kid 2000, which I believe was made for the Kevin and Perry Go Large soundtrack (
) is astonishingly tight, and although the selection of other tracks doesn't include my favourites, there is a real element of fire in the set which isn't seen on the produced album. The inclusion of Kill City and Altitude - which haven't previously been released by Hybrid themselves - is an added bonus.Without a doubt one of the necessary components for a plastic trance fan's descent into more ecletic realms. 9/10