The songs on this CD that truly reflect PVD's unique sound are "Crush", "Reflections", "Nothing But You"(though I prefer PVD's other remixes much more than the album version), "Connected", "Spellbound", & "Kaleidoscope". "Time of Our Lives" is a great song, but the PVD Club mix is the best version of the song..by far.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good CD. It just isn't the PVD sound I was expecting when I bought it. PVD seems to be trying to expand his library of sounds, but in a good way and not in a Oakenfold way. It's more of an artistic journey than his previous albums, such as Out There and Back. And he still throws down massive trance sets like nobody's business, I saw him recently at Glow in DC. So I'm not worried, just do yourself a favor and check out the other remixes of Nothing But You and Time of Our Lives.


Certainly, Paul can do better   October 8, 2003
Bulldozer (San Diego, CA)
24 out of 29 found this review helpful

I know it's a bit early to be rating an album that I've only had for a day, but I can tell you right now that this is nowhere near the same quality of material as his previous albums: out there and back and 7 ways.
The singles off this album (nothing but you, connected, and time of our lives) have been been played by PVD over the past year at his various sets. "Nothing but you" is an outstanding tune, but has been and was played to death at his various live sets. I really like "Connected," and am still looking for a way to get this tune as my ringer on my cell phone. "Time of our lives" isn't a bad track, but I do prefer the remixed versions.

Paul experiments with some hip-hop. The hip-hop track 9, doesn't go too very well. Paul should've just stuck to his bread and butter, which he happens to be really good at. Track 10 has Paul singing in the background.
He does a lot of experimenting, butmuch of the music comes across as not being inventive and just a recycling of his previous material- heck, some of the exact melodies from out there and back (namely- mix between love from above and columbia) are rephased over and over in track 8.

The best tracks are: crush, time of our lives, nothing but you, and connected.All the rest don't seem a par to these four. Although I have grown quite partial to reflections. What's disappointing is the lack of non-vocal tracks in this album, I'd count maybe 3. It's a sad progression towards vocal trance that I'm seeing, and I didn't like the saturation of vocal trance in this album. The Jan Johnston tracks are good, but don't stand out like OTAB's Tell me Why did.

No killer track like Another Way can be found. Nor, any innovative tracks like Vega or Avenue.

The problem is that the tracks just seem kinda punched together. There's so much variety between the tracks, that it seems much less a danceable album. There are no mixes between tracks, just plain old-cuts, which just sucks. I realize that Paul has sequenced the tracks because it'd be near impossible to mix the tracks with their various beats. I think more than anything, all the Jan Johnston vocal tracks really turned me off from this album. I like "Calling Your Name" and that's it. I've never been able to stand "Project Freefall" or any other song she's done.

This is definitely not an Out There and Back. Don't purchase this album with that anticipation because you will be disappointed. The last track, is "kladeiscope," I think is pretty weak to end off the album. We need something of energy, a "we are alive", I'm hoping that this isn't the start of a sour progression towards mainstream for paul...

Frankly, this album is just disappointing and PVD fans have waited 3 years for this?

Edit: So writing about this album 4 years later. God, it's been a helluva long time. Since then, Paul has released Politics of Dancing 2 and In Between. While I haven't really had a chance to listen to In Between, POD 2 was a musical disappointment relative to the first POD. 4 years ago, PVD fans were hoping that Reflections was a mere blemish in an otherwise noteworthy career. As it turns out, it was a good sign of the things to come. Although thankfully PVD hasn't turned out a hip hop song since Reflections, some of that magic we saw (especially with 7 Ways) seems to have gone.


PvD could've done better, but an A for effort anyway.   February 9, 2004
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

I just bought this CD, and I can tell you that I've heard better stuff from him than this. It's certainly not the best from PvD, but at least he's trying to experiment with other stuff without going all out like Oakenfold (what happened to him?).

The Good:
-Crush, Reflections, Nothing but You, and Connected.
-It's sure better than what ATB and/or Oakenfold are cranking out right now.

The Bad:
-The bass on "Time of Our Lives" is not that great. The club mix is way better.
-Paul's vocals ("That's Life")
-Too many vocals.

The Ugly:
-"Like a friend." I understand his purpose in making this one, but find another vocalist, please.

Conclusion:
-If you want to buy it, you won't be completely disappointed. But I'd recommend "Global," "Politics of Dancing," or "Out There and Back" instead.


Best album from Paul Van Dyk !   April 26, 2004
A. Chopra
18 out of 23 found this review helpful

Paul Van Dyk has again proved that he is Master in electronic music. Some people consider his music as Trance but that is not right. In his own words - "I don't create `Trance Music', I really don't like to give my music a name, I don't like to categorize it. If I had to, I'd call it `Electronic Dance Music'. For me, this is my language." (Extract from www.paulvandyk.com)

So therefore, we should not rate this album (Reflections) as " not so good Trance album"! This is actually something you can listen to doing anything. Though it is not a hardcore club album but it does contain certain beats that can move your body. This one is a lot different from `Politics Of Dancing', and `Out There And Back'.

Personally I like this album a lot and believe me this one is much better than his earlier albums. After listening to this album you will realize how PVD had improved a lot in his skills since "45 RPM".

Tracks you will definitely like in this album:
1. Kaleidoscope
2. Homage
3. Crush
4. Nothing But You
5. Spellbound

I still believe he one of the best music producers around and I have this album with me as a proof.

If you like PVD, I don't have to tell you to buy it. But even if you don't, try this one out... cause it's different!


he's lost his way   November 8, 2003
dOUGAL (Tasmania)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

Ok i'll cut to the case,speaking as a true PvD fan i am devasted i have been jilted by a man who i felt would never let all us fans downhalf this CD is classic euphoric PvD while the other half is in all honesty a disaster in experimintation with such horrors as 'Knowledge' showing why PvD should stick to what he is good at. As well as this the album is full of short radio length tracks like 'Time of our lives'and 'Homage' which scream out CHEESEY!. My recomendation is that if u buy this CD burn the tracks you like to MP3 and use an MP3 mixer like Traktor or PCDJ and make ur own mix of the album while adding in a couple of other PvD songs from his B sides then use the original copy of Refelctions as a frisbee or a coffee coaster which is all the album as whole is good for