Various – Goa-Head Vol.2

Considering when this compilation was released, the track selection is quite odd. There are a couple of tracks which are not Goa but just regular Trance. Let’s start with disc 1: Deliverance, Save The Love, All Because of You and Mauve Zone are a bit off-style. These four tracks are not bad, especially All Because of You is a known classic with that dreamy Platipus touch, but these tracks could have been left out as there was a mountain of tracks which Leguan could have had licensed back then. The flow on the disc is not bad though, probably because there are no real tough tracks on this side.

The compilation really kicks off on disc 2. From the eternal Doof classic, to Total Eclipse, to MFG, to Phreaky, to Cosmosis and Subcouds it’s one hell of an old-school trip. Still, in my eyes the appearance of Pablo Gargano is quite bizarre, don’t think this HI NRG pioneer has ever produced Goa Trance. But this track fits nicely in between the old-school heavyweights mentioned above, probably because it’s also very energetic and melodic like a lot of stuff released from EVE Records in that era.

But the weirdest thing on this CD is track 8 – how can you put a track by Children of Dub in between Cosmosis and Subcouds ?! This track is more on the Progressive side and the sound quality seems poor(er) for some reason. The dynamics of this track are completely different and ruins what would have almost been a perfect flow. Adding to that, had this track been left out the last track on this CD would have fit in full. Vitan is an incredibly melodic and emotional track and is very much unknown since it appeared only on 4 CD’s, and on this compilation is faded after 5 minutes. This track is over 10 minutes long and the best part of it is the second half. Luckily you can get it in full length on another superb compilation, Pulse 2, which is far better than Goa-Head 2.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find this compilation a solid one and would still recommend it to the casual listener, but some tracks could have definitely been left out. There was no need to put 11 tracks on each disc at the expense of sacrificing 5 minutes of a ten minute track!