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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best happy hardcore album, 11 April 2009
I'm disagree with other review because in Hardcore Nation 2009 you don't have good melodies.
Clubland Xtreme Hardcore 5 is better than Bonkers (excepted vol.12) and all other hardcore compilations for all good melodies (in the 3 cds)
Buy it and play immediately CD2 BREEZE Tracks 3-4-5-13-16-19 ; CD3 HIXXY Tracks 1-6-9 (in memory of his brother I think)-12-16(album best track)-17 ; CD1 DARREN STYLES Tracks 2-3-6-9-14(2nd album best track)-17.
Sorry for my english I'm French but Thank you England to give me Happy Hardcore music !
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not so extreme , 16 Jan 2009
A tad disappointed with this one after the previous versions, esp Hixxy whose mixes are of really depressing songs. Buy Hardcore Nation 2009 instead its the rush you're after!
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A guilty pleasure for the hardcore fan, 21 Dec 2008
Note: I've decided to rewrite my CXH5 review because the old one had a few inaccuracies and I hadn't listened to it enough at that point. So here we go.
Welcome to the fifth installment of Universal's infamous Clubland X-Treme Hardcore series. Hated by many for being a bad representation of hardcore and for commercialising the scene, does number 5 do anything to persuade them?
If you hated the first 4 albums for being too cheesy, there's honestly no point in reading any further (or even staying on this page) because it's just as bad as ever in that respect. The usual mixes from Styles and Mark Breeze have returned once more along with a mix from Hixxy (yes, this is the first time the third disc has been mixed which will probably annoy as many people as it will please). For those who've been hiding under a rock for the last few years or have only just gotten into the harder side of dance music, the Clubland X-Treme Hardcore series focuses almost exclusively on vocal happy-to-the-extreme hardcore. Many "true" hardcore fans shun the series and the style of hardcore it represents, often referring to it as "sped up pop music." But, as I've said before, I lack the cynicism of many of my fellow fans and when it's done well, I love a bit of cheesy hardcore so I have no bias when it comes to looking at this compilation.
The first disc was "mixed" by Darren Styles, as you've come to expect. I use "mix" in the loosest possible sense of the word because the transition on most of these songs is basically non-existent. They've just been beatmatched and then run straight into each other with no fade whatsoever. I wouldn't mind this if they didn't call it a mix on the front but as it is, it's false advertising. Okay, since I'm not huge on mixing anyway, I'll move on and look at the tracklist. It starts with the hardcore mix of the rather tired "Discolights" which was hardly anything special even when it first came out. With the exception of "Horns Of Jericho", "1,2,3,4" and Dougal & Gammer's "First Serve" (incorrectly labeled as DJ Fear), the next 17 tracks are exactly what you'd expect from Styles. "Horns Of Jericho" is decidedly average (especially considering it came from the legendary Dougal & Gammer) but "1,2,3,4" is an enjoyable slice of harder hardcore. My favourite track on the disc is probably "The Heartache" although I also enjoyed "Why Does My Heart", "All I Wanna Do" and the remix of Jamie Ritmen's epic "Touch The Sun." I got a few smiles out of this lot and that, to me, is a fairly successful disc. Just a shame about the mixing.
The second disc was "mixed" by Breeze but unfortunately it suffers from much the same lack of actual mixing as the first. The tracklist is just as cheesy as Styles' (I've often heard people say that Breeze's mixes are even cheesier). The Sugababes remix probably shouldn't have been added; it's not particularly great and it just adds fuel to the fire of the "popcore" argument. The highlight for me was the 2008 remix of the Styles & Breeze classic "Future Set", that melody is surely one of the best we've ever seen in hardcore and it always sends a shiver down my spine. Other enjoyable tracks included the "Heart 2 Heart" remix and the remix of E-Type's "True Believer", both examples of how hardcore remixes of popular trance tunes can actually work quite well. I can't help but feel Dougal & Gammer's version of "Cry For You" should have been used instead of the mediocre one on offer here. I also have to ask why the one Dougal & Gammer track that *was* used ("Every Heartbeart") was credited to an alias (Club Generation) instead but all in all, another pretty good disc. Plenty of stupid grins all round then.
Finally onto Hixxy's disc which, for the first time, was supposedly mixed but after hearing Darren's idea of "mixing", I didn't hold out much hope. In the past, people have always praised Hixxy's discs the most. Even if they didn't enjoy the first two, they usually found redemption with Mr Hicks. I've personally never really thought of them as any better or any worse than the others but everyone's opinion counts. At least this disc has the occasional noticeable transition in the mixing department. It starts off with a few mediocre tracks including the live favourite "No 1" (aka the "oh oh oh oh oh oh" song) and gets better with "Face In The Crowd" which I found fairly enjoyable. Hixxy & Technikore's "MDMA" and Unknown's "Never Ever" remix are the only other tracks I would've particularly missed had I not heard this mix though. I liked the use of the Full Metal Jacket sample in "Get Up On Your Feet 1,2,3" as a break from the otherwise ceaseless high-pitched female vocals, just a shame it wasn't anything special as a whole. I think Mikk's I Kissed A Girl remix (under his bootleg alias Emarr Gee) on Amplified Digital should have been used instead of the one on here, it's much better. Anyway, a pretty mediocre collection here. Despite what people say about Hixxy's discs, this one would have to be at the bottom of my CXH5 pile.
If you're looking for a gentle introduction to the genre or you just like your hardcore happy and euphoric, look no further, I guess. I don't know about the "X-Treme" in the name though. And the lazy mixing is probably unforgivable considering this is the biggest selling hardcore compilation series out there.
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