Sasha Involver 3

Well, I've given this plenty of listens and to be quite honest I've come to the conclusion it's a shocker. In all the 20 years I have been listening to this music I have never heard such a thing. The mixing is appalling/non existent (my dog could mix better than what's on here), the tunes are insipid and shallow and the general quality of the production is just simply poor: played through my speakers the percussion is so dominant it stops you penetrating the music behind - very irritating; and through the headphones, the shallowness of the production just gives you a headache - not an easy listen.

Like another commentator has pointed out, I cannot believe Sasha has mixed or put his name to this. There must either be something very wrong behind the scenes or Sasha has become so tired with electronic music production that he really doesn't care what sort of nonsense he releases anymore. I suppose it begs the question, will this be his last ever release, because going by this contemptuous effort he sounds very tired. If reputation comes before monetary gain, then 3 years to produce this piece of mediocrity seems a lot of wasted effort for nothing.

I give it 2* to replace the review that was mysteriously changed from 2* to 5* with a completely conflicting overview - hmmm, dodgy! In fact I would take all of the 5* reviews with a pinch of salt. Please see the first review posted way before it's release for some potential insights. Sasha/MOS you might fool some of your casual fans, but by the look of it, the fans that have been listening to you for past 2 decades are not convinced - in fact it's a bit of an insult. Never mind, you have my £9 now, I suppose - Enjoy.

I have left this review until 4 days after release to give the album enough time to sink in, I have now listened to it in it's entirety approximately 15 times so I feel I am in a decent position to offer a balanced and educated view on the record. I have been listening to Sasha since the TDK days and go and see him play live regularly so I'm not new to electronic music or Sasha for that matter.

There is something strange about Involver 3 and it's taken me a few days to figure it out but I've now realised that it's an unfinished project. I base this opinion primarily on the overall flow of the album and the mixing. Sasha does not release many mix albums and when he does release studio albums they are usually phenomenal in flow and mixing execution, this album bears all the hallmarks of Sasha's latest sound but the transitions from track to track are appalling at times. Take for example the transition from the Ananda project into the Zabiela track!!!.... Give me a break! Sasha does not mix like that! It's lazy, it's choppy, I thought my CD had jumped when i first heard it.... Again if you listen to the penultimate track mix into the Keep Shelly in Athens track... Choppy, lazy and completely un-Sasha like. He doesn't mix like that live so why would he do it on a studio album... My theory is that he was rushed into releasing this by the label or he forgot to listen to the final version all the way through because he was sick of working on it... Another reviewer suggested that the absence of Charlie May had a detrimental effect on the album, I can only think an absence from Sasha himself from the studio caused the mixing to be so poor because he should be embarassed to put his name to it when we know he can do so much better....

I think many of the tracks are fantastic and enjoy listening to the album, would concur with the reviewer who mentioned the repetitive drum patterns though. There are some good ideas but I did expect more. Sasha said in his interview about this album that he struggled to get over the line with this one and it shows.... he also mentions that he doesn't want to listen back to it in it's entirety for a while either... Sorry to say but you should have give it a thorough listen through before it was released...

3 out of 5 for me, the music is great, love the remixes but the flow and mixing has not been given the appropriate attention. I keep thinking that one of teh studio engineers hashed it together to meet the deadline but maybe I expect too much. Judge for yourself guys

Just to make clear that the music is really good and would be easily 5 stars if not for the above issues and I would also encourage people to buy the album its definitely worth the price its just that it could have been so much more. So e of the reviewers on here are giving the album 5 stars whilst admitting that the mixing is a bit dodgy at times.... Yes thats right a studio "MIX" album with dodgy mixing, Sasha's philosophy on the involver series is that he can take tracks recreate/remix them so he can mix them at a deeper level but he has not done that on this record its as simple as that

I love sasha usualy, but this involver album didn't meet my expectations. Involver 2 was such a deep and dark and proggy album that got me expexcting for something similar. Involver 3 is more like candy album, well made, but much more commercial and, a little cheesy too...hopefully Sasha will return strong with something more "involved'' for the fourth installment.