Drive

I have liked Crystal Methods work for a while now. This is only OK by compared to their previous albums.

I was a bit disappointed in this album, but I think when I bought it, I didn't know it was a tie-in with Nike for a specific beats-per-minute pace designed specifically for runners. Maybe I ought to go take it for a run, but honestly, I was expecting something more along the lines of the amazingly excellent Vegas album. This was not nearly as good as Vegas. I'm kind of a novice in the electronic/techno music realm, so take that into consideration when reading this, but I've listened to enough over the years and have amassed enough electronic cd's, both albums by a single artist as well as compilations, to know what to expect from different groups who've made a reputation for having a certain type of sound. This wasn't quite what I was looking for from Crystal Method. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very inspiring, either. Just boring. Oh, and I won't even get started on how they butchered The Doors, that was disturbing. In future, I hope that Crystal Method leaves those "vs." songs off of their regular albums, because they are terrible. It's not a remix, it's not a cover, it's basically just a song being chopped up. Does anyone really enjoy that?

This alblum is the result of a colaboration between TCM and Nike. Nike asked them to arrange the songs so that they would provide a good pace and mood for a runner on a roughly 45 min run. The songs are arranged accordingly and are cross-faded so there are no gaps in between, it's a seemless block of 45 min techno. As a bonus, we also get the 4 original songs at the end of the running/ jogging mix.

The style is that of a typical Crytal Method alblum but only very slightly more subdued. They generally put at least one track with a fast pace and a heavy guitar riff on the cd, but this one comes in without any such track. That certainly doesn't take anything away from the CD though, it is great! I would have spent the $10 just for songs 3,6, and 8. This is a must have for Crystal Method fans and great music for running or driving (as the name suggests!)