One of the most famous record of the “golden age” of trance music turns a quarter-century old and we celebrate it
Time flies, as we know: but this does not mean that every single year is not rich in something to tell: trance music is now beyond its first thirty years of life and has been making hearts beat for at least two generations.
This musical genre, which many identify, rightly so, not only as a musical genre but as “a feeling”, has always had many potential indicators that foreshadowed the constancy of success of many DJs and producers, who over time have produced unforgettable anthems: among these iconic records, this 2024 reminds us that Communication by Armin van Buuren turns 25.
The track debuts on July 19th 1999 on Cyber Records label, previously composed during April 1999 between the rooms of parent’s home in Leiden, without knowing the enormous guarantee of success it will have in the years to come, especially in live performances. It becomes a “manifesto” of trance music at the beginning of the new millennium in which trance dominates the electronic music scene. A further affirmation on the trance scene will still be had in the years to come.
Because despite an immense repertoire like that of Armin van Buuren, made of unattainable masterpieces and of every trance and non-trance style, Communication has forcefully dictated its law by proposing itself as a track always present during the end of the live sets and creating an unbreakable bond between the nostalgic listener and the younger listeners who find in this track an always exciting music gem.
Armin in 1999 was only 22 years old and his name was already circulating on the Dutch dance floors before, especially for a certain Blue Fear, released in 1997, another trance record that later became legendary: Communication was released as “Armin”, simply; in one of the golden years of trance, in which colleagues Ferry Corsten, Paul van Dyk and Tiësto were in their ascending phase in the world of electronic music, the hypnotic and “sharp” sound of Communication found wide consensus and not only in the trance music scene, it’s in fact the first single by Armin van Buuren to go beyond the Dutch borders and become a commercial success: it reached the Top20 of the UK Single chart (#18) and it’s one of the first times that a purely trance instrumental track reaches so high in a music market as popular as the UK single chart.
The first Communication releases of 1999 included the remix by Vincent de Moor: in the same year, it was Armin who remixed one of his track, Shamu, producing an amazing work.
The following year, with Communication Part II, Armin suggests a remake of the track, but it’s in 2007, with Communication Part 3 that Armin forcefully relaunches the track, with an effective version that does not distort the original sound from 1999: It’s probably the most played version ever.
In 2013 a series of captivating reworks, by James Dymond, John Askew, Tomas Heredia and Faruk Sabanci make up the EP of Communication Part 3 Remixes; the following year, 2014, instead mister Paul Oakenfold supports the track with his Full On Fluoro Remix and in 2016, one of the most played versions in the latest Armin Only, that of David Gravell.
“Music is my communication !”: this is how Armin embraces the crowd in 2016’s The Best Of Armin Only and indeed those piano notes and that impressive chorus motif both fly very high and spread inside each and every trance music lovers to make clear the message that the king of trance has always wanted to … communicate.
Communication will then be part of Armin van Buuren’s first studio album, 76, released in 2003, a work that also contains other of his early hits, like Burned With Desire with Justine Suissa, huge vocal trance hit of 2004 thanks to the rework of famous Armin van Buuren’s alias, Rising Stars: but this is another beautiful story of his legendary carrer.
To celebrate 25 years of the first release of Communication, Armin van Buuren has announced a competition: the chance to win a copy of signed Communication Part 1-3 vinyl : just click here and register with your email address by September 5th: Armada Classics Mailing List To Win.