Track Listing

1. Madskillz-Mic Chekka
2. Never Gonna Come Back Down
3. Dreaming
4. Shame
5. Movement in Still Life
6. Satellite
7. Godspeed
8. Running Down Way Up
9. Mercury and Solace
10. Smartbomb
11. Love on Haight Street

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16579 in Music
• Released on: 2006-01-02
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds

From Amazon.com
BT's velvety take on trance techno, typified by unusually light, liquidy melodies, smooth edges, and roomy breakbeats, was first noticed in the U.S. via his exceptional remix of Tori Amos's "Blue Skies." That song and other like-minded U.K. singles that preceded it gave rise to yet another variation of trance music dubbed "dream-trance." It's an apt label. BT's dense, yet straightforward compositions and benevolent mixes incorporate themes of escape and rebirth, with songs that imprint themselves on your subconscious. On Movement in Still Life, never before available in the States, BT breaks through the wall that separates techno from out-and-out pop, incorporating verse-chorus-verse song structures. Furthermore, he allows his dreamy mix to wander into Fatboy Slim-esque big beat territory. As a DJ, he's clearly capable of branching into different styles. The smart house and choppy beats of the title track make that apparent. He's still playing with needles and wax on that track, though; "Shame," with its acoustic drum/guitar sound and accessible pop vocal track sounds ready-made for alt-rock radio, with only touches around the edges that betray the presence of a DJ. Other songs, such as "Running Down the Way," blend the two styles more evenly, utilizing a pop song format but keeping it clubby and decidedly nonacoustic. Given BT's U.S. success with the pop/club mix of "Blue Skies," as well as the accessible, anthemic style he tends to favor as a DJ, the record makes perfect stylistic sense. He'd be wise, however, to keep dream-trance close to his turntables, as the perfection of such tracks as "Dreaming" and "Godspeed" make it blissfully obvious that he has utterly mastered the sound. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

In Retrospect: BT's Best Album
Nearly a decade ago (and under a different Amazon alias) I gave this North American version of "Movement in Still Life" a review filled with backhanded compliments. To save you all some scrolling, here is a clip from that earlier review:

"A lot of people have probably wondered why Brian Transeau would bestow the truncated version of "Movement In Still Life" on the record-buying public of his native land... I enjoy the North American release, but everytime I play it, I get the nagging sensation that I'm hearing only 3/4 of an actual album; an album that has been ripped apart and glued back together again... I can't help but think that the decision to split his latest album into two dissimilar releases may have been a mistake."

Portentous indeed!

Now, many years later, I'll add some perspective: yes, this album is an edit of a UK original, yes some tracks were dropped in favour of newer ones and, yes, the smooth segueing between those (somewhat shortened) tracks was omitted entirely. However, nine years after release, no other disc in my (rather sizable) collection gets as much play as this one (not even my copy of the UK version).
Why?
Well, because the North American version of "Movement in Still Life" just plain rocks!
Firstly, there are so many genres represented on this album that it never gets old or stale, largely due to the songs added to the North American edition ("Smartbomb," "Love on Haight Street," "Never Gonna Come Back Down," "Shame"). Secondly, removing the more Electronically-oriented tracks from the North American edition ensured that it would not, in my opinion, age as drastically as its overseas counterpart. Thirdly, shortening several of the tracks ("Dreaming," "Godspeed," "Running Down the Way Up") added much-needed trimming of what I consider to be extraneous twaddle and filler that bloated the original versions. I mean, really: did "Dreaming" NEED to be 9:16 minutes long in the original version? Some may argue the point, but I vastly prefer it in the lean-and-sleek 5:20 edit presented here!

Ultimately, I consider "Movement in Still Life" -- both versions -- to be BT's best work (not including "This Binary Universe" since that is more of a composed sonic suite than a traditional long-player). It's a fun little green gem filled with life, joyful discoveries and wonderful surprises. Amazingly, the production STILL sounds state-of-the art (and much less bombastic than its follow-up, "Emotional Technology").

Go ahead and order it. Amazon are reliable and they'll have it to you within a week or two.

Enjoy!

The man's clearly got ADHD, but maybe that's a good thing.
BT's third album, Movement In Still Life (MISL), is about as cohesive and flowing as... well, it's just not cohesive and flowing. Almost every track seems to have its own flavor, its own style, as if they had been pulled from different CDs themselves and thrown together by somebody with a CD burner. There's no intermixing between them, there's no real "sonic path," or building of the album (ie, soft songs at first, then faster songs following). However, MISL is probably one of the finest albums every produced from any genre of music.

Breaks, trance, rock, pop... Everything comes together on this album. Each track, as mentioned before, has its own particular twist on a genre. Madskillz-Mic Chekka opens the album with a slick nu-breaks feel. Godspeed fills in for the classic Flaming June, confirming BT's place in trance / house history. Never Gonna Come Back Down, featuring Soul Coughing's M. Doughty, takes a pop-ish spin on BT's talents, while Shame and Satellite offer more of a soft rock / ballad one. Smartbomb drops BT into big beat territory, offering respectable competition for the likes of Fluke and The Crystal Method. Love On Haight Street offers the vocal talents of underground MCs Rasco and Fifty Grand. While most of BT's fans are probably club-happy trancers who'll detest the track, it isn't without its own good qualities, and shows more creativity in one song than than all of hip-hop has seen in years. The album really hits its apex with Dreaming, which combines one of Kirsty Hawkshaw's best vocal performances with the perfect synthesis of nu-breaks and trance.

Most die-hard electronica fans will prefer the import version of MISL. With great tracks like Fibonacci Sequence, Giving Up The Ghost, the BT and Paul van Dyk joint-collaboration Namistai (all three are sadly missing from the US version), it's a more "classic BT" sounding edition, with a more electronic and subtly mixed feel (though it also has the truly awful track Ride, but I suppose nothing is perfect). All that said, the US version of MISL still remains a fantastic album. It's less genre focused than the import version, but is arguably a more ambitious and creative effort. I personally own both, and find both possessing of their own merits. If you can, get both. If you can't and are more electronically inclined, get the import version. If you prefer a bit more diversity, however, and are interested in seeing one artist's vision of what several genres should sound like, then don't hesitate to pick up this classic disc.

Get the Import version
I agree with other reviewers of this CD. I happen to have bought this US re-release prior to getting the Import version (it's only the 1 CD German Import, not the 2 CD UK version which I'm sure is even better!). The US version has 3 weaknesses compared to the Import version: 1. The exclusion of excellent tracks like Namistai, Giving Up The Ghost, and Ride, to be replaced by weaker tracks like Smartbomb. 2. This album's track order is anything but smooth. BT's albums are normally a journey in itself from start to end, he blends tracks so seamlessly it's scary. But this version mish-mashed the tracks such that listening it from start to finish is not as enjoyable. 3. The Import version has longer, better mixes of the best tracks on the CD (Mercury and Solace, and especially Godspeed).

Bottomline is, get this if you must have every BT release, or don't mind having an 'unmixed' collection of his singles. Otherwise, I strongly suggest you get the Import version, the higher price is more than justified by the overall quality of the CD. Heck, even the Import cover and sleeve notes are better!