A State Of Trance Year Mix 2005 - Mixed By Armin van Buuren

Martin van Zeelandt / TCD
6 days ago
5 min read

The year is 2005, and I'm still living in the Netherlands. And I'm a massive music freak. My life changed during the early 90s, but during the 00s did my music collection grow in size. I got a steady job and made a decent wage, and my money was spent in my local CD store. Back in the day we had three in Heerlen, Limburg. It would either be a Van Leest CD store, a Free Record Store (but the records were never free, the bastards!) or the one that still remains, Satisfaction Records. Boy, did they make enough money out of me.

Not sure in which store I found this CD, but it was one of these three. Hell, it could have even been at a petrol station (we did sell CDs back in the day, wasn't very successful). But regardless where I purchase this, it has remained in my head ever since. One of those Trance albums I've listened to ferociously over the years. And even though my perception on megamixes has changed over the years, in 2005 I was all over this. 82 records on two CDs. Couldn't go wrong, right?

And it was mixed by Armin van Buuren. Anything Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, or Armin van Buuren was bought by myself. And even though I've heard of Armin before, this was my first CD. And what a glorious introduction into the 'A State Of Trance' world. I've not stopped listening to this since the day I purchased it, as the songs are so damn good. 2005 was a great year for Trance music, that's for sure.

Remember, back in the 90s, megamixes were everywhere, and my views on them were great. Why hear a song which takes 7 minutes, when I can enjoy the highlights in 40 seconds? My view has changed over the years, and I'd rather listen to a full on extended song instead of a megamix. But I was still young and inexperienced. I'm now old, and inexperienced. And don't really know what I'm talking about.

CD 1

Intro - What The Bleep Do We Know?
Yilmaz Altanhan - Eighties (Ozgur Can Mix)
Deepsky feat Jes - Ghost
David West feat Andreas Hermansson - Larry Mountain 54
Deep Dish - Say Hello
Mode Hookers - Breathe
The Drill - The Drill
Armin van Buuren with Gabriel & Dresden - Zocalo
D:Fuse feat Jess - Living The Dream (Matthew Dekay Remix)
Niklas Harding presents Arcane - Ice Beach
Armin van Buuren feat Nadia Ali - Who's Watching (Tone Depth Remix)
Andy Moor - Halcyon
Rachael Starr - Till There Was You (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Perasma - Swing 2 Harmony (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Markus Schulz & Departure with Gabriel & Dresden - Without You Near (Gabriel & Dresden Remix)
Above & Beyond vs Andy Moor - Air For Life
Gabriel & Dresden feat Molly - Tracking Treasure Down
Mike Foyle vs Signalrunners - Love Theme Dusk
Paul van Dyk feat Wayne Jackson - The Other Side (Deep Dish Other Than This Side Remix)
Ava Mea - In The End
Max Graham - Does She Know Yet
Funabashi - Daylight
Way Out West - Don't Forget Me (Way Out West's Dust Biter Mix)
Lucas & Beltram - Trust Me (Ava Mea Remix)
Markus Schulz feat Anita Kelsey - First Time
Luminary - Wasting (Andy Moor Remix)
M.I.D.O.R. vs Linn - Breathing (Prgz Mix)
Perry O'Neil - Numb
RR Workshop - Electrolux
Mark Otten - So Serene (Menno De Jong's Heading South Dub Mix)
Carrie Skipper - Time Goes By
Goldenscan - Halcyon
Leon Bolier presents Surpresa - Back In The Days
Primer - Everlast
Jonas Steur - Silent Waves
The Thrillseekers feat Gina Dootsen - By Your Side
Galen Behr - Time Will Tell
Way Out West - Killa (Orkidea Remix)
Airbase - Escape
Ronski Speed with Stoneface & Terminal - Incognition
Dogzilla - Without You (Dub)
Marco V - False Light
Menno De Jong - Tundra (Fierce Dub)
Menno De Jong presents Sayla - Majestic (Arizona vs Passiva Remix)

CD 2

Thomas Bronzwaer - Close Horizon
Selu Vibra - Stargazing
Armin van Buuren feat Jan Vayne - Serenity
Scott Mac - Damage 02 (Mac Zimms Remix)
Ernesto vs Bastian - Dark Side Of The Moon
Frost & Maron - Mute Your Mind
Kuffdam & Plant - Summerdream (Paul van Dyk Remix)
Jonas Steur - Castamara
Apogee - Tribal Affair
Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight
Will Holland - Timeless (Deepwide Remix)
Armin van Buuren - Shivers (Alex M.O.R.P.H.'s Red Light Dub)
Marcel Woods - Advanced
Inertia - The Chamber
Randy Katana - Play It Loud
Bart Claessen - Playmo (1st Play Mix)
Purple Haze - Adrenaline
Interstate - Remember Me (Terry Bones Remix)
Sunny Lax - P.U.M.A.
Baltes & Dyloot presents Deep Voices - A New Beginning (Astuni & Le Saux Remix)
Mark Norman - Touch Down
Mr. Sam - Lyteo (Rank 1 Remix)
Yahel feat A Force - Behind Silence
B&W - Mistaken
Fred Baker vs Nyram - Confirmation
Jan Loper - I Can't Stop (Dymanic Sense Remix)
Ferry Corsten feat Simon Le Bon - Fire (Ron Van Den Beuken Remix)
Ron Van Den Beuken - Sunset
Goldenscan - Only With You
Duderstadt - Mahananda
First State - First State
Luminary - Amsterdam (Smith & Pledger Remix)
Kamil Polner - Heart Of Sun
Hammer & Bennett - Language (Santiago Nino Dub Tech Mix)
Marco V - More Than A Life Away
Rank 1 - Top Gear
L.S.G. - Netherworld (Oliver Prime Remix)
Outro - The Trick To Life

So, this brings back memories! 21 years ago did this album release, and boy, it did not disappoint. What a wonderful megamix, and the tracks are insanely good. As said before, 2005 was a great year, and this shows why. Armin has selected an insane amount of records, mixed them all together, and voila: a State Of Trance Year Mix. The first of many.

Obviously as a young lad, I would devour this, and thought megamixes were the dogs bollocks. Now I'm 21 years older and a tad wiser, and I still love megamixes, but I have to acknowledge that some snippets of songs weren't long enough. It makes me crave for more, I want to hear the full version of the song. So guess what I'll be doing after this review? That's right, listen to all of these, full versions only.

It's a solid mix, and I truly admired it. Obviously now comes the time which is the most critical moment of the whole review: favourite record. And to make it slightly easier for me, I have split it into two: one from each disc. So let's start with the first one.

Primer with 'Everlast'. Big anthem. Simple answer. But now the second disc. And I have to give it to one of my all time favourite Trance anthems, which is 'Close Horizon' by Thomas Bronzwaer. Fucking epic track, and not many tracks come close to the beauty that is this record.

Only a handful of Armin van Buuren's CDs would follow, but this would remain my favourite CD of his. And one of 2005's finest CDs. If you are ASOT fan, which year mix is your favourite, and why? And if you owned this specific edition (the 2005 edition), which tracks were your favourite ones, and why? Leave a comment below!

Can't go back in time, mankind isn't yet clever enough to figure that out. But at least we've got physical and digital versions of great CDs, which immediately takes us back to the long lost years!