Jam and Spoon
Jam and Spoon is the combined talents of German dance wizards Jam El Mar (Rolf Ellmer; a classically trained musician, producer and remixer, and has also worked with Dance 2 Trance) and Mark Spoon (Markus Löffel; a DJ from Frankfurt). They've been combining popular dance music with club hits for many years, remixing artists such as Paul Oakenfold and Age of Love. Throughout their three albums (Tripomatic Fairytales 2001, Tripomatic Fairytales 2002 & Kaleidoscope) American born Plavka features as vocalist.
Album: Tripomatic Fairytales 2001 (ltd. ed. vinyl)
[E2 64230]
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The Tripomatic Fairytales 2001 album is an all time classic trance oldie (1993). It opens with the flamenco favourite Right in the Night, which is in its cheesy vocal format here, although far superior mixes feature on the 12"/CD single. Follow Me! is a wicked bonus track that only features on this limited edition vinyl album, although I'm sure its out there on a few compilations somewhere. It's a long build up trancer with repetitive loops that layer on top of each other. The track is in two halves - the first is slower with a melodic hands in the air bit before the second half stomps in, which is a driving acidic trancer, with an uplifting piano melody. The original single version of Odysee to Anyoona flies by, after which we get The Tribe, which is anything but a bonus track. It's a very weak trancey affair that may as well have been left of the album. Neurotrance Adventure is a fast pace layered simple trance track. It's not amazing, but quite effective, with a child speaking a sample of "I love you" popping up every now and then and a nice synth line adding a spacey laid back feel to the track. Paradise Garage is very repetitive, although had potential until extremely naff vocals cut in and ruined it. Stella, the so-called trance classic, in my opinion has got to the old sounding stage, i.e. rather drab and tiring. The occasional Latin guitar spices the track up a little, but otherwise its a sad case of "hold me, love me" spoken lyrics in a Lil Louie/Madonna Erotica sexual style all dressed up in trance. No thanks. The only other track worth a mention is Find Me. It's a fab track, but yet again its a shame about the cheesy lyrics. So, if cheese is your game then you'll love this album. The best track unfortunately is the bonus track Follow Me, which won't feature on the CD version of the album - isn't that just typical.
Single: Stella
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A classic dance track ('92) this one, with additional remixes from Moby on tracks two and three. Like I mention in the Tripomatic Fairytales 2001 album review though, it all sounds a little old nowadays.
Single: Right in the Night (fall in love with music)
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'93 hit single from the Tripomatic Fairytales 2001 album, featuring Plavka on vocals. Flamenco Spanish guitars strum out this trance classic.
CDS: Right in the Night (Fall in Love With Music)
[659855 2]
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Released 1993 on Dance Pool. Surprise! You can get the Follow Me! track on this single, as well. Thanks to Brian Harris for this information.
Album: Kaleidoscope
[487262 2]
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Released in '97 on Sony Music. This album is a mixed bag - various styles of dance are covered, along with a bit of heavy buzz guitar in the final two tracks. Plavka features heavily in this album (tracks 1,2,3,5,8,& 12), giving an overall vocal theme. To my knowledge, there are three singles from this album: El Baile, Kaleidoscope Skies and Don't Call it Love.
Single: El Baile
Sony Music [664942 6]
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Released 1997 on Sony Music Entertainment. A late '97 release from the album Kaleidoscope. The Back in the club mix is a current Whirl-Y-Gig favourite, with more flamenco Spanish style guitars and driving bouncy, trancey beats with elements of folk music blended in for good measure (Spanish vocals by Carlos Sanchez). Wicked stuff! Over on the second disc Ramon Zenker (one half of the German duo Hardfloor) provides an excellent remix, keeping with the folky/flamenco style of the Back in the club mix. However, the best mix is that which features on the album, since this has more drive to it. The 12" of this track only features tracks 3 & 4 from the first CD single.
Single: Be Angeled
[74321 850922]
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Released 6/01 on BMG Ariola Media GmbH/Modul. Written by Jam El Mar and Mark Spoon. Lyrics by Anne Aalrust and Nosie Katzmann. Produced by Jam and Spoon. Track 2, 4 & 5 remixed by Paul Van Dyk. Track 6 remixed by Wackside. Is this Jam and Spoons lowest moment? This single offers a dreadful selection of mixes and remixes, especially those from Paul Van Dyk - what was he thinking of? Avoid like the plague. Apparently this is the title track from a forthcoming film of the same name, featuring Jam and Spoon at the Berlin Love Parade. More info can be found at www.be-angeled.com.
For more info see the Jam And Spoon Web Site
