Parade of the Athletes (Unmixed)

A dance DJ at the opening ceremony of the Olympics is something new and risky, but DJ Tiësto pulled it off at the 2004 summer games in Greece. Parade of the Athletes is the soundtrack, not the whole soundtrack, but a collection so well put together you'd think the music was always supposed to flow like this. Tiësto calls on the sounds of the old, electronic greats more than ever before. The influences of Jean Michel Jarre, Giorgio Moroder, and Tangerine Dream at their most dramatic are obvious. Tiësto adds his own unique style of tension building and grandeur, but he doesn't play it safe. There's a surprising amount of dissonance in the slick trance here, always used to pump up the drama. Almost entirely instrumental and single-free, Parade of the Athletes displays that DJ Tiësto is at his best when he's soundtracking. His previous albums suffered when they tried to hard, but here he tempers the ambition with respect and ends up with a fantastic record. It's a unique excursion for the DJ and not representative of his normal work, but it's also a giant step forward for the man and a great album to boot.