Once more I’ve been handed the torch of reviewing a dance CD and once more I haven’t been disappointed.  The most obvious difference between every CD of a typical artist’s release and Paul Van Dyk’s latest offering is evident in the title:  “Global: PVD/CD/DVD”.  That’s right: Van Dyk has again come up with something new and innovative, and this time I’m not just talking about his music.

The album itself is a collection of “best of” selections from the discography of Van Dyk chosen by the man himself and collated into a non-stop trance experience.  The beats are infectious, the keyboard progressions almost other-worldly, and the vocals present on a few tracks make you wonder why every song doesn’t feature St. Etienne belting her hauntingly subtle voice.  And as much as the music itself would warrant an excellent review of this release, it’s the other disc included that makes this a truly unique experience.

The second disc is actually a DVD and it is filled with rapid-fire compilation of concert footage from Van Dyk’s world tour of “Global”.  It is a rare thing for an artist to actually give a visual example of his music.  As can be imagined, having a cornucopia of eye candy complimenting the accompanying audio tracks would be stimulating enough.  But Van Dyk, the perfectionist that he is, chose to actually reflect the journey through the music of the album in his journey around the globe.  Each track seems to be tailor-made to the corresponding city it was set in and the people who are more than happy to be featured, mirroring the emotion and tone of the song itself.  For example, the track “Forbidden Fruit” is played as a gay pride parade is taking place in Germany and as that festival boils over into the freak-fest concert later that evening in the hinterlands of the country.  But, Van Dyk also decided to not just limit himself to concert footage.  The track “Another Way”, on which the aforementioned St. Etienne is featured, is displayed as an incredibly artistically sensual video of a woman and man trying to find a way to move on from a dilapidated relationship.  Oddly enough, the transition from concert footage to something that would normally be shown on MTV is as smooth as a twink’s bottom. 

In short, “Global: PVD/CD/DVD” is an excellent example of what an artist can accomplish when staying within the confines of accepted normalcy is usurped by a desire to take innovation to the next level.  Once I began watching the DVD portion of this album, the same thought kept repeating itself, “Why hasn’t someone thought of doing this before?”  My guess is that with the recent proliferation of song-downloading and CD burning in combination with every artist under the sun trying to find a way to coerce their fans into actually buying their albums, Paul Van Dyk’s “Global” should present both another avenue of artistic expression and a way for recording artists to put a little more green in their wallets…until DVD burning becomes less expensive that is.