10 Years in the Life is a double-CD collection of some of the finest tracks and remixes by BT. While it is not a greatest hits compilation, it collects radio edits and rare versions of some of his best tracks.
Disc 1 is a retrospective of BT’s songwriting work, while Disc 2 is a continuous mix compilation of his remix work. The CD is packaged beautifully, with copious photographs and extensive liner notes. For each track, BT provides a little background information, either telling a story about what inspired the song or his reflections on making the track.
While the two CDs cover the last 10 years of BT’s career, they really aren’t a greatest hits collection. Disc 1 is missing some of BT’s best work, and many of the tracks are presented in heavily edited forms. Disc 2, on the other hand, shows of his competent remix skills, but the tracks are neither the best of his work or the best work of the artists that he remixes.
10 Year in the Life is best looked at as a interesting collection of BT’s work, including some rare remix or radio edit versions of some of his tracks, and some of his best remix work for other artists.
Disc 1 starts off with The Moment of Truth, which is a deep house/disco number. It’s a competent, but unexceptional dance track. It was BT’s first release, and it seems he hadn’t found his style yet. But the tracks quickly move into the progressive trance territory that BT excels at, and the rest of the CD is great stuff, even if some of his best tracks are AWOL. Highlights include Relativity, Loving You More, Flaming June, Lullaby for Gaia, Dreaming and Never Gonna Come Back Down.
Loving You More is interesting as one of the first tracks that show off BT’s obsessive manipulation of audio. He slices and dices Vincent Covello’s singing in ways previously unheard of, creating rhythmic effects, ambient noises, and all sorts of strange effects. His hyperkinetic audio editing style has since become one of his trademarks.
Blue Sky, his track with Tori Amos, is presented in a severely chopped down version. Listeners that have tired of his mega-extended previous versions won’t miss much.
The second disc is a continuous mix of various BT remixes. It’s a fine dance mix, but doesn’t rise to the level of some the best mix albums. In this case, BT has collected a bunch of his remixes, which individually are interesting work. However, the disc as a whole doesn’t take you on the emotional journey that the best dance and trance mixes do.
Nevertheless, there are many highlights to disc 2. His remix of Madonna’s Drowned World is great, and is an interesting alternative to the more somber album version. Other standout tracks are Not Over Yet and the often remixed Crystal Method track Keep Hope Alive. It’s too bad that his remix of Sarah McLachlan’s I Love You didn’t make it to the CD.
10 Years in the Life is an interesting collection of BT singles and rarities, brought together in a nice package. While it isn’t a best-of collection, there’s a lot of great music on both CDs. A must-have for BT fans!
Disc 1
- BT – The Moment Of Truth (Original Radio Version)
- BT – Relativity (Transeau’s Excursion)
- BT – Embracing The Future (Embracing The Sunshine Mix)
- BT with Vincent Covello – Loving You More (7″ Edit)
- BT with Tori Amos – Blue Skies (Radio Edit)
- BT & Paul Van Dyk – Flaming June
- BT – Love, Peace And Grease (BT’s Puma Fila 7″ Mix)
- BT – Remember (Single Mix)
- BT – The Road To Lostwithiel
- BT – Lullaby For Gaia
- BT – Believer
- BT – Dreaming (Libra Mix) – with Kirsty Hawkshaw
- BT – Giving Up The Ghost
- BT with M. Doughty – Never Gonna Come Back Down (Single Edit) – with M. Doughty
- BT – The Revolution
Disc 2
- BT – Tripping The Light Fantastic
- Wild Colour – Dreams (BT’s Circadian Dream)
- Billie Ray Martin – Running Around Town (BT’s Shelter Mix)
- Grace – Not Over Yet (BT’s Peyote Dub)
- B-Tribe with Deborah Blando – Nanita (BT’s Voltaire Organica Remix)
- Deep Dish – Stranded (BT Vs DD Mix – Deep Dish Edit)
- Kaistar – The Promethean Groove (Edit)
- Libra pres. Taylor – Anomaly – Calling Your Name (Brat Edit)
- BT – Quark (Coolaid Mix)
- Madonna – Drowned World/Substitute For Love (BT & Sasha’s Bucklodge Ashram Remix)
- DJ Rap – Bad Girl (BT’s Spoken Progenitor Mix)
- The Crystal Method – Keep Hope Alive (BT’s Creatine Method Mix)
- BT with Richard Butler – Shineaway
