he never has been a ground breaking producer imo, he has made some excellent tracks in his time, but I wouldnt say any of them were groundbreaking (imo)

ive gotta say it john that comment made me laugh a great deal, no one can say that the Red series were not groundbreaking. As u said that is ur opinion, but that really is a highly amusing and somewhat bewildering comment. I know that your not Clarke's biggest fan but you are into your techno and i would of thought that you would have recognised just how important the Red Series and some of Dave other earlier productions are, even if you dont like them. They may not be as essential now, but at the time those records, especially Red 2 and Red 3, virtually defined the techno genre!!! im one of his biggest fans but im the first to admit that his productions these days dont have the same impact on the scene as they used to, maybe because he is (arguably) the biggest name in techno and the more commercial that an artist gets then the more commercial his/her sound evolves into, but the Red series really did kick things off for not only DC but also the scene that we know and love now. They were released in 1995, 8 years ago and at the time i dont think even Dave himself could of realised the impact they had or were due to have in years to come.

anyway, about his new album. errrrr.........

not sure what to make of it to be honest, its a little hit and miss with me. I like the single Way of Life, and the track that begins with a D (intense sorta intro that doesnt kick in). He started his live set with that track in creamfields and it impressed me alot. There are a couple of other tracks on there that i liked, but overall the album didnt get me excited in the way that id hoped (no pun intended). The productions spot on of course, and everything seems to have been prepared and produced with a great amount of care, but overall it doesnt live up to the hype for me. Which is a shame really