Every genre of music has a track that can be held up, throughout the life of that genre, as a defining piece for that genre. When someone asks, “How would you describe [insert genre name here]?”, there's usually a set of tracks that are at the top of everyone's favorite list. When we talk about trance, it's impossible to deny one of those top spots of all time belongs to Three Drives on a Vinyl.

First let me say, I apologize for missing last week's Throwback. All of us at PDJ have been sick these last couple of weeks and last week's post totally suffered, because of that. That said, it really wasn't my intention to do two trance throwbacks, in a row. But, this one is so good, I would be remiss to not have it be one of the very first tracks that I cover.

The track “Greece 2000” by Three Drives on a Vinyl was released in 1997. It was an instant hit in all of the clubs and raves I was frequenting in 1998 (it took a little while for new stuff to hit us in the Midwest of the U.S.A., back then). With its multiple arpeggiated layers, dreamy synth pads, and well thought out song structure, this song took club goers and warehouse ravers alike on an 8 minute euphoric journey.

It was neither happy, nor psychedelic. It wasn't angry or sad. It was just…beautiful…and when it came on, it would meld a room of dancers together in to a single emotive consciousness.

Three Drives (as they came to be known, dropping the “on a Vinyl” part of their name) are a Dutch production duo comprised of Erik de Koning and Ton van Empel. While they stayed active throughout the 2000's, the late 1990's through 2001 were probably their most successful time, as producers (at least under the Three Drives moniker), since that is when the early days of the progressive trance genre of EDM was emerging in the states and reaching its peak, everywhere.

It was neither happy, nor psychedelic. It wasn’t angry or sad. It was just…beautiful…and when it came on, it would meld a room of dancers together in to a single emotive consciousness.

“Greece 2000” was such a success, it spawned countless remixes, re-releases, and bootlegs. We haven't heard much from this group since the successful mainstream EDM release “Sunset on Ibiza” in 2000, as far as their production is concerned. They had a few more releases, but nothing that made as much of a mark as “Greece 2000”. According to Wikipedia, as of this writing, Ton is no longer involved with the group.

Below, I link both the original AND my personal favorite remix of the track, which is the Hooj Choons release called the “Miro Vocal Mix”. It seems there are a couple versions of that remix, though, and the one I prefer is the Hooj version, seeing as it's mostly just the original with a haunting vocal calling out to the listener… “Wherever you go, I will follow….” Other remixers have tried to put their own take to this classic, but in my opinion, there's just no topping the original production.