Damn it, Rank 1. Every time I tell myself NOT to get excited too much when you resort to your cryptic shenanigans, you ALWAYS end up dragging me into a speculation frenzy all the same! Damn it! Okay. Easy now. Breathe... *inhales* *exhales* You. Over there. Yes you. Head over to Rank-1.com real quick.
Neat timer huh? Yeah, I thought so too. One week from now, on Thursday, October 27th at 00:00 AM CET, something will happen on their site. The million dollar question of course is what though?? So initially I had some ideas what this could be but that was before @suzich_q pointed out there were "3 silhouettes in the background". With the hectic commute I had this morning, I hadn't even noticed them behind the timer! And that realization changed everything... But I wouldn't be me if I didn't share all the initial speculation anyway. What? You know I will take any excuse to go on endlessly about Rank 1. xD So yes, we are doing this!!
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SCENARIO #1: Awakening 2022
BY: Rank 1 and / or a Remix by Aly & Fila/Cosmic Gate/others
My first thought was this would be an Awakening Rework. And the reason for that is pretty obvious. Let's go back to one of Benno's September tweets for a moment:
Talk about a Rank 1 Treasure Trove!! So someone asked him for the master, most likely the label boss from Be Yourself Music. Given how Awakening's official release as a single was in 2002 (December 2001 if you include its first release on vinyl), it would be the perfect excuse to re-release it today with some additional mixes, much like they did for their most successful hit Airwave and their 15 year anniversary in 2014 and their famous Superstring Remix in 2016. Also consider that in recent times, any type of Trance that is not classified as Euphoric / Uplifting / Banging in the formulaic sense runs between 122 - 129 BPM. The original Awakening runs on 139 BPM. If you were to slow it down by a 10 - 17 BPM range you would absolutely butcher it. So yeah it could do with a modern day interpretation to live in contemporary sets, since it's still a very cherished Classic, mind you. So Awakening 2022 seems like a safe bet.
The question then would be, is this countdown counting down to a Rank 1 Rework or a Remix by someone else? I would assume both? Having reworked Airwave and Superstring in the mid '10s themselves to fit the slower times, it would make sense for them to make it a trio of reworks of the three tracks that got them their golden records back in the day. As for remixers, my first thought would be Aly & Fila, as a favor back for Rank 1 having remixed Sunrise earlier this year. My second thought was Cosmic Gate. Now I can hear you thinking: "Huh? Didn't they remix Awakening back in 2002 already?" Well, yes. But. If I am not mistaken (and I could very well be since I never really looked into this), Cosmic Gate have remixed Rank 1 the most out of all of their peers. More importantly, Cosmic Gate's Remixes of Rank 1 have often done very well sales/streaming wise, either emulating their respective originals or surpassing them outright: Awakening (2002), This World Is Watching Me (2007), Wild And Perfect Day (2012) and L.E.D. There Be Light (2018) were all turned into CG bangers and perhaps with the exception of WAPD, they were all pretty big dancefloor destroyers. So why not ask the most successful Remixers to do their magic trick for a record fifth time? Seems plausible, right?
So yeah I felt it was a bit of a foregone conclusion that this scenario was going to be the most likely of them all. Then Suzy pointed out the following in a reply to the above reasoning:
The Awakening Master Tape was butchered!! Still... You would think that a track that was as big for their career as Awakening would have had a decent digital back-up made several times if not at the very least once before, right? So in the end, I will have to conclude:
Scenario #1 probability: Highly plausible!
SCENARIO #2: Rank 1 Retirement Announcement??
FORM: a live broadcast of the very last Rank 1 Live Act ever?
This is a bit of a more pessimistic reading of that countdown. There is no real logic behind this other than having a negative albeit possible scenario next to any other: all (fantastic) things come to an end eventually. Piet & Benno have always stated that with the Rank 1 project they go wherever the mood takes them. As long as they like it, it will happen. And if the day was ever to come that they would have nothing to say musically anymore as Rank 1, they'd probably pull the plug on it in an official way. Now if one was to analyze the Rank 1 project post-2013, a few things become noticeable:
- Piet & Benno spent increasingly less time on their socials compared to the previous years
- Rank 1's Radio Rush ended in 2014, seemingly random at episode #056 in December
- There have been no more Rank 1 mix compilations since Piet mixed their ASOT #600 The Expedition contribution in 2013
- Prior to Sunrise (Rank 1 Remix) coming out this year, there was a 9 year gap of no remixes whatsoever following the release of Love Will Bring It All Around (Rank 1 Remix) in 2013
- Midway through the last decade, Piet was mostly booked for Classics events and/or dropped mostly Classics/Legacy sets
- Of all the Rank 1 releases that have followed since 13.11.11 (2013), two were contemporary reworks of Classics, four were released as part of a Spotify album taken from a live act (ASOT #950) and all the others were collaborations. Don't get me wrong, if you add them all up it becomes roughly 1-2 releases a year which was always the norm for this project but excluding the live act tracks (which do not exist as standalone, unmixed tracks, sadly I might add T-T), there has not been a single solo Rank 1 original since 2013: imo this has always been indicative of how active the project still was...
The biggest reason for mentioning this scenario however is the following: They have achieved more than they ever could have dreamed when they founded Rank 1 back in 1999, as a friggin' joke no less!! "Hey wouldn't it be funny to see Rank 1 ranked as #1? Hahaha!" In the end they created a pioneering, legendary project that managed to re-invent itself over and over across three decades of an ever-changing, crazy Electronic Music landscape... What more could they possibly do at this stage to add to that Massive Legacy? They topped charts, earned three golden records for vinyl sales, rocked the mainstage of the Legendary Trance Energy with their brilliant live acts no less than FOUR times and casually repeated the trick at ASOT #950 in what was to be most people's final party before the crapdemic madness of 2020-2021 (it was mine!)! They made mix compilations, released a studio album (2002), hosted their own monthly Radio Show for four years (offering upcoming talent their moment in the spotlight as guest mixers) and saw Piet travel all over the world pretty much each and every weekend for the better part of the past 23 years! They also made one of the best puns on their name you will ever see (the Trance.nu interviewer asked them "what should they put on your tombstone?" and Piet's answer was: "GRAVE 1!!!" I SWEAR... It's been 13 years and it STILL kills me X'DDDD)
Rank 1 put millions of smiles on millions of faces thanks to their wonderous, dazzling, catchy, timeless melodies and wicked, mind-bending, insane sounds through The Citrus Juicer, Black Snow, Airwave (and Breathing), Reachers Of Civilization (Rank 1 Remix), Cry (Rank 1 Remix), Superstring (Rank 1 Remix), Let Me Be Your Fantasy (Rank 1 Remix), Home (Rank 1 Remix), Underwater (Rank 1 Remix), Such Is Life, Awakening, Symsonic (and It's Up To You), Cosmomatic, Conspiracy, T.T.C., Down From The Deep, Passage To The Unknown, Still In My Mind, Ligaya (Rank 1 Remix), Dreamland (Rank 1 Re-Edit), Mind Made Up (Rank 1 Remix), Journey Of Life (Rank 1 Remix) Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom, After Me, Lyteo (Rank 1 Remix), Opus 17, Top Gear, Humanity (Rank 1 Remix), This Way (Rank 1 Remix), Life Less Ordinary, Love Kills (Rank 1 Extended Vocal Mix/Dub Mix), This World Is Watching Me, Analog Feel (Rank 1's Digital Rehash), Touch The Sun (Rank 1 Remix), Undone (Rank 1 Remix), And Then..., On Fire (Rank 1's No This Ain't Trance Like '99 Remix), Lost Luggage (Rank 1 Remix), L.E.D. There Be Light, Symfo, The Great Escape, 100, My Enemy (Rank 1 Remix), Fire Wire (Rank 1 Remix), Witness, Wild And Perfect Day, 7 Instead Of 8, Elements Of Nature, Floorlifter, Under The Gun (Rank 1 Remix), 13.11.11, Freudenrausch, Juno, Zenith, This World Is So Amazing, We Finally Met, Transatlantic Communication, Predictive Memory, No Name, Paris Nice Cannes, The Greater Light To Rule The Night and Sunrise (Rank 1 Remix)... Damn... Been one hell of a ride, huh? ^_^
Having said all that... They were booked for the ASOT #1000 celebration in the Jaarbeurs in 2021 which was postponed until March next year... So it would be REALLY sour grapes if they called it quits now. And maybe a week-countdown timer seems rather short notice for what would be a pretty big deal...
Scenario #2 probability: let me quote a Marco V classic for this one "Possible But Unlikely"
SCENARIO #3: A (real) Second Rank 1 album?!
CONTAINING: unmixed extended versions of TC, PM, NN & PNC? + the two remaining Dreamstate 2017 Untitleds??
Everytime they go cryptic, my inner child looks up with huge, hopeful, puppy eyes, only to be L.E.D. down (pun totally intended xDD). I have no reasoning behind this because this scenario is based purely on something I have desired since I fell in love with the Symsonic album, and shortly after that, Opus 17 aaaaall the way back in the summer of 2005... Wait... Holy shit... THAT summer is now 17 years ago?? I've wanted this for the majority of my life?? *cries in Growing Older and Fading Youth* Also, 17 years since the discovery of Opus 17... Feels almost poetic. xD
But yes, there is absolutely no logical reason to support this scenario. And before anyone mentions their Live At ASOT 950 "album", this is not a real album imo: it was only released on Spotify, it's the live recording of their amazing live act that night but there is only four brand new tracks on it, the rest were (modern) Classics and three of those already appeared on Symsonic in a combined 5 versions! So forgive me for being demanding but... That "album" was a teaser, at best! xD
Scenario #3 probability: *sigh* keep on dreaming, Razor
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Alright, so those were the things that went through my mind earlier today. But as stated, Suzy mentioned the background of the timer. So I hurried my blind ass back to their site and it struck me... Holy shit...
ISN'T THAT THE SYMSONIC COVERART?? I instantly went to my music library, to the massive Rank 1 playlist containing all their stuff and clicked on a Symsonic track: BINGO
So with this obvious new insightful nugget of information it's pretty safe to assume:
SCENARIO #4: Symsonic 20-year Anniversary Edition
This would also tie in with the Awakening master tape business since Awakening was the single to precede the Symsonic album's release back in 2002. It appeared on the album itself as the Radio Edit. This raises many questions though:
- Is this going to be a remaster only or a celebratory edition as well?
- If so what will the extra content look like?
- Can we expect remixes by some of the current hottest producers around?
- Is it going to have some funky NFT related things to it? Hey Ferry Corsten, Roger Shah and Pig & Dan are doing it, why not?
- Is it perhaps a fully reworked Symsonic album with the majority of its tracks reimagined to a 122 - 129 BPM spectrum? Have to admit this one is a stretch...
- Will it include fully unmixed versions of some of their modern releases that never saw a CD release in unmixed form, like for example 3.11.11 and 7 Instead Of 8?
- Could we get unmixed extended versions of TC, PM, NN & PNC?
Or...
What If...!
This is...!!
An official follow-up to Symsonic.
What if this is...
SYMSONIC PART 2???
As much as that is my preferred scenario over all of the above, I have to be realistic here... If we look at the screenshot of their website, you can see two brownish/dark orange stains near what the silhouette depictions of Piet and Benno are from the original artwork. On the original these stains are two circles, one has "01" in it, the other "02". They represent the two discs that were present on the original, the CD with the actual album and the DVD with extras. So going by that, it is a rather literal blur of the Symsonic coverart. Going by that, it is 100% likely this will be a remastered Symsonic of sorts to celebrate it turning 20 this year... If so, I am glad to see that masterpiece get a chance to reach a new Trance-loving audience. :D
Dear people! What do you think Rank 1 has planned for us here? Let's hear it!
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