TIMELESS: Rank 1 - Opus 17 / Top Gear [20 Year Anniversary]

augustus 29, 2025

TIMELESS: Rank 1 - Opus 17 / Top Gear [20 Year Anniversary]



High Contrast Recordings \|\| Cat# HCR007
Monday August 29th 2005
[A]	Opus 17 (Original Mix)	11:42	F#Min 138 BPM
[B]	Top Gear (Original Mix)	09:18	F_Maj 138 BPM

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Buy from Beatport

2025-08-29
On the day that would have marked the King Of Pop's 67th birthday, I would like to take you back to summer '13. It was exactly 12(!) years ago I decided to write my first retrospective for this phenomenal piece of music. I must have blinked one too many times or something because how did so many years fly by in an instance?? Here we are, in 2025, ready to celebrate the official 20 year anniversary of one of Trance music's greatest ever two-track EPs... If there was ever a need for a Retrospective it's now. If it weren't for a whole new generation discovering Trance music all over again, this retrospective would feel redundant, because the way I feel about these two tracks hasn't changed in the last 12 years. Regardless, you don't skip a precious friend's birthday because you already "love them enough"! For all of you that never heard this EP... Please feel obliged to correct that sin right away. :)

2025-08-29

On the day that would have marked the King Of Pop's 67th birthday, I would like to take you back to summer '13. It was exactly 12(!) years ago I decided to write my first retrospective for this phenomenal piece of music. I must have blinked one too many times or something because how did so many years fly by in an instance?? Here we are, in 2025, ready to celebrate the official 20 year anniversary of one of Trance music's greatest ever two-track EPs... If there was ever a need for a Retrospective it's now. If it weren't for a whole new generation discovering Trance music all over again, this retrospective would feel redundant, because the way I feel about these two tracks hasn't changed in the last 12 years. Regardless, you don't skip a precious friend's birthday because you already "love them enough"! For all of you that never heard this EP... Please feel obliged to correct that sin right away. :)

Rank 1 - Opus 17 (Original Mix)
Though it was on the A-Side, "Opus 17" was vastly overlooked in favor of its grittier, darker, more club-oriented sibling. It's rather ironic how many people cried foul of Rank 1's decision to take a new direction at the time, only for people to sleep on the magnificence of this track. Opus 17 was often likened to Cygnus X' "The Orange Theme" and there is actually a link there: Benno once said in an early 2010s interview The Orange Theme is one of his favorite Classics of all time. You can tell by the build-up that some inspiration may have been taken from Eye-Q masterpiece. Though often overlooked when people are asked to mention Rank 1's Greatest Hits, every comment section for Opus 17 reveals the track has its diehard fans and people that appreciate this musical story from the bottom of their hearts. I think what sets Opus 17 apart from most Rank 1 tracks is how its structured to be a musical journey with a long intro, long outro and a long breakdown. It honestly feels like an album track or intro which Benno poured his Heart and Soul into because its not a conventional club-fit Trance track, even for this 2005 era of darker, more Progressive/Tech inspired Trance. There is a strong emphasis to utilize a contrast of slightly distorted motifs to build-up early tension with the organic strings that form the foundation of the track, supplemented by the lone piano at the very end. Prior to the release of "13.11.11", this masterpiece held the crown as the longest Rank 1 track in existence. It takes its time to tell a story. A story of times long gone, melancholy, perhaps loss in some way but also defiance. When I first discovered this gem and butchered the replay button to continously immerse myself and its mesmerizing soundscapes, I would often see images as if flying over a city in ruins, a weird mixture of a fantasy/sci-fi like place to signify some long lost civilization that fought tooth and nail to protect its home. A vivid imagination you say? Naaah... :D In all seriousness though, in terms of being a music lover: for me there was a "Before" and an "After" thanks to Opus 17. I didn't think music could hit me they way it did when I heard this for the very first time ever. It is a precious memory I will carry with me forever, an embodiment of a youth gone by way too soon and an era vital to shaping me who I am today. The days of chilling in my brother's rooom with him, me drawing whatever while he was doing college work whilst the PS2 (in a diehard Nintendo household haha) would play one after the other magnificent Trance music compilation. Often provided by the incomparable ID&T, bro and I set out on many musical journeys together. It was a different time, by no means was it "better" or "easier" but it has its charm. To share such a profound musical "first" with someone you look up to so much, is a priceless memory. That main lead, my God... I mean, you are completely taken by the choir-ish pad and sad strings when that divine lead starts ramping up its ferocity. It's such a powerful sound, almost like melodic voice screaming to reach you, to evoke something in you, to activate you to FEEL something. I can hardly believe this is happening while I write this, but I am tearing up, AGAIN, after what must be over 10.000 plays of this track since I first heard it as a 15-year old boy. Opus 17 has teared me up many times, no less because of the often turbulent times of my youth, riddled with mental struggles and whatnot. In darkness of that loneliness, this track brought comfort like no other could. And to this day, it can hit me like that. It might not happen all the time, but there is always a chance it will. Oof, when that Outro kicks in, that reversed kick that launches it, while the piano and strings wait for you as it slowly winds down and fades away. How can a melody (and a track) so hauntingly beautiful as this, exist in a world so torn by utter madness and so devoid of common sense? I know all too well now that contradictions can easily exist side-by-side. If there was ever a truth to the Human Experience... Opus 17. The 17th unique, officially-released Rank 1 production. A truly special piece of Trance Music for the ages. Please show it the love it deserves. :)

Rank 1 - Opus 17 (Original Mix)

Though it was on the A-Side, "Opus 17" was vastly overlooked in favor of its grittier, darker, more club-oriented sibling. It's rather ironic how many people cried foul of Rank 1's decision to take a new direction at the time, only for people to sleep on the magnificence of this track. Opus 17 was often likened to Cygnus X' "The Orange Theme" and there is actually a link there: Benno once said in an early 2010s interview The Orange Theme is one of his favorite Classics of all time. You can tell by the build-up that some inspiration may have been taken from Eye-Q masterpiece. Though often overlooked when people are asked to mention Rank 1's Greatest Hits, every comment section for Opus 17 reveals the track has its diehard fans and people that appreciate this musical story from the bottom of their hearts.

I think what sets Opus 17 apart from most Rank 1 tracks is how its structured to be a musical journey with a long intro, long outro and a long breakdown. It honestly feels like an album track or intro which Benno poured his Heart and Soul into because its not a conventional club-fit Trance track, even for this 2005 era of darker, more Progressive/Tech inspired Trance. There is a strong emphasis to utilize a contrast of slightly distorted motifs to build-up early tension with the organic strings that form the foundation of the track, supplemented by the lone piano at the very end. Prior to the release of "13.11.11", this masterpiece held the crown as the longest Rank 1 track in existence. It takes its time to tell a story. A story of times long gone, melancholy, perhaps loss in some way but also defiance. When I first discovered this gem and butchered the replay button to continously immerse myself and its mesmerizing soundscapes, I would often see images as if flying over a city in ruins, a weird mixture of a fantasy/sci-fi like place to signify some long lost civilization that fought tooth and nail to protect its home. A vivid imagination you say? Naaah... :D In all seriousness though, in terms of being a music lover: for me there was a "Before" and an "After" thanks to Opus 17. I didn't think music could hit me they way it did when I heard this for the very first time ever.

It is a precious memory I will carry with me forever, an embodiment of a youth gone by way too soon and an era vital to shaping me who I am today. The days of chilling in my brother's rooom with him, me drawing whatever while he was doing college work whilst the PS2 (in a diehard Nintendo household haha) would play one after the other magnificent Trance music compilation. Often provided by the incomparable ID&T, bro and I set out on many musical journeys together. It was a different time, by no means was it "better" or "easier" but it has its charm. To share such a profound musical "first" with someone you look up to so much, is a priceless memory.

That main lead, my God... I mean, you are completely taken by the choir-ish pad and sad strings when that divine lead starts ramping up its ferocity. It's such a powerful sound, almost like melodic voice screaming to reach you, to evoke something in you, to activate you to FEEL something. I can hardly believe this is happening while I write this, but I am tearing up, AGAIN, after what must be over 10.000 plays of this track since I first heard it as a 15-year old boy. Opus 17 has teared me up many times, no less because of the often turbulent times of my youth, riddled with mental struggles and whatnot. In darkness of that loneliness, this track brought comfort like no other could. And to this day, it can hit me like that. It might not happen all the time, but there is always a chance it will.

Oof, when that Outro kicks in, that reversed kick that launches it, while the piano and strings wait for you as it slowly winds down and fades away. How can a melody (and a track) so hauntingly beautiful as this, exist in a world so torn by utter madness and so devoid of common sense? I know all too well now that contradictions can easily exist side-by-side. If there was ever a truth to the Human Experience...

Opus 17. The 17th unique, officially-released Rank 1 production. A truly special piece of Trance Music for the ages. Please show it the love it deserves. :)

Rank 1 - Top Gear (Original Mix)
Enter 'Opus 16'. The track that DJs eagerly unleashed on 2005 and 2006 dancefloors across Europe on unsuspecting crowds. The Contrast to its melancholic sibling could not possibly have been any Higher. If Opus 17 was a lush organic and idyllic landscape in aural terms, then "Top Gear" was a dystopic industrial complex, tubes, oil, smoke polluting everything around it. This contrast is fitting because it matches what my reaction would have been to two such opposite landscapes! If my first time hearing Opus 17 was marked by wonder, inspiration, a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped reaction, then my initial reaction to Top Gear's filthy distortions was one of utter disgust, pure shock (horror) and disappointment. I suppose this powerful reaction was fuelled by the order in which I discovered them. In so far I wasn't a huge fan already, Opus 17 made me a Rank 1-fanatic. Top Gear... Felt like an instant challenge to that zealous devotion. xD Piet Bervoets gave an interview about the track in which he so eloquently said "Some people will like it, some people won't". Anyone who has followed Rank 1 throughout the decades, read their interviews and met either Piet and/or Benno will be able to confirm that this very simple quote lies at the heart of everything these guys have crafted since "Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom" (2004). It is THE Rank 1 Adage (...for Strings, forgive me, I had to xD). It's the archetypical Dutch "nuchterheid", a rather aloof/laidback and grounded way of living life, often times confused for a lack of care/interest by more passionate/hotblooded people. However negative I might have been upon first hearing this track, to me at least, it ended up signifying the essence of what it means to be a Rank 1 fan. Top Gear, if anything, was a lesson. A lesson in how to learn to appreciate music. I could have stuck with my initial reaction and never bothered to look further than I had: it would have meant missing out on a brilliant abstract track and perhaps it would prevented me from discovering 20 years of the incredible music I ended up discovering. I had forgotten about it but read it in the 2013 Retrospective just now that it was my brother who urged me to give Top Gear another chance. Which I did. Over and over and over again. I dunno why 15 year old me was so obsessed with trying to "understand Top Gear". But somehow I just wanted to understand what my brother had understood: he liked Top Gear exactly because of its unconventional sound and style. There was no other track quite like it! Finally, I think it was somewhere in September 2005, I slowly came to grasp what Top Gear was. Top Gear is one of those generational tracks that is born out of pure creativity rooted in the Rank 1 Way: "Why not"? Why not make a track that sounds like a machine or its engine? Why not build a track that ebs and flows like a Trance track could but instead sounds industrial, raw, distorted, techy, reverbed and just down right SICK? Top Gear would not even have been released if it wasn't for the enthusiastic response it got from the Trance Energy 2005 visitors that got treated to Rank 1's Legendary Trance Energy 2005 live performance. It takes a certain amount of b*lls to pull a move like this. And trust me, DI.fm/Tranceaddict/Armin van Buuren forums: Rank 1 fans of the first hour and general Trance fans were NOT pleased with this track at all: they absolutely hated it. The last thing I want is to come across as a patronizing snob, but both the Rank 1 fan and music fan in me feel sorry for them... They could not look past their initial expectations of Top Gear/Rank 1 (just like I couldn't at first!) and ended up missing out on one hell of a production. There is so much detail and effort put into this track. The sound design is immaculate. This is a track upon which is creators released all their creativity and didn't hold back whatsoever. Top Gear's "breakdown" has its main synth howling and pulsing with altering patterns/tempi, when its forced into a crazy delay effect that makes it sound like it's being submerged in distortion whilst a pitch-raising sound drives it towards a massive climax and crazy drop. In fact, the tempo-play deployed here might have been the first time Benno got to go wild with it. His future works with Armin would see him mess around with it a lot as well (check out title track "Intense" from the Intense album or "Callisto" from the Gaia album "Moons Of Jupiter") but Top Gear remains my favorite track to use that trick. Only one mystery remains in regards to Top Gear... Was it named as such because the guys were a big fan of the British tv show of the same name? Was it named as such because in typical Rank 1 fashion, they wanted to give the track a self-explanatory dimension? Was it both?? You never know with Rank 1... xD What I do know however is that there will never be quite an EP like this one with two such incredibly opposite tracks that both truly excel at what each is trying to do. It won't be everyone's cup of coffee, but I am still going to plead with you to check this monster out. :)

Rank 1 - Top Gear (Original Mix)

Enter 'Opus 16'. The track that DJs eagerly unleashed on 2005 and 2006 dancefloors across Europe on unsuspecting crowds. The Contrast to its melancholic sibling could not possibly have been any Higher. If Opus 17 was a lush organic and idyllic landscape in aural terms, then "Top Gear" was a dystopic industrial complex, tubes, oil, smoke polluting everything around it. This contrast is fitting because it matches what my reaction would have been to two such opposite landscapes! If my first time hearing Opus 17 was marked by wonder, inspiration, a wide-eyed, jaw-dropped reaction, then my initial reaction to Top Gear's filthy distortions was one of utter disgust, pure shock (horror) and disappointment. I suppose this powerful reaction was fuelled by the order in which I discovered them. In so far I wasn't a huge fan already, Opus 17 made me a Rank 1-fanatic. Top Gear... Felt like an instant challenge to that zealous devotion. xD

Piet Bervoets gave an interview about the track in which he so eloquently said "Some people will like it, some people won't". Anyone who has followed Rank 1 throughout the decades, read their interviews and met either Piet and/or Benno will be able to confirm that this very simple quote lies at the heart of everything these guys have crafted since "Beats At Rank-1 Dotcom" (2004). It is THE Rank 1 Adage (...for Strings, forgive me, I had to xD). It's the archetypical Dutch "nuchterheid", a rather aloof/laidback and grounded way of living life, often times confused for a lack of care/interest by more passionate/hotblooded people.

However negative I might have been upon first hearing this track, to me at least, it ended up signifying the essence of what it means to be a Rank 1 fan. Top Gear, if anything, was a lesson. A lesson in how to learn to appreciate music. I could have stuck with my initial reaction and never bothered to look further than I had: it would have meant missing out on a brilliant abstract track and perhaps it would prevented me from discovering 20 years of the incredible music I ended up discovering. I had forgotten about it but read it in the 2013 Retrospective just now that it was my brother who urged me to give Top Gear another chance. Which I did. Over and over and over again. I dunno why 15 year old me was so obsessed with trying to "understand Top Gear". But somehow I just wanted to understand what my brother had understood: he liked Top Gear exactly because of its unconventional sound and style. There was no other track quite like it!

Finally, I think it was somewhere in September 2005, I slowly came to grasp what Top Gear was. Top Gear is one of those generational tracks that is born out of pure creativity rooted in the Rank 1 Way: "Why not"? Why not make a track that sounds like a machine or its engine? Why not build a track that ebs and flows like a Trance track could but instead sounds industrial, raw, distorted, techy, reverbed and just down right SICK? Top Gear would not even have been released if it wasn't for the enthusiastic response it got from the Trance Energy 2005 visitors that got treated to Rank 1's Legendary Trance Energy 2005 live performance. It takes a certain amount of b*lls to pull a move like this. And trust me, DI.fm/Tranceaddict/Armin van Buuren forums: Rank 1 fans of the first hour and general Trance fans were NOT pleased with this track at all: they absolutely hated it. The last thing I want is to come across as a patronizing snob, but both the Rank 1 fan and music fan in me feel sorry for them... They could not look past their initial expectations of Top Gear/Rank 1 (just like I couldn't at first!) and ended up missing out on one hell of a production.

There is so much detail and effort put into this track. The sound design is immaculate. This is a track upon which is creators released all their creativity and didn't hold back whatsoever. Top Gear's "breakdown" has its main synth howling and pulsing with altering patterns/tempi, when its forced into a crazy delay effect that makes it sound like it's being submerged in distortion whilst a pitch-raising sound drives it towards a massive climax and crazy drop. In fact, the tempo-play deployed here might have been the first time Benno got to go wild with it. His future works with Armin would see him mess around with it a lot as well (check out title track "Intense" from the Intense album or "Callisto" from the Gaia album "Moons Of Jupiter") but Top Gear remains my favorite track to use that trick.
Only one mystery remains in regards to Top Gear... Was it named as such because the guys were a big fan of the British tv show of the same name? Was it named as such because in typical Rank 1 fashion, they wanted to give the track a self-explanatory dimension? Was it both?? You never know with Rank 1... xD What I do know however is that there will never be quite an EP like this one with two such incredibly opposite tracks that both truly excel at what each is trying to do.

It won't be everyone's cup of coffee, but I am still going to plead with you to check this monster out. :)

In conclusion
Play it. Stream it. Buy it. Mix it. Whichever you choose, if you claim to love Trance (Classics), get this in your collection now, TODAY, on the 20th anniversary of a very special, beautiful and wicked Rank 1 EP. Go on! Below you will find a playlist with a selection of tracks from this era I hold very dear to my heart: Opus 17 kicks it off, Top Gear closes the whole thing. Give it a spin, treat yourself to Greatness.

In conclusion

Play it. Stream it. Buy it. Mix it. Whichever you choose, if you claim to love Trance (Classics), get this in your collection now, TODAY, on the 20th anniversary of a very special, beautiful and wicked Rank 1 EP. Go on! Below you will find a playlist with a selection of tracks from this era I hold very dear to my heart: Opus 17 kicks it off, Top Gear closes the whole thing. Give it a spin, treat yourself to Greatness.

Special selection to celebrate the Anniversary (Spotify Version)

Special selection to celebrate the Anniversary (Youtube Version)

⬇️ Click for more Rank 1 content

If you're interested in other reviews I made for Rank 1, please check out:
https://razormaneofficial.blogspot.com/search/label/Rank%201

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For more Themed Selections, check the list below:
TIMELESS: Razormane Selects The GOAT
TIMELESS: Rank 1's Radio Rush Era [April 2025]
TIMELESS: 17 Years Later - Yearlist 2007 [September 2024]
TIMELESS: Journeys Across Dreams [July 2024]
TIMELESS: Guitarriffic Chill & Trance [June 2024]
TIMELESS: ASOT Openers [December 2023]
TIMELESS: Sensation Anthems [July 2023]
TIMELESS: Trance Energy Anthems [March 2023]

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