L.E.S. - Project's Fragments

Genre: Italodance/House
Label: Press-To-Play Records
Type of media: Digital Release
Bought at: www.djshop.de
Reviewed by: Christopher von Würden
[rating]6[/rating]



Oreste Spagnuolo, better known as L.E.S. Project but also from various italo projects such as Under 4, Gigi D’Agostino & The Love Family, Noise of Love and some house and electro productions in cooperation with different artists, is now ready with his first album release entitled “Project’s Fragments”.
Most songs on the album are sung by Simone Galante who also is the singer of Under 4. Speaking of the Under 4 project (which holds prominent names such as Claudio Lancini and Diego Groff) the general style of this album reminds of “Lies” the only Under 4 single ever released.
Besides Oreste himself the album also features a lot of co-producers where Prezer DJ probably is the best known.

The album starts out with a track more or less in the style of around the year 2000 in “Surrender To You” a bit of an atypical track compared to the rest. Already in the next track one can easily hear the similarity to Under 4 with Simone Galante’s distinctive vocals in “Everyday”. Though starting good the album (of course..) needs to have a few less good tracks which are seen in the 2 forthcoming tracks “Never Say Goodbye” and “Musica Ligera”. If you are fond of the style from past Spagnuolo productions like “Horizon – I live On My Own” and “L.E.S. Project – You’re Not Alone” you might enjoy these two. Personally these house productions seem a bit dull though, but they are not making the general picture worse, however. “Passion (L.E.S. Rmx)” boasts the most surprising element on this album. Originally released by the Italian dance group Netzwerk in 1994 but brought to the style 10 years later – italo as it sounded in 2004. After the wonderful remix of “Passion” follows one great production after another. Especially “I’ll Be There” and “Open Your Eyes” are obvious to call instant classics but also “Me Ty”, “Ahora”, “Everyday” and the remix of “Breathless” are really great tracks even after many listenings.

01. L.E.S. feat. Jessica - Surrender To You
02. L.E.S. feat. Simone Galante - Everyday
03. L.E.S. - Never Say Goodbye (Radio Mix)
04. L.E.S. vs. Fabry Deejay - Musica Ligera
05. Netzwerk - Passion (L.E.S. Rmx)
06. L.E.S. feat. Paolo Pinna - I'll Be There (Radio)
07. L.E.S. feat. Evelyn - Ahora
08. L.E.S. feat. Andi Kongo - Me Ty (Radio Edit 1)
09. L.E.S. feat. Morylin - Breathless (Extended Mix)
10. L.E.S. vs. Prezer feat. Simone Galante - Open Your Eyes (Radio Edit 1)
11. L.E.S. vs. Prezer feat. Simone Galante - Open Your Eyes (Radio Edit 2)
12. L.E.S. feat. Simone Galante - Everyday (Radio Edit 1)
13. L.E.S. feat. Simone Galante - Everyday (Radio Edit 2)
14. L.E.S. - Never Say Goodbye (Extended Mix)
15. L.E.S. feat. Paolo Pinna - I'll Be There (Extended)
16. L.E.S. feat. Andi Kongo - Me Ty (Extended)
17. L.E.S. feat. Andi Kongo - Me Ty (Edit 2)

Oreste Spagnuolo really has got the upper hand with this release. In a time where average dance productions are seen weekly he proves that the style thought to be dead short after 2004 still can work. I will not go as far as calling it a reinvention but a style and a production quality that has been missing for years is now reintroduced with this album. If you enjoyed and miss the style of the golden period in italodance you must not avoid this album that simply would be your biggest mistake this year. Lastly all we can hope is that it will be released physically – it really deserves it.