Robert Miles: Dreamland (2LP, gray vinyl) [SONY MUSIC]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set on gray vinyl spreads the album over four sides. "Children" went to No. 1 in more than 12 countries, reached No. 2 in the UK and was Europe's most successful single of 1996.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gray vinyl
• Pressed in the EU

About the album

Most club tracks are made to get people moving. "Children" was made, in part, to calm them down. Robert Miles, a Swiss-born Italian DJ and classically trained pianist, wanted something to soothe ravers before the drive home, and he was moved by photographs of child victims of the war in the former Yugoslavia that his father brought back from a humanitarian mission. The track first came out in Italy in early 1995.

The result was a gentle piano melody over a rolling beat, a sound the press quickly called dream house. Dreamland builds a whole album around it: "Fable" follows the same graceful formula, "One & One" with Maria Nayler became a hit of its own in the US, and "Princess Of Light," "In My Dreams" and "Landscape" drift by in the same widescreen glow. The album appeared in Europe in June 1996, and the US edition a month later added "One & One."

The album was a smash across Europe and helped push trance-flavoured dance music into the pop charts. It also proved that a piano lesson or two can come in handy at 4 AM.

Also at Kops: more Robert Miles on vinyl · browse Electronic

Tracklist

Listen

On Sony Music (cat# 19658820491), a reissue of the 1996 album.