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There are moments when I realize how privileged I am to be fortunate enough to live in a time when I’m privy to musical experiences being created I can’t hand out accolades like this very often as of late, but upon listening to Christopher Lawrence’s Around the World, I became aware of being in the presence of something quite close to perfection, and something that doesn’t at all fall short of a masterpiece. There is no conspiracy to Christopher Lawrence or is there? Lawrence who has enjoyed such titles as America's #1 Trance DJ has compiled a disc that shows his ever-broadening talents. With his recent Moonshine release, Lawrence has moved his sound forward in an expansive way by mixing an intense disc with hints of electro and house while not leaving out his signature trance touches. Throughout this disc is a definite feel of Lawrence's growing interest in progressive house, which only energizes his already stellar set. Lively uptempo tracks abound, including Mark Lowndes’ "The Curse" and Lawrence's own mix of Mile High's "Night Fever". The sonic connection between these two tracks becomes the heart of this disc. The only change I would have made would be to make it a continuous-mix CD. On several occasions, Lawrence drops into extended valleys of calming lows after achieving almost monumental heights with his sound. This disc should be enjoyed at the highest volume available, so you can be fully enveloped by the all-encompassing mix that will continue to send waves of pleasure through your body long after the disc has ended. Trance can be a journey. Let Christopher Lawrence be your guide - Around The  World. Lawrence, one of the most popular American DJs on the club scene, follows up his highly acclaimed "United States of Trance" with "Around the World," a demonstration of the mastery of hard house and techno trance that earned him his props. The journey begins on a quiet, dark note, as Lawrence starts the album with Luigi's "Jet Black." The mysterious melodies work slowly and smoothly through the beginning minutes of the CD. The first few songs are calm and restrained compared to later tracks. These include Manhattan's "Spectrum" and Mark Lowndes' "Indya." It's not until Lawrence's own remix of "Night Fever" that frenzied beats and sharp breaks take over. The final five songs on the album mix thumping synth sounds, climaxing each time to contagious dance beats sure to radiate in clubs.  Lawrence recognizes the calm trance and hard house electronic music lovers appreciate, mixing both well on "Around the World." This is my favorite CD so far. It's the most mature. I have ones that came out earlier that I really liked, and at the time those were my favorites, but I think that trance music and progressive house music have undergone a big evolution in the last couple years. I mean, it went from being completely underground, to going entirely commercial, and there was a lot of really cheesy trance that came out. But that happened to house music. It happened to everything. And in response to that, trance got really deep and it became deep progressive. I think that that kind of ran its course. It had to do that to get away from the total cheese. What happened is the cheese just got too cheesy, and the deep progressive just got too deep. It's some of the best-produced music, but it just doesn't work on the dance floor.  But it had to happen, and out of those two splitting, I think there is a new trance with a new term called 'power progressive.' It's trance and progressive, but it's more like what underground trance used to be, or progressive with a bit of energy. That's what we really need right now. I think a lot of people lose perspective as to why they go out; they go out to have a good time. You want intelligent, mature music, but you also want music that has a bit of energy and a bit of fun to it as well. So getting back to Around the World, it was an opportunity to put together a CD with some of the more forward thinking progressive house and trance. I think because trance has gotten a lot deeper, it's a lot more mature sounding CD, but it's also not so far to the left where its lost the power and the energy. It's a good balance, and I think that that's the direction that progressive house and trance is gonna go. A lot of people lose perspective, and they forget that we were all young once and went out and had fun. Yes, our music taste has matured, but that doesn't mean that we have to lose sight of the fact that it's also about having fun. It's not about alienating other people; it's about including other people.