These days, Clarke is more known as a DJ than for making banging techno tracks, which is a shame. Ditched his decks and vinyl a few years back too. At one time he was a solid producer, and his best tracks stand up to anything out there. This CD is a compilation of some 12" tracks from his "Red Series" along with some other stuff, all sequenced into an album for home listening. I don't think ultra dull looped banger tracks had completely taken over techno, so what you get here reflects more of a Detroit influence. Specifically, Robert Hood and Jeff Mills, but Clarke has some ideas and personality of his own to add to the mix. He tries a few different things here and not everything works 100%. The opening track is a faux-orchestral, beatless synth piece and a couple tracks with some hip hop influences (and even vocals) pop up too. Personally, I think Clarke is at his best when he sticks to making fairly straightforward techno tracks that have peaks with heavy kick drums and gradual build-ups (I don't mean like trance though!). Protective Custody, Wisdom to the Wise, and The Storm are particular standouts to me. Miles Away takes a more melodic, less intense path and works pretty well too. Even if this isn't a perfect album, I'd still highly recommend it if you want to hear some of the best techno from the 1990s.

Archive One is an album every techno lover should have or at least should have listened to. It contains most tracks of the 'Red' series that were released on vinyl. Archive One contains tracks which strech the boundaries of techno: 'storm' and 'thunder' are two leaning on hardcore techno tracks, whereas 'rhapsody in red' is a kind of electronic 'classical' track. 'no one's driving' and 'the woki' are featuring f*$&ed up breaks. Other tracks are mostly good and relaxing techno tracks. Brilliant must have cd.

Trivia: my copy came in a cardboard gatefold sleeve, with a "tearaway" strip to open it. Once you'd torn away the strip, the words: "Archive accessed" were revealed. (No way to get at the CD without tearing the strip!)