Record of the Year 1994: N Trance - Set You Free

I was quite reluctant to make this my record of the year as I've heard it so many times in my life and there are other records from 1994 that I probably enjoy more nowadays. However this did have a massive impact on me at the time and is still a great record.

At the beginning of 1994 amongst my peers you were either a Grunger or a Raver. I was a Grunger and therefore was not supposed to like Rave music at all, which I was ok with because there was very little of it in the charts at the time so didn't know much of it. I think this record passed me by when it reached number 39 in May too.

By the end of the year this record had gained in popularity and was rereleased early 1995 and made number two. I heard it and thought it was a fantastic record, despite the fact my Grunger status dictated that I shouldn't like that sort of music. At the same time though I hadn't listened to Grunge for a while, I was mostly listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and came to realise that I never really thought much of Grunge in the first place.

I bought this single along with the Prodigy's "Music for the Jilted Generation" album and then started to identify myself as a raver and continued to be one for the rest of the decade.

The following hit for N Trance was a cover of "Stayin Alive" which I hated. A fellow raver at school owned their "Electronic Pleasure" album which I listened to, but I thought "Set You Free" was the only track that was any good. It was a similar story for the rest of the N Trance records of the decade which consisted mostly of cheesy covers.

In 2001 there was a remix of this which charted, but it was rarely heard in the pubs and clubs with the original being played instead. This was the beginning of it being played to death. They followed up with "Forever" with the same vocalist, Kelly Llorenna which I also liked, but wasn't too keen on their final Top 40 hit "Destiny".

Many acts are remembered by most for having just one record, even if they've had many more and this is very much the record N Trance are remembered for. Sometimes the record in question doesn't do that act justice, but in the case of N Trance it's probably just as well people only remember this record and not the others.