Rediscovering hardtrance classics

It may seem cheeky of me to talk about rediscovering hardtrance classics from my collection that I only discovered myself a few months ago, but I've gotten so much material so quickly that some stuff sinks out and needs to be rediscovered, I suppose.

I've always liked Uwe Wagenknecht, and he's one of the early discoveries I had in the genre.  He's one of the DJs that debuted during Wave I hardtrance but seamlessly made his way into Wave II.  Most of his best work seems to have been collaborative, and he worked with a lot of other artists.  Especially Mike Staab (Misar—together they were Cosmik Vision, Mikado, Nightclub, Pro-Active, and a few more, most notably Yakooza) and Martin Roth (M.R. or Y.O.M.C.—together they were DJ Wag & M.R., Pro-Tech, etc.)

One of Wag's early hits was a collaboration with M.R. called "Life on Mars" released on Overdose Records in 1998.  It had a bigger release in late 2001, this time credited solely to DJ Wag, but featuring two new remixes; a DJ Wag Mix and a Y.O.M.C. Mix (keep in mind that Y.O.M.C. is Martin Roth.)  Later releases, such as all of the Pro-Tech records which were a collaboration between Wag and MR were released in this same format; with a Wag Mix and a Y.O.M.C. Mix.  It's kind of a cool idea.

Anyway, this 2001 Overdose re-release with new mixes is what went on to become the really big hit, and a somewhat modified version of the Y.O.M.C. mix is the best known version of the song today.  However--the original vinyl mixes are the best ones, and they are begging to be remastered and re-released digitally.  The Y.O.M.C. Global Mix is not structured as well as the original Y.O.M.C. mix and the DJ Wag mix, which sounds quite a bit different, just isn't available at all except on old vinyl or vinyl rips.

If you don't mind the vinyl hiss and a number of scratches and pops (some vinyl snobs actually argue that such makes the song sound better but that's just freakin' retarded) then check out these two mixes.  Good stuff!