Various Artists - Cream Live Vol.2 (Paul Oakenfold/Nick Warren/James Lavelle) (CD 1996)

The first 15 tracks of CD3 constitute a very good DJ mix by The Psychonauts, with brilliant scratching and skillful sticking together of mostly Mo'Wax beats & breaks. It's slightly better than their rather rushed 'Time Machine' mix but not as good as their longer Radio One 'Essential Mix'.

The mix quickly flits from one track to the next in the trademark cut & paste style of The Psychonauts, resulting in a high energy mix that maintains interest throughout, but (unlike with 'Time Machine') not so fast as to prevent the listener from getting into the individual songs. Whilst featuring great drums, the actual songs in the mix are not that amazing in themselves, but it's the WAY these guys use four turntables to bring the best out of them that is so impressive. The scratching is very rhythmical and diverse, never getting monotonous or overbearing in the way that a lot of scratch DJs can be, and perfectly complementing the songs over which they appear.

I may be wrong, but I think James Lavelle's contribution to the mix is restricted to tracks 16 - 19, boring songs that have here been overplayed and very averagely stuck together. It's certaainly a change of style, both musically and DJing, that provides a disappointing end to an otherwise highly innovative mix.