Tiesto — Kaleidoscope

Oh, Tiesto, you sweet Dutch man. You have a lot of famous friends and we get that you want to show it off a bit. But the problem with putting a few of them on your album alongside a bunch of nobodies who sound like a burnt-out Whigfield is that it just makes your whole album sound cheap, like someone snuck thin trance-filler on a pop compilation otherwise scattered with actual recording artists.

Fortunately, the big guest cameos like Sigur Ros' Jon Thor Birgisson on the larger-than-life title track and Kele Okereke's dramatic number are very big very danceable and quite good. He even makes Calvin Harris sound good. Nelly Furtado and Emily Haines fit in perfectly as massive-synth queens, and the guests lyrics aren't half bad either. Unlike the no-name others, they aren't singing about "heaven," "taking you there" or "feeling" things. OK, Tegan And Sara sing about feeling things in your bones, but that's different 'cause they're crazy and they make anything sound indie-cool.

The DJ's own tracks are positively hard driving numbers — if only because there is no added pressure of catering to a guest vocalist — but they're mostly forgettable.

This album is 17-songs long and could have been 10-songs good. Like trance music in general, it goes on too long and then you're spent. But do check out the celebrity songs, if only to liven up your iTunes playlist.

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