Blake Baxter isn't remembered quite as dearly as his fellow Detroit techno pioneers like Derrick May and Underground Resistance, but he certainly made his mark at the dawn of the techno era, as evidenced on Dream Sequence. This album was Baxter's debut full-length, and it was the second-ever release by Tresor. The Berlin label went on to become an institution and it did so with the help of pioneering Detroit producers like Baxter. The so-called Prince of Techno doesn't offer any monumental recordings here, yet that's not what makes Dream Sequence so interesting. It is so mainly because of what it foreshadows. Baxter is assisted here by Moritz Von Oswald (aka Maurizio) and Thomas Fehlmann, who would both go on to produce some truly monumental techno shortly afterward. Don't be misled by the solo billing -- this is very much a collaborative effort (the two Germans are credited with programming as well as engineering). You can hear the seeds of their future work here amid Baxter's productions, which are dark techno tracks aimed directly at the dancefloor. In particular, Dark Basse and The Warning are prototypical Tresor-style techno -- creepy and foreboding yet intense and direct, not unlike some of Kevin Saunderson's productions of the same era. Ghost and Laser 101 are similarly hardcore, incorporating siren-like sounds amid the hard-hitting beats. One Mo Time stands out most, with Baxter supplying some swaggering vocals to this otherwise instrumental affair. There's really not too much to say about these productions -- they're what you'd expect from an early Tresor release. But that in itself is novel enough to make Dream Sequence of interest to techno historians, and the fact that Von Oswald and Fehlmann have their hands in these tracks make Dream Sequence all the more interesting. Of course, interesting music doesn't always equate to great music, and indeed there's nothing too great here. Baxter would go on to make much better music and unfortunately fade into semi-obscurity in the process, so if it's him that you're most interested in you're recommended to look elsewhere (his Vault full-length for Disko B is a better choice, as is his Dream Sequence 3 follow-up). Tresor devotees may want to pick up this one, however, to hear one of the opening salvos in the label's illustrious legacy. [Tresor re-released the album in 2000 with bonus material, making it all the more worthwhile for the curious.] ~ Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

1		Ghost
2		The Warning
3		One More Time [1 mix]
4		Laser 101
5		Ex-
6		Dark Basse
7		Adrenalin
8		One More Time [2 mix]
9		Frequency Old Skool
10		Laugh and Dog
11		Medley

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