Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout

On March 31, 2001, Nettwerk Records released Chillout 2001: V.1,[1] the first volume of Chillout, a CD installment series featuring compilations of chill-out songs and music by Nettwerk-signed artists.[2] Additional installments were created over the years, including Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout, which was released by Nettwerk on June 15, 2004.[3] It is the fourth overall volume in The Ultimate Chillout portion of Nettwerk's Chillout franchise. Two separate releases occurred for the album: one in the United States where Nettwerk's main offices are located and one in Canada; the album was only made available as a CD.[4][5] Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout was fronted by A&R and project coordinator George Maniatis, who co-authored the album's liner notes. Producer and Nettwerk executive Craig Waddell provided the mastering for the album's twelve songs.[4]

Some of the Nettwerk artists featured on Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout include Goldfrapp and Delerium. The collection opens with "Do You Realize?", a 2002 single by The Flaming Lips. Both "Do You Realize?" and Radiohead's "No Surprises" are of the atmospheric rock genre.[3] Lesser known songs from Nettwerk artists like Wax Poetic ("Angels") and Andain ("You Once Told Me") are also included on the album. "Angels" was mixed by Thievery Corporation and features guest vocals from jazz artist Norah Jones while "You Once Told Me" was described as similar in sound to the works of Massive Attack.[3] The compilation also includes several previously unreleased remixes of singles; the Marius de Vries mix of Sarah McLachlan's "World on Fire" and Carmen Rizzo's Chillout mix of Tiësto and Kirsty Hawkshaw's collaboration "Just Be" are exclusive to Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout.[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]

Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout received a mixed rating from David Jeffries, a senior editor for AllMusic. Ultimately, he awarded the compilation three out of five stars. He wrote: "[I] can't blame you if you're cautious about a collection that claims to contain 'the ultimate chillout' and is already up to volume five, but you can't beat Nettwerk's licensing muscle and their taste ain't [sic] bad either."[3] Although he praised the additions of "All That You Give", "Angels", and "You Once Told Me" in the collection, he disregarded "Four the Floor" and "Pick Up" for being hectic and not within the means of the chill-out genre.[3] Jody Rosen, a journalist and music writer for Slate featured the album on a list of chill-out compilations that were popular in the United States. She attributed the popularity of chill-out collections like Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout and others due to the introduction of satellite radio channels and outdoor concert festivals devoted to chill-out music debuting throughout the country.[6]

Adapted from AllMusic and the album's official liner notes.[3][4]

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout.[4]

• A&R/final mixing/project coordinator – George Maniatis
• Art direction/CD design – Little C
• Legal – Michelle Dubuc
• Makeup/hair – Shanly McDermid
• Mastering – Craig Waddell

• Chillout 05/The Ultimate Chillout at Discogs (list of releases)