The second part of our Tracks That Shaped The Summer series takes us nostalgically back to 1994 for a look at one of the greatest trance anthems of all time.

It’s fair to say that 1994 was a bit of a turning point for popular culture. It was the year the Sony Playstation was released, revolutionising the gaming industry. It was also the year that Friends first hit our TV screens, giving us all an insight into the lives of our favourite group of twenty-something New Yorkers.

It wasn’t all sweetness and light, however, the deaths of Tupac Shakur and OJ Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her lover Ronald Goldman would dominate the news around the globe for months on end. England escaped their usual penalty shoot out from the World Cup in the USA, but only because they didn’t qualify for it, and the real highlight of the year saw the release of the Wonderbra, one of the most uplifting moments of the twentieth century.

So, back to business, For An Angel was originally recorded by the German trance stalwart in 1994 and released on MFS. The track first featured on van Dyk’s debut album 45RPM, and is seen as being the track that launched one of the most successful and longstanding careers in the electronic music industry. For An Angel was remastered and re-released as the E-Werk Remix in 1998 on Deviant Records. It quickly became one of the most recognisable trance tracks of the 90s and featured on multiple compilation albums and mix series.

For an angel lit up dancefloors all over Europe in the second have of the decade and made its way onto a number of Europe’s charts with a highest position of 28 on the UK Singles Chart.