This article first appeared in New Age Retailer, Spring, 1999
A not-so-successful attempt
to list my
top 25 (just a few more?)
New Age albums
You
gotta hear this!
by Carol Wright
A not-so-successful attempt
to list my
top 25 (just a few more?)
New Age albums
You
gotta hear this!
by Carol Wright
A list of the "best 25 New Age albums"? Been there. Done that with my "New Age Golden Oldies" article for Napra several years ago. New Age Voice had just published a "best" list the month before, and the compiler did as I had done, included PJ Birosek (Musik International), Lloyd Barde (Backroads Music), and others in the judging process.
As I wondered about a unique angle on my list, I was avidly tracking down albums -- anything -- by the Cuban "salsa" diva Albita, whose energy and passion filled that missing something in my soul. I even hungered to hear her softened koo-ban accent and to somehow transfer the sounds to my tongue. I was so taken by this singer, that I separated my friends into those who "got it" and those who didn't. Ah! Sounds familiar…I've done that with New Age albums also.
So, I mentally assembled my list of "you-gotta-hear-this!" albums and found most of them missing from my collection. Of course, I had lent them to my friends, and they told their friends "you-gotta-hear-this!"…and kiss that album good-bye. When I rounded up what I could, I found that my solo assessment could in no way be fair. Over the years, I had somehow collected or reviewed a lot of Michael Stearns but very little Steve Roach or Klaus Schulze, a lot of Iasos and Steven Halpern but not as much Aeoliah, tons of Paul Winter but not too much Oregon, all of Constance Demby but little of David Arkenstone and Tangerine Dream.
When I approached my 25-review limit, I realized I was over budget. How could I fit in Paul Horn's Inside the…albums, Ray Lynch's Sky of Mind (is it out of print?), R. Carlos Nakai, and so many others?
And what happened to some of my favorites?! Where, tell, went Alan Stivell's
groundbreaking The 
Renaissance
of the Celtic Harp? And Wendy Carlos' Switched-On Bach [NOTE:
Since this I wrote this article, Wendy's restored all the "Switched-On"
albums. See my 
interview
with Wendy, and the review of her Switched-On Boxed Set], and the Ravi
Shankar / Yehudi Menhuin masterpiece West Meets East? [Just in,
the day I post to the internet: West Meets East: Historic Sessions
had been re-released on Angel.] A pleasant surprise in all of this involved
the Flesh and Bones release Skeleton Woman. "How can this be discontinued?"
I asked Silver Wave, "It's a CW Top 25!" What was the matter with these
people? The title was sold, and not to Peter Kater's new label, nor to
their related Platinum label. Just as I was finishing the article, the
album found me.
Allan Kaplan of Authenticity Music (Boulder, CO) was delighted that
I found Skeleton Woman worthy of high ranking. He thought so also,
and bought the title from Silver Wave. He feels he can make it a hit, as
he did with Ray Lynch's Deep Breakfast. Why didn't Skeleton Woman
take off? Kaplan felt the tie to the Clarissa Pinkola-Estes story (pulled
from her masterpiece, Women Who Run with the Wolves) worked for
some people, but didn't register with others. Also, the nudity on the cover
attracted some, but drove others away. He's retitled the album The Passionate
Music of Flesh and Bone and designed new cover art showing a hot flower.
His mission, he says, is to save these masterpieces from the recycle bin
and to give them the life they deserved. I gave him my preservation wish
list, and he promised to find out their status. See Romantically
Inclined, below, for my review of the resurrected Skeleton Woman.
[NOTE: Apparently The Passionate version has not been released.
Will update as I get news.]
FOLK
ROOTS / CELTIC
Icarus
Paul
Winter Consort / Living Music
Common Ground
Paul Winter Consort / A&M
Records
These two albums are groundbreakers for different reasons. Icarus
(1972) popularized the
world-fusion-folk-jazz genre. Ralph Towner played 12-string for the first
time on the title track, which for me, is THE anthem of the New Age (heard
regularly as the theme song for New Dimensions). Some of the musicians
on this album (Towner, oboist Paul McCandless, and percussionist Collin
Walcott) broke away to form the group Oregon. Common Ground
pioneered the use of animal songs as intentional voices in the melody and
using music to make an environmental statement. The album's songs are very
memorable, especially Susan Osborn's riveting "Lay Down Your Burden," Of
course, through it all is Winter's soulful soprano sax which often sounds
like the calls of wolves. A&M still owns Common Ground, but
you still should be able to find it.
Pieces of Africa
Kronos Quartet / Elektra
Nonesuch
You may shy from the chamber music sound, but this recording of modern
African compositions for string quartet and African instruments is thoroughly
refreshing. What probably makes the combo work is the quartet's similarity
to the sound of the African kora harp (hear Foday Musa Suso play it on
"Tiliboyo.") The pieces represent composers from Zimbabwe, Morocco, Gambia,
Uganda, Sudan (Hamza el Din), Ghana (Obo Addy), and South Africa. African
and Middle Eastern percussion and vocalists add to the intriguing textures
and intoxicating rhythms. The Kronos Quartet is known for commissioning
modern works. Explore!
The Visit
Loreena McKennitt
/ ADD
Enya may have opened the door for Loreena McKennitt's popularity, but
McKennitt's talent, musical intelligence, clear (and understandable) voice,
and savvy marketing instincts have made her an impressive and growing presence.
With The Visit, McKennitt emphasizes the words, and you'll want
to read along with the traditional laments and ballads. Tennyson's 11-minute
epic "The Lady of Shalott" is spellbinding, while McKennitt's spooky rendition
of "Greensleeves" (written by Henry VIII) will give you goosebumps. The
album's medieval flavor also touches the music of Eastern Europe, Persia,
and Spain -- music perhaps brought by gypsies.
THE
NEW ACOUSTIC
After the Rain
Michael Jones / Narada
Woodlands
Eric
Tingstad, Nancy Rumbel, David Lanz / Narada Lotus
These are similar classics from Narada's early days. Sure, they've
all done slicker albums with 20-bit digital recordings, but these early
albums are favorites. After the Rain is a dewy-eyed classic by pianist
Michael Jones and friends; it's innocent, hopeful, and noble. It's crisp
and invigorating, yet restful and renewing. I guess "refreshing" sums up
its appeal. Woodlands is soft and restful, like walking barefoot
on the soft floor of a forest.
Autumn
George Winston / Windham
Hill
This is the album that started the modern revolution in solo piano
playing. Winston's simplicity is elegant, his complexity delightful, his
embellishments high art. So few notes, yet still vital after all these
years.
The Köln Concert
Keith Jarrett /
ECM
This is the "chick flick" of piano jazz. I recall middle aged females
sunbathing on a deck. This solo album came over the speakers, and every
one of them sighed "oooughhhhaaaaa." Hypnotic, intense, driving,
ecstatic, and gripping. There must be some New Age in there somewhere,
but until I find it, "oooughhhh-llaaaaal" will have to do (men,
you've been warned). Good stuff, four extended pieces, recorded live. Consider
also Peter Kater's 1987 Fool and the Hummingbird (Silver Wave),
a musical impression of a man in love with a lunatic hummer. It will really
make you smile!
Solo
Egberto Gismonti /
ECM
Egberto Gismonti is a dynamic jazz/folk guitarist/pianist from Brazil.
Gismonti begins this solo album with an impressive 11-minute improv for
8-string guitar. When you think he can't possibly continue less he shred
his fingers, Gismonti opens the piece to a transcendent chant and the zing
of cooking bells. "And Zero" is one of the most sublime and passionate
piano compositions I have ever heard. Then comes the remarkable "Frevo"
for piano and the multi-layered "Salvador" for guitar and voice. The final
ten minutes are spent with cooking bells and piano, whose lyrical theme
resembles the streamers of a windsock. A pianistic thunderstorm brews mid-track,
but Gismonti leaves us with a sublime peace…and a desire to check out more
wonderful recordings on the ECM label.
MILLENNIALMASTERPIECES
Heart Land
Tim
Wheater / Almo Sounds
Ring in the new millennium with this epic masterpiece. With the encouragement
of a Howard Thompson (Almo's A&R), Wheater took his overtone singing
and expanded it to fit something the size of the Astrodome. Stuart Wilde
assisted with the lyrics, and David Lord helped write the score. Opera
soprano Sarah Leonard flew in to sing The Voice of the Heart. John Richardson
is The Shaman, Hossam Ramzy plays Egyptian drums, and Frank Perry works
the Tibetan bells and Mongolian voices. Add The Winchester College Quiristers,
a male chorus (The Tribe), additional female soloists, horns, harps, flamenco
guitar, woodwinds, percussion, and orchestral keyboards. Heart Land is
an electrifying, operatic saga in four parts that follows a warrior's quest
of a return to the heart. Hear angels, an exciting inner battle with a
chaos of drumming, chanting, overtone singing, and (of course) Tim Wheater's
flutes. The album ends with the heralding of the French horns as spirit
welcomes the warrior to the land of the heart. This album shakes me to
the core.
Novus Magnificat:
Through the Stargate
Constance Demby /
Hearts of Space
Constance Demby's monumental two-part Novus Magnificat is symphonic
space music at its best
.
Splurge on new speakers and fill your living room with the orchestra of
the century, the choir of the millennium. It's a Bach's organ toccata and
a series of massive orchestral expressions worthy of Mahler; it's filigrees
of Baroque delight and thundershowers of heavenly light streaming through
the stargate to your ears. Originally written for the 1986 Harmonic Convergence,
it's time has come again to welcome in the new millennium.
The
Journey Home on Wings of Light
Aeoliah / Helios
Music
This impressive synthesizer album begins with a heavy-sounding section
that seems to pry open the 
heavy
gates of the universe. On your sonic journey, you'll be surrounded by angel
choirs and twinkling stardust. Water will cleanse you, celestial harmonics
will vibrate your cells at the pace of breathing, and you'll rocket to
"Sirius Via Andromeda." Aeoliah calls this album an "interdimensional doorway
into the stargates through which we first passed before our physical birth
on planet Earth." His inspiration was the anticipated shift to happen in
the year 2012. The album ends with a windblown lullaby.
SPIRITUAL
BUZZ
Music to Disappear In
Raphael / Hearts of
Space
What's not to like about Raphael's sensually spiritual music? Pick
any album…delectable! This one from 1988 is a classic because it contains
the angelic-voiced "In Paradiso" section from Gabriel Fauré's transcendent
Requiem.
On this heavenly album, Raphael stays in reach of Western harmonics and
symphonic orchestrations sprinkled with cosmic tonings. Not all is lush-romantic-lush,
however. "Resurrection" takes its lead from Charles Ives' "The Unanswered
Question" -- except Raphael's answer is tantalizingly within reach. Rhythm
queen Gabrielle Roth sits in on one track, "I Say Rock 'n Roll Prayers
to a Dancing God," however her rhythms are more like rocking rather
than rockout. Most of Raphael's albums are on HOS, but check out
his tantric music albums with partner Kutira Decosted.
Angelic Music
Iasos / Bluestar
Communications
This classic album includes two tone poems from heaven: "The Angels
of Comfort" and "Angel Play." 
On
both tracks, the sounds shimmer and glitter, and choirs of angels seem
to polish the road before you. "Angel Play" is my favorite side. Magic
dust swirls 'round your head, while twinkles pick at your ears. Sounds
sheer like cascades of light while crickets serenade beside a brook going
nowhere. This music has been said to most closely resemble the sounds heard
by the near-death travelers. One listen, and you'll know it's true.
Seapeace
Georgia Kelly /
Heru Records
Georgia Kelly plays the concert harp, and in the late 1970s, she composed
some of the most profoundly deep and eternal music imaginable. The first
piece, "Nilapadma (Blue Lotus)," beats with a heartfelt lyricism, a somber
yet romantic air. On the title track, Tony Selvage plays electric violin
recorded with dynamic echoes. He soars and skitters higher and higher,
like a dove freed from the dungeon, then swoops back to touch the earth
amid swirls from the harp. At 40-minutes long, Seapeace is the perfect
length and flow for a massage or Reiki treatment. I'm glad it's available
on CD--Eternity suits it.
Ecstasy
Deuter / Celestial
Harmonies
What an aptly titled album. This 1979 classic, recorded in Poona, India,
still has its ecstatic punch, even after all these years. Here Deuter engulfs
the senses with heady, tingly brushes of dulcimer strings, with orgasmic
groaning tones, with the alluring call of the recorder. The steel string
guitar serenades your spirit to dance soar, while patterns of organ notes
swirl you into an ever-increasing state of bliss that will consume your
whole body. Chose your ecstasy: It's sensual, it's spiritual.
Ancient Echoes
Steven Halpern and Georgia
Kelly / Steven Halpern's Inner Peace Music
You may know Halpern's Spectrum Suite and Eastern Peace.
But Ancient Echoes has an improvisational magic that can't be topped.
This 1978 album begins with a gentle processional by harpist Georgia Kelly
-- so delicate it's like petals floating in a fountain. Halpern's chants
give the impression of a nearby temple. "Apollo's Lyre" combines intoxicating
harp musings with playful tones from Halpern's Rhodes electric piano. "From
Eleusis" stirs up the inky depths of the soul with Halpern's flute groping
in the darkness. The "advance echo" technique used on Kelly's "Crotona"
is absolutely riveting. Halpern and Kelly improvised in many exotic musical
keys to bring you these echoes of times past.
Golden Voyage, Vol. I
Robert Berns and Ron Dexter
/ Audio Alternatives
What a magical garden these two composers created in 1977. The CD recreates
their original record album cover, intense with its mystical geometric
symbols. The music, however, is enchanted by water fountains and bird songs.
It's a pure delight, "a galactic exploration through celestial harmonics."
Instruments include a resonant vibraphone and guitar, synth strings and
flute, crystal gongs, chimes, and a slightly out of tune piano. The melodies
are charming yet sensual and bittersweet. There's always the sense that
this space is a gateway, creating the feeling of mouthwatering, tingling
anticipation.
ROMANTICALLY
INCLINED
The Poet: Romances for Cello
Michael Hoppé
/ Teldec
The Poet is Michael Hoppe's set of duets for keyboards/piano
and cello (Martin Tillman) inspired by the photographs of his grandfather,
E.O. Hoppé (1878 - 1972). The album offers musical interpretations
of literary legends Carl Sandburg, Aldous Huxley, Kahlil Gibran, A. E.
Housman, Walter de la Mare, Sara Teasdale, and others. The soaring and
somber tone of the cello, and the unrestrained yet languid romanticism
of the melodies will make you weep. Any one of the pieces would be a showstopper
at a classical concert, but I suppose Hoppé's use of keyboard synth
orchestrations tossed this album over to the New Age bin. Well, lucky us!
Hoppé has two other albums in the series-- The Yearning and
The
Dreamer -- both with flutist Tim Wheater. Hoppé tells me that
his next album will be with Tillman and Wheater on the Hearts of Space
label. [It's a done deal. Check out Afterglow.]
The Passionate Music of Flesh and Bones
previously issued as Skeleton Woman
Flesh and Bones /
Authenticity Music
This music, pure pathos and passion, is based on the folk tale of the
fisherman who can't get rid of a netted skeleton, who then responds to
his caring and comes very very alive. With vocals by Peter Kater and Chris
White and the seductive drumming of Glen Valez, you'll find this album
very memorable for an evening with your loved one. Get out that massage
oil! [As of Nov. 1999, this album is not available.]
PERFORMANCE
ART
Bright Red / Tightrope
Laurie
Anderson / Warner Bros.
Anderson has been a cutting edge performance artist since 1972. Her
brilliant multi-media performances integrate songs/poetry with slide shows,
electronically altered voices, spot television cameras, and her signature
violin that plays phrases from its recording tape bow. Her wry lyrics deal
with biting topics without being preachy or bitter. Anderson uses hip rhythms
to build energy, yet her silences are breathtaking. And what a voice! She's
intelligent. She's cool. She's got spiky hair. And she occasionally. tours.
Check her out.
RELIGIOUS
AND CHANT
Heart of Perfect Wisdom / A Sufi Song of Love
On Wings of Song & Robert
Gass / Spring Hill Music
Robert Gass and his choir On Wings of Song have created many superior
choral chant albums. This double-album contains the Tibetan overtone singing
AND luscious choral harmonies. Heart of Perfect Wisdom uses Buddhist
Sanskrit words "Gate, gate, para gate/para sum gate/bodhi, svaha!" (gone
gone, gone beyond, gone beyond the beyond the beyond/hail to the awakened
one!). The first section features both men's and woman's voices as a canon
(parts overlap) in an processional. With its deep overtone chanting, track
two is grittily, gongily focused. The album ends with "Kalama: A
Sufi Song of Love," inspired by Sufi mysticism. One can visualize the singers
gracefully greeting each other in a circle dance.
Global Meditation:
Authentic Music from the
Meditative Traditions of the World
Various Artists /
Ellipsis Arts . . .
This four-CD set, with 32-page booklet, continues to be a favorite.
Music from 40 countries are included on the four themed discs -- Voices
of the Spirit (Songs and Chants), Harmony and Interplay (Ensembles), The
Pulse of Life (Rhythm and Percussion), and Music from the Heart (Melody).
But just because this music is meditative does not mean it's not passionate
or lively. Here, you'll be immersed in an intriguing variety. Included
are field recordings (a Vodun-Rada rite from Haiti), modern interpretations
(the blistering "Lineage" by Zakir Hussain and the Rhythm Experience),
recordings in monasteries (Buddhist monks) and churches (Anonymous 4),
meditative dance music ("Semai" Sufi dance music), and a concert recording
of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Pakistani Qawwal singer.
A
CASE FOR SPACE
Space Hotel:
Seven Modern Dervish Dances
Al Gromer Khan /
New Earth Records
Bavarian composer and sitar player Al Gromer Khan calls his heady brand
of space music "Paisley Music" or "God Perfume." These seven pieces are
intelligently wrought, stately yet hypnotic, dervish "dances" that float
and swoon for the love of God. "Dance of the Hydra" is a thirteen-minute
swirl that steadily takes the listener or dancer to a state of ecstasy.
This high-class creation will creep under your skin-you'll find some unusual
and humorous poetry in the liner notes, too. Check in to this hotel, and
you'll be forever changed.
Planetary
Unfolding
Michael Stearns /
Sonic Atmospheres
Michael Stearns composed his 1985 space music classic, Planetary
Unfolding, on the Serge synthesizer. "In the Beginning" starts with
an organ drone, which creates a "visual" horizon as you travel through
space. Mind blips, space winds, and engine sounds create the illusion of
movement. "Toto I've a Feeling We're not in Kansas Anymore" is the second
phase, still space, but an initiation passage through tragic voices. A
rocket blasts you to a peaceful emptiness, and you end with an enthralling
final ride. Part two begins with the sound of an approaching turboprop,
which sucks you from this reality to another realm. Stearns' clear yet
wordless song sets a somber tone as you pass through the core of the cosmic
heartbeat. On the other side, his voice is victorious, and you float in
a pleasure dome alive with birds and crickets. The re-entry finale crescendos
around patterned rhythms that converge as a rocket-powered-cosmic-railroad-track-of-the-mind.
Planetary
Unfolding is fun, but it may also take the listener through "shadow"
spaces: tragedy, uncertainty, sadness, unworthiness. If you have trouble
finding Stearns' early albums, get his two Fathom/HOS compilations, Collected
Ambient and Textural Works 1977-1987 and Collected Thematic Works
1977-87.
Silk Road, Vol.
1
Kitaro / Domo
This classic has been recently remastered (20-bit digital) to present
an impressive clarity of sound. This, and his other Silk Road albums,
scored a television documentary about the famous trade route. Thus, the
occasional camel lop is not out of place. The eloquent and evocative title
track must be one of the most memorable melodies of the New Age. The trippier
sections will take bouncing with the caravan, soaring with birds, and wandering
the exotic inroads of Oriental mysticism. Many of Kitaro's albums have
been remastered, and you may want to obtain his album Best of Kitaro,
Vol. 2.
Other
Early Space Music Classics:
Jean Michel Jarre, Oxygene (Dreyfus, 1976), a six-part rocket-charged synthesizer extravaganza.
Tangerine Dream, Rubycon (Virgin Records, 1975), a challenging,
larger-than-life, gong-filled synthesizer environment. Side two will get
you buzzing, and its dizzying effects will tie your mind in knots of infinity.
RHYTHMS
AND BEATS
Ritual:
A Remembrance for a Forgotten Earth
Gabrielle Roth and the Mirrors
/ Raven Recording
Gabrielle
Roth's music comes from movement -- five rhythm types -- flowing, staccato,
chaotic (like tumbling), lyrical, and stillness. The movements catalyze
and help move through the emotions of fear, anger, sadness, joy, and peace.
The meditative pieces -- played on percussion, bells, flutes and woodwinds,
vocal chants, sitar -- focus on flowing, which makes Ritual a sure
choice for massage, trance dancing, and love making. To work through her
entire rhythm cycle, listen to, and dance to, Invocation.
Planet Drum and
Drumming on the Edge of Magic
Mickey Hart and friends
/ Rykodisc
With
the innovative collaboration between HarperSanFrancisco and Rykodisc, the
Drumming
on the Edge of Magic (1990) album and book by Grateful Dead drummer
Mickey Hart thrust drum magic into the mainstream. A year later, the Planet
Drum book-and-CD combo joined set. The music is a creative introduction
to the sphere of world drumming and those who keep the rhythms and take
them to the future. Some of Hart's drum buddies include Sikiru Adepoju,
Zakir Hussain, Airto Moreira, Babatunde Olatunji, Vikku Vinayakram, and
vocalist Flora Purim.
UPBEAT
VOCALS
How Far? How Fast?
Robin Frederick /
Higher Octave
New Age vocal albums can be too folksie-preachy or chanty or sensually
goddessy. Here's an album that could have made it to the big time…if only…Composer
and singer Robin Frederick's songs are snazzy-sounding, with slick production
values. Her lyrics display a mastery of both poetry and advanced metaphysical
concepts. Her voice is lovely, strong, and understandable; her skillful
overdubbing of herself as chorus is brilliant. The two-part "Reasons to
Love" contrasts her mechanical statements of quantum theory against the
lyrical melody about love. The "reasons to love" chorus in its angelic
harmonies is a mindblower! When you need something to blast over your car
speakers -- get this.
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