Best "new age" album ever?
Mar 10, 2006 at 7:16 AM Post #16 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc Sarvis
Ray Lynch - Deep Breakfast


"No Blue Thing" is good too (and very well recorded to boot). Seems like it's hard to find a poorly recorded 'new age' CD.
 
Mar 13, 2006 at 11:01 PM Post #17 of 30
I like Chris Spheeris alright, but he's going to have a hard time topping his first album.

That said, you should also check out Patrick O'Hearn, one of my favourite new age artists.
 
Mar 14, 2006 at 1:30 AM Post #18 of 30
oh boy.
I know just about nothing about New Age but I do like the genre.
All this info and potentially buying even more music is making both my head spin and stomach churn.
 
Mar 14, 2006 at 3:49 AM Post #20 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk
I like Chris Spheeris alright, but he's going to have a hard time topping his first album.

That said, you should also check out Patrick O'Hearn, one of my favourite new age artists.



Yep, definitely have a few of his CDs.
 
Mar 14, 2006 at 4:02 AM Post #21 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by DLeeWebb
I would second the post quoted above. Andreas Vollenweider is great. I especially like "Down To The Moon." "Aerial Boundaries" by Michael Hedges is also very good music...



Dancing With The Lion By Andreas is one of my all time favorites! I also love
"Best of Michael Hedges
 
Mar 14, 2006 at 5:17 AM Post #22 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Dusty Chalk
I like Chris Spheeris alright, but he's going to have a hard time topping his first album.

That said, you should also check out Patrick O'Hearn, one of my favourite new age artists.



If you like guitars, then start with O'Hearn's Metaphor album; if you like electronic-ambient, then go for Trust, Ancient Dream, or the Best of album under Private Music (don't know if it is still in print or not)
 
Mar 14, 2006 at 9:29 AM Post #23 of 30
After listening more critically, gotta re-evaluate my SQ estimate of "Dancing with the Muse" ... it's more like a 7 or 8 out of 10. Guess I was letting my affection for the music influence judgment
tongue.gif
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Mar 20, 2006 at 5:11 AM Post #24 of 30
Davey said:
Very true, but how could you leave off arguably one of the most important new age releases ever, which also happens to be on Hearts of Space?

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Nothing else is even close. And I love Will Ackerman's best, Ray Lynch, Michael Hedges, George Winston, Enya's early recordings, Wim Mertens, Eno, and all else, but this is the masterwork.


JC
 
Mar 20, 2006 at 3:22 PM Post #25 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Nightfall
Nothing else is even close. And I love Will Ackerman's best, Ray Lynch, Michael Hedges, George Winston, Enya's early recordings, Wim Mertens, Eno, and all else, but this is the masterwork.


Yeah, I'm kinda surprised that yours is the only response to it, either pro or con, since I'm sure others must know it. Especially with all the space travellers around here. Her music is pretty popular isn't it? Even Grammy nominated. From her site ...

A Grammy nominated album that has been called 'the most important New Age recording of all time'..."this colorful electronic excursion sparkles on disc with a clean and vibrant sound. There is a spatial, stream of consciousness feeling to this music that takes you out of the realm of everyday experience. A modern sacred work, and a powerful, emotive, uplifting symphony capable of moving the heart and soul, Novus Magnificat sets exceptionally high standards for the artistic use of electronics, space, and classical elements in contemporary music." - Digital Audio

"Demby's groundbreaking Novus Magnificat ....a benediction of cascading starlight and its sacred avalanche of massed choir and orchestra." Carol Wright - NAR

"One of the greatest musical works of our time." - Pathways
Reviews:

"The Mozart Requiem of the New Age ...an exciting and powerful musical experience." - Audio Amateur

"A landmark recording in the New Age genre." - Digital Audio

"One of the finest pieces of contemporary sacred spacemusic we know." - NA Media

"The first New Age album to give this writer goosebumps. Don't miss it. " - Lee Underwood - Pulse! Magazine

"One of the great works which will take us into the 21st century with power and grace."- New Dimensions

"There is no other recording in the electronic genre rooted in the harmonies of Bach and the romantics that is so heartfelt, so devout...you will be moved "- USA Today

"Awesome passages, majestic melodies, vibrant chorales - this is cosmic space music at its very best."- Common Ground

"The standard for the use of electronics against which future New Age albums should be judged. " - New Sounds (Harper & Row)

VOTED -- "Editor's Choice" - Third Annual Digital Audio

VOTED --" Top 50 definitive CD New Age Library" - CD Review

VOTED -- "One of the 10 best albums of the decade. " - New Age Category, Pulse! Magazine

VOTED -- "One of the 25 best gateway New Age albums" - NAR

Top 15 Electronic New Age Albums List
"A masterpiece that will be listened to hundreds of years from now & still take people's breath away. An angelic mix of electronic strings, voices & keyboards. Music to enter Heaven by."

"...Compels your attention, demands your participation with it. Demby delivers a genuinely moving performance. " - Magical Blend Magazine

"A powerful, emotive, uplifting symphony capable of moving the heart and soul... Novus Magnificat sets exceptionally high standards for the artistic use of electronics, space, and classical elements in contemporary music. " - Digital Audio

"Monumental...symphonic space music at its best... 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..." Carol Wright, New Age Retailer

"When we played [Novus] on our radio show, more people responded with appreciation than for any other music we have ever played " - Enlightenments

"That we might really be traveling "through the stargate" is an extraordinary thing to accomplish with sound alone . It never fails to move and excite me." - The Absolute Sound - # 124

"ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ALBUMS EVER! This CD belongs right up there as one of the great inspirational and spiritual compositions of all time!" -Jim Brenholts -"TRACKS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE: A CHRONOLOGY OF AMBIENT AND ELECTRONIC MUSIC"

Novus Magnificat, a gorgeous, otherworldly opus from classically trained pianist Constance Demby, has become a true classic in New Age music, appealing to a wide variety of listeners, many of whom are ordinarily put off by the genre. Rooted in worship music of the Western tradition, Demby's majestic improvisational vision produces what the 1986 disc's liner notes call "Contemporary classical Spacemusic: A Magnificat and Exaltate." Incorporating the central voice of synthesizer with a string-and-horn section, piano, organ, bells, and tympani, a choral voice joins with instrumental passages, setting a blissfully reverent tone throughout this two-part melodious marvel. Master composers Bach and Vivaldi come to mind when hearing the keyed chord progressions and swirling strings, making Novus Magnificat a keenly majestic score for use during massage, labor and birth, meditation, worship, or relaxation. --Paige La Grone
 
Mar 21, 2006 at 3:14 AM Post #27 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by Vicious Tyrant
This columnist has some strong opinions on the matter:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33664

Good for a chuckle, anyway.
very_evil_smiley.gif




He hits hard on the nail.

I for one refuse to get along with the recent releases by say, Yanni, Kitaro, Nick Gunn and David Lanz, although I used to admire them in their prime. I now spend hardly any money on New-age music now, although I still pick up old Windham Hills whenever I can (these CDs are getting expensive in the used market, incidentally).

New-age music is no longer the creative vanguard it once was -- ever since big labels took over and the truly visionaries (like Demby and Tim Story) have been driven underground.
 
Mar 21, 2006 at 5:14 AM Post #28 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP
He hits hard on the nail.

I for one refuse to get along with the recent releases by say, Yanni, Kitaro, Nick Gunn and David Lanz, although I used to admire them in their prime. I now spend hardly any money on New-age music now, although I still pick up old Windham Hills whenever I can (these CDs are getting expensive in the used market, incidentally).

New-age music is no longer the creative vanguard it once was -- ever since big labels took over and the truly visionaries (like Demby and Tim Story) have been driven underground.




Very well said Falcon, as usual. I couldnt agree more. I have well over 300 new age cd's almost all from the golden era and love the music. Sadly, what is released these days is at best disappointing, at worse, well, words fail me. As you also noted, even many of those we once respected have lost their way. Kitaro's music has been essentially worthless in recent years, and Enya seems to repeat the same musical themes until they almost become a parody of what she once was, and you've covered David Lanz and others. What a disappointment. Even Constance Demby seems to continue to recycle the same primary musical themes from her brilliant masterpiece "Novus Magnificat" over and over in releases since then.


JC
 
Mar 3, 2007 at 5:01 AM Post #29 of 30
Here's a vote for Substrata by Biosphere.
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Just about anything by Steve Roach - Early Man, in particular, comes to mind.

The mid-nineties release of the soundtrack to Blade Runner by Vangelis. Also "The City" by Vangelis.

Love New Age, Space Music, Ambient - thank god for XM Audio Visions (in the car.)
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Mar 3, 2007 at 8:06 AM Post #30 of 30
Quote:

Originally Posted by FalconP /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I now spend hardly any money on New-age music now, although I still pick up old Windham Hills whenever I can (these CDs are getting expensive in the used market, incidentally).


I knew it....see my blog entry from over a year ago.

To me, Kitaro's "Silk Road" is the definitive New Age album.
 

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