Ok, I'll put you out of your misery! I don't think anyone would guess this.
I've thoroughly enjoyed reading, and listening, through these music threads so I thought I'd like to contribute an album for you to listen to. I hope you enjoy listening to it just as much as I've enjoyed listening to all yours. And a big thanks to
@BlueHammer85 and
@RobMCFC for putting these together, I've found lots of new music to enjoy.
I could've easily picked Sgt Pepper, Abbey Road, Revolver by The Beatles. Or Let It Bleed by the Rolling Stones, Ok Computer by Radiohead, Pocket Symphony by Air or Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. Not to mention anything by Joni Mitchell or Steely Dan.
However, the part I've really enjoyed with the albums the most is the ones where it's something I've not heard before. I loved
@KnaresboroughBlue 's choice - something I didn't expect. I also enjoyed listening to Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk, Let It Be by The Replacements and Foxtrot by Genesis as well as others. So my choice is something that I don't think many people will have heard, but I love. I have listened to this I'd say once a month for about 20 years now and I've never got bored of it. But first a bit of a backstory of how I came to find and love it.
When I was growing up, the main music I heard was my Dad's and he was really into Yes, Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell etc. I didn't appreciate it as a kid, but as I got older I love it now! However, there was two songs I remember hearing quite vividly in the early 80s which had a profound impact on me: The Model by Kraftwerk and Joan of Arc by OMD. I'd never really heard this...'futuristic sound' before. The sound only a synthesizer can make. It sounded so other-wordly and unusual to me. I must've listened to The Model hundreds of times after I recorded it! It was a song which lead me to start playing the keyboards (badly).
Back in the 80s you could easily learn to play songs like The Model on cheap keyboards. I could never dream of copying any prog rocker! My Mum n Dad got me a Yamaha keyboard and I copied Kraftwerk songs even though it was hopeless - my £50 Yamaha couldn't cut it and in truth I got bored of it a bit. It might sound odd, but even though a lot of music in the 80s was made with synths, it wasn't the synth sound I liked as it sounded too modern - the original, soft, analogue sound. I think there was a certain naivety about the sound I loved.
By the time the late 80s came around I lost all interest in synths especially once the Stone Roses etc came in. I dropped the keyboard and started playing the guitar. However, after a few years I was getting bored of guitars and one day I heard The Model again and basically rediscovered my love of synths. I very nearly chose Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk as my album (I know The Model isn't on it). I am a big fan of pretty much any music from the 1970s and I started looking at the origins of synth music and discovered ambient music. The starting point was Brian Eno's "Music for Airports" and I found it astonishing that anyone would write music that didn't have to be listened to actively! I had no idea music could be like that! I found the whole idea of it nonsense and yet fascinating - surely there couldn't be any decent music like that?
For those who've not come across it before, ambient music is designed to sit in the background and be unobtrusive. It doesn't grab your attention, it's not meant to. There's no choruses, sometimes no form or structure, it's meant to enhance the atmosphere. It could be music for lifts, meditation, a 'soundscape', noise or whatever. However, when it's done well it's superb. It does take a certain amount of listening to as it's very different to pop, rock or jazz.
I soon started scouring the internet for reviews of 70s ambient music as I knew I would find that soft synth sound I loved. Instead, I found this entire "world" of music that was never played on the radio or TV, never really discussed, never bothered with apart from a few websites dedicated to ambient music. I was finding some music that I found astonishing in it's ambition, particularly given the technological limitations of the times.
I loved ambient from the off and went from Brian Eno's "Music for airports", through to Steve Hillage's "Rainbow Dome Musick", Jean Michel Jarre's "Oxygene" and "Equinoxe" to Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra" and "Rubycon". Phaedra and Rubycon were superb and reminded me of the worlds that Roger Dean drew for Yes album covers which I adored looking at as a kid. I started to remember the "other-worldly" sound from The Model and Kraftwerk with "new ears". I loved it. However, none of these albums were a patch on one I found which absolutely blew me away:
Planetary Unfolding by Michael Stearns:
Planetary Unfolding is an ambient masterpiece.
It was recorded in 1981 by the American artist Michael Stearns. He composed it on a synth and it is based on a dream he had where all of the Universe was made up of sounds. It sounds absolutely pretentious, but it's not - I can't think of any other piece of music which sounds so perfect to describe what space sounds like. It is regarded as a classic of ambient music. It can be played in the background but you'd do it a huge disservice.
There's 6 pieces on the album and it only lasts 45 minutes which is quite short for an ambient album. Some of the songs are on Spotify, but the full album isn't sadly. If you want to listen to it in full, you will have to listen to it on YouTube. The tracks are:
In The Beginning...
Toto, I've A Feeling We're Not In Kansas Anymore
Where Ever Two Or More Are Gathered...
Life In The Gravity Well
As The Earth Kissed The Moon
Something's Moving
I won't go through each track, I just think you have to listen to it for yourself. The opening track begins from a low rumbling to a crescendo at around 5 minutes where it sounds like the entire Universe has been created, it's the only words I've got to describe it.
I expect a lot of people will find this something quite different. It's not an album to make you move, sing or dance to. It's there to provide background atmosphere, meditate or just sit outside watching the stars. It moves slowly, builds up slowly and gives you the time to listen to it. If you persevere with it, you'll find so much in the music. It is simply beautiful. In my mind, rightly or wrongly, I think this could be played by a classical orchestra and I kind of see it as a 'classical piece'.
I can put this album on at work and just get absorbed in the sound and block out any distractions. I can put this on at night with a few beers and just relax. If I've been listening to something like Rage Against The Machine, it calms you down and soothes! If you've had a mad Pantera-half-hour, this is ideal to cleanse the ears! Even though it is a synth album, I find that it has such a natural, organic sound, I really can't describe the sound at all - you just have to listen to it. If someone asked me what a fly-by of the early Universe sounded like it would be In the Beginning! What sound does a star make as it's pulled into a black hole? Life in the gravity well. It's got that epic "size" of sound.
I am astonished it was made 40 years ago, it's not aged at all. I also find it astonishing how anyone could 'hear' this in their head and then start to find the sounds and put it together. To make each piece sound different, yet blend to the next movement so naturally just astounds me. The music doesn't change much, but it changes a lot too.
It is something very different to the rest of my favourite albums, but I love it just as much as any Beatles, Stones, Bjork etc album. It's just different, very different. And that's what I love in my music, different sounds for different moods.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed your choices!
