Tag: new age

594. William Ackerman

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(August 2024) Episode 594 is WILLIAM ACKERMAN. As the founder of the Windham Hill label, Ackerman played a big role in popularizing New Age music (the pastoral side of it). As I mentioned in the George Winston episode, I had a Windham Hill phase in the 1980s, which included Ackerman’s guitar offerings, but hadn’t visited the stuff in decades. Ackerman’s work embodies the duality of New Age music: it can be beautiful and relax and transport you, but it can also be cloying and vapid. As an example of the former, his song “Visiting” takes me to a happy place as it reminds me of the High Sierra backcountry hikes I did as a youth. Ackerman’s earlier recordings are more spare, showing his guitar skills. The later works add lushness and layers of instrumentation more typical of what you’d expect from a New Age playlist.

Favorite album: Childhood and Memory

Favorite song: Visiting

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: As an acoustic guitar guy, I enjoyed returning to his work more than to Winston. I recommend the first 5 or so albums, for the reason mentioned above.

580. George Winston

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(June 2024) Episode 580 is GEORGE WINSTON. Back in the 1980s I had a phase with the Windham Hill label, particularly guitarists William Ackerman and Michael Hedges and pianist George Winston. As a student, it was good music to study and relax by. You could let the music transport your mind and mood to a different place, which is what the label was aiming for. This music was later categorized as New Age, although of the more earthy variety. I had Winston’s Autumn and December (both solo piano) in regular rotation, which were effective in evoking a pastoral aura of those seasons. But I hadn’t put on a Windham Hill album in decades. Returning to Winston, I did re-experience the mood but in a rote manner. But with time it comes off as rather vapid. His recordings were more than the “rural folk piano” style he was famous for; Winston liked to do New Orleans-style R&B and also played guitar and harmonica.

Favorite album: Autumn

Favorite song: Colors/Dance

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: This can still serve as pleasant relaxing piano music, but it is not going to offer anything more than that.

356. Ash Ra Tempel

~ ernopepper ~ 2 Comments

(September 2021) Episode 356 is ASH RA TEMPEL, along with ASHRA and MANUEL GÖTTSCHING solo albums. It started as a classic avant-garde Krautrock collective leaning toward the spacey side (Kosmische Musik). But it became a vehicle for Göttsching and reached a peak when he put his guitar at the center. He gets the most Mike Oldfield-like guitar tone I’ve heard elsewhere. The best stuff sounds like a blend of Oldfield, Tangerine Dream and Discipline-era Fripp. 

Favorite Ash Ra Tempel album: Schwingungen

Favorite Ashra album: Blackouts

Favorite Manuel Göttsching album: Inventions for Electric Guitar

Favorite song: Echo Waves

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: If you like the artists listed above, this is a must.

159. Jean-Michael Jarre

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(March 2018) I have completed episode 159 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: JEAN-MICHEL JARRE. As a big fan of the golden age of electronic music, JMJ’s 1970s albums have always been in my rotation. Unlike some contemporaries, JMJ’s career did not wholly descend into new age-y drivel (like Tangerine Dream) or wander into vocals (like Mike Oldfield).

Favorite album: Óxygene

Favorite song: Équinoxe 5

Favorite period: 1973-78

Best ambient: Waiting for Cousteau (song)

Compared to expectations: same

Equinoxe_Jarre_Album.jpg

157. Michael Hedges

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(February 2018) I have completed episode 157 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: MICHAEL HEDGES. I still get amazed by the wizardry of his “violent acoustic” guitar — two-handed hammer-ons, thumping, harmonics, etc. But when he adds vocals it ruins the magic.

Favorite album: Aerial Boundaries

Favorite song: Aerial Boundaries

Worst album: The Road to Return

Compared to expectations: ↓

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95. Mike Oldfield

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(September 2016) I have completed episode 95 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s full discography. This edition: MIKE OLDFIELD. A pioneer of new age and world music, it would be a mistake to categorize his music through the banality and pretention that those genres are known for. In fact, his first three albums are true masterpieces — inventive, diverse rock symphonies. After a venture into forgettable pop music in the 1980s, he fully succumbs to new age drivel by the mid-1990s.

Favourite album: Ommadawn

Favourite song: Tubular Bells, part 1

Favourite Period: 1973-78

Worst Album: Earth Moving

Special sauce: Piltdown Man

Compared to expectations: ↓

mike_oldfield_ommadawn_album_cover

80. Tangerine Dream

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(March 2016) I have completed phase 80 of my “opus project,” in which I listen to an artist’s complete discography.   This edition: TANGERINE DREAM. This was a lesson learned for my project, of falling down a rabbit hole, not being able to get out, and forcing myself to make it to the end. I absolutely love Tangerine Dream’s work in the 1970s as pioneers of electronic music.   From the 1980s, it was mostly banal, new age, synth drivel, although it had some value in soundtracks. With 98 albums and parts of 22 others, this was quite a time suck.

Favorite album: Phaedra

Favorite song: Phaedra

Favorite period: 1971-78 (mostly the “Virgin years”)

Favorite soundtrack: The Keep

Worst album: among many, I select the recording of cover songs “Under Cover — Chapter One”

Compared to expectations: ↓

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