Having captivated us with his album for a new millennium, "The Tide Of The Century", Tim Blake wasted little time in recording his 5th solo album, "Caldea Music II". This time though, we have a commissioned work, the music being written for the Caldea Thermo-Ludique Center in Andorra. This was the second set of music commissioned by the centre, hence the "II" in the album title (so don't look in Blake's discography for "Caldea music I"!). It was also Tim's first 100% instrumental record for over 25 years!

Built like a Crystal City by French architect Jean-Michel Ruols in the center of Valdez, Andorra's capitale, Caldea's clients enjoy thermale bathing, relaxation and steaming, in the naturally hot waters that are one of Andorra's riches.
Built in a "New Age" fashion, the Caldea center bathes it's guests in "New Age Music" too!

With that background in mind, it is important that fans of Blake do not approach this album expecting something similar to his previous solo efforts. That said, while this is Blake's first totally instrumental album in many years, it would be wrong to simply assign it to a new age classification. Admittedly, there is a relaxed quality to the music, but the blending of Celtic influences and strong electronic rhythms on some tracks results in a diversity which new age music does not usually boast.

On the second track, "Floating", Blake's Tangerine Dream like synth passages are complemented by some glissando guitar played by Christian Boule. The blending of the two forms a highly effective wash of floating sounds and melodies.

The feature track of the album is "The Great Pool" which runs to a shade under 20 minutes. The track sounds like it may have been lifted form one of Tangerine Dream's later albums, when the early solo synth performances had been replaced by smoother waves of polyphonic sounds. While the track has definite new age leanings, it is altogether too rock orientated to be dismissed as such.

On the final track, which is called "Caldea II" (the opening track is titled "Caldea"), Blake is joined by Konan Mevel playing Catalan bagpipes and Celtic flute. The piece is a powerful, anthemic number, the kaleidoscope of sounds coming together delightfully in a Celtic cacophony.

In all, an album which, while largely devoid of rock influences which are a usual feature of Blake's work, is much more than simply an hour of new age noodling. The music here certainly has ambient, relaxing qualities, but it also stands up to closer scrutiny than many of its peers of a similar type.

Tim Blake's 4th solo album. Recorded in 2000 on Tim's "Studio Virtuel" at the Moulin à Vent de Coët Bihan, France.

Certainly Tim's most sophisticated record in a long while. "The Tide Of The Century" should be considered as his new millenium offering.

Tim Blake may not be a household name, but those who enjoy the music of Gong and/or Hawkwind should be aware of him. Blake has been a member of both those bands during his long career, and even today is still touring with the latter. In the early 1970's, Blake was one of the pioneers of the use of synthesisers by a rock band, and was one of the first to use one on stage.

Blake's solo career has been a stop go one to say the least. After a pair of albums, including the acclaimed "Crystal Machine" in the early 70's, it took Blake until 1991 to release his third solo effort. A further 9 years then elapsed until the appearance of "The Tide Of The Century", appropriately in the year 2000. The album was some four years in the making. It is fair to say that time has moved on since those early solo albums, and those familiar with them should not simply expect more of the same here.

"The Tide Of The Century" is an album of diverse influences, with modern electronic sounds and trance like rhythms finding harmony with ambient beauty. The opening "Nature L" forms an appealing overture, with distorted vocals interplaying with an electronic beat and synthesiser motifs. The title track is the first of three longer pieces on the album. This beautiful mid-paced song features a fine blend of piano, vocals, lead guitar and synth. While never ambient, there is an unhurried mood to the song which is both captivating and stimulating. The icing on the cake is the mellotron like synth which provides the framework for this majestic opus.

On "St. Doolay", Blake sound a bit like Chris De Burgh (the early years when he was good!), as he sings accompanied only by piano. The track incorporates a delightful piano and synth duet. The second of the longer pieces is "Crystal Island" the title bringing to mind Blake's debut. Here, Blake adds a little light rapping to a song which is a bit like a cross between Ian Dury and Kevin Ayers. The mood is decidedly more wispy here, and girlie backing vocals add a pop feel. Nevertheless, the track builds superbly, its hypnotic rhythm supporting some more fine synth work.

At just over 9 minutes, "Byzantium Dancing" is the longest track on the album. Here, Blake is supported by Min Tse Chou on guitar and Stof Kovaks on analogue synthesiser. This is one of just two genuine instrumentals on the album, the piece being very reminiscent of Tangerine Dream around the time of "Rubicon". "Sarajevo (Remember)" features highly effective bagpipes like synth, the song dealing sensitively with the tragic war in the Balkans. The song blends influences such as "Biko" (Peter Gabriel), and "Belfast Child" (Simple Minds) in a piece of great emotion. The album closes with "Tribulations", a reggae style song with rapping by Loys Kerhoas. It is not quite as bad as at sounds, but if you leave the album after track six, you will not have missed anything!

In all, a superb album by Blake which sees him blending a diverse range of styles and sounds into a highly enjoyable set. There is plenty of good old fashioned monophonic synth to enjoy, along with a fine array of other sounds. Recommended.

Tim Blake's third solo album recorded "live" at home in Brittany and released in 1991. This is the remastered edition from 2000.

"Magick" was former Gong and Hawkwind keyboardist Tim Blake's only recording in a 13 years stretch of virtual retirement. In his liner notes, Blake claims that these eight home-recorded songs were never meant to be heard outside of his immediate circle, and indeed, the record has a rough-edged, homemade charm that makes it sound like a casual demo. Perhaps surprisingly, this effect is actually in the album's favor, as it keeps the album's space rock explorations from sounding overly slick or garishly pretentious. The 12-minute "The Strange Secret of Om Gliding" is an almost funky instrumental with a sequenced bassline that suggests that Blake had been listening to some of the acid house records that were popular at the time. The handful of vocal tracks reminds listeners that Blake has an uncanny vocal similarity to the young Peter Gabriel, but that his lyrical sense doesn't quite keep pace with his composing and arranging abilities. They're not bad, just kind of slight, and in truth, that slightness is in keeping with the offhand quality of the album as a whole.

"Blake's New Jerusalem" is the second solo album and first studio album from British synthesist Tim Blake, released on vinyl in 1978. This is the remastered CD edition from 1992.

This record is quite definitely Tim's most catalogued recording and best selling album. It contains, among other things, the first recording of Lighthouse also "covered" by Hawkwind.

Blake played synths with Gong, Hawkwind, Steve Hillage, and other similar projects before going solo synthesizer performer and recorder. This was Blake's first studio release versus his recordings of live gigs. He really polishes things up a great deal, adding guitars, and singing in the style of Gong's Daevid Allen and Steve Hillage's solo offerings. Blake's vocals would never be his strong point. His blessing to the ears was and always will be his ethereal and spacey synthesizer expertise. As Gong and Steve Hillage all preached the New Age and tuning into earth vibes and aligning one's soul with earth energies to bring in a world of light and love -so Blake also crooned. No doubt, the '70s drug culture and disenchantment with organized religion had an immense influence on philosophy and music. So when you mix it all together into altered states of consciousness you get such evangelistically naive but sincere musical expressions such as this release. Laying aside all criticisms of the lyrics and the "message" being given here one will find dreamy, tripped-out, synth work that stands as some of the very best of its era. The track "Blake's New Jerusalem" alone is worth hearing over and over again as it is an assured head-trip needing no chemically altered states. This piece alone is as good, if not better, than any of the sequenced synthesizer work of Jean-Michel Jarre or Tangerine Dream. Blake's embellishments and melody-line improv solos are a matchless beauty. In other words -this song is other-dimensional, universally metaphysical, and deeply moving for those of any faith in some great beyond.

The age of progressive electronica! Tim Blake presents a mixture of progressive, acoustic, space rock and electronica music filtered through his talent and musicianship. The result is an innovative record that will surprise many people who are not very familiar with electronic music. The album deals with themes from birth of man and space that fit perfectly with the music. The listening of the record is a pleasant, yet "strange" journey into cosmic galaxies.

The album starts off with a pleasant and spacey "Song For The New Age". Acoustic guitars and few keyboards compile a great opening with decent (not great) vocals. Very promising start that intrigues the listener and keeps his interest active for the next to come.

"Lighthouse" changes the flow of the album to a more electronic path. Spacey, obscure keyboards and weird vocals are dominant. Lyrics deal with space and cosmic relations, creating a psychedelic emotion that will flow on through the album till the end.

"Generator (Laserbeam)" is the next and, most definitely, the weakest track in the album. The music continues on the same path, but the vocals are at least mediocre. The tone of the voice is ironic and may pose some interest on the song, but the overall vocal performance turn this track to a filler, that could easily be excluded from the record. Tim Blake might have probably included this as an interval to the next spacey track...

"Passage Sur La Cité Des Révelations" (instrumental) is another electronic piece of music quite similar to "Lighthouse". However, this time, the music is filled with more melodies and more jamming keyboards making this far more interesting for the listener. The perfect intro for the album's last epic that is about to follow...

I don't know what Blake was thinking when composing "Blake's New Jerusalem", but this track is one of the most interesting in electronic music. Beautiful instrumental parts alter with weird lyrical melodies, making this the ultimate standout from the record. Although this is a 16 minute track that follows a standard tone, it's far from boring, it's more like a journey.

Prepare for your cosmic journey, it's a new age!

British synthesist Tim Bake was a former Gong, Hawkwind and Steve Hillage member. "Crystal Machine", its 1st solo effort, was originally released in vinyl on 1977. This is the remastered CD edition from 1992.

As well as being among the first to bring the synthesiser out of the studio and on to the stage, in the very early 70's Tim Blake is noted for being the first to introduce the use of Laser lighting in the entertainment world. This lighting project was held under the name of Crystal Machine.

In this sci-fi synth soundscapes, Blake develops his own musical eccentricities with lot of moods and technologies. The album delivers a sensual "cosmic" synthesizer trippiness. It's played as a long live session, supposing to be a performance for a sound installation, exploring the nature and meditative dimensions of astral navigation. All tracks are recorded live, mostly from the Seasalter Free Festival in 1976, with one cut, "Synthèse Intemporel" being recorded at the La Palace Theâtre in Paris in February 1977. The first composition "Midnight" opens the audiovisual show with intense, endless dreamy synth strings, "cosmic" sounding molecular noises. A very effervescent improvisation, the best moment here. "Metro Logic" is a groovy, kitsch synth experimentation, including spaced out textures. "Last Ride Of The Boogie Child" is a mysterious, relaxed electronic excursion, featuring a nice bass groove and drum machines. "Synthèse Intemporel" is an ambient, new agey, astral exploration with lot of analog synth melodies that contains its little good moments with well found electronic figures. The track is a real delight for all those who enjoy mid-period Tangerine Dream (i.e. Ricochet) as that cut is an obvious attempt at Blake trying to sound just like TD. "Crystal Presence" reveals better impressions despite that is not an epic spaciousness. The sound is warmer and darker, much more atmospheric too.

"Crystal Machine" has that most wonderful '70s synth sound, so if you hate plastic sounding digital synth sounds (like too many albums from the 1980s and 1990s), and you like '70s electronic music, you might like this one. It is also recommended to sci-fi synth maniacs.

As many of you are aware, this past week has been very tough for me. I won't go into the details, but will leave it at this. A very large part of not only my daily life, but the lives of so many people, was suddenly taken from us a week ago. He was a true inspiration to everyone that had the privilege to know him.

I would like to thank each and every one of you who not only took the time to offer your condolences, but also to took the time to reflect on the just how precious life truly is. Each of us is uniquely gifted with the sweetest thing of all - LIFE. It's a shame that something as horrible as death had to be the thing to remind me of it.

My hope is that everyone who reads this will take a moment each day and cherish the life that is within each of us.

Bright

My friends.

Bright, our friend and administrator of this wonderful portal has suffered the death of a relative.
That's why its time has been so limited and the reason for its absence in the past few days.
He will be back active on Friday, after the funeral.
Lets give him our best words of support in this sensitive moment.

Thanks for your comprehension.

Note: This album was never released on CD. This is an excelent quality L.P. vinyl rip. I have searched it on the net for years so I'm sure this is the best you can get.

German musician Wolfgang Bock (who later changed his last name to von Pappritz) is one of the musical followers of Klaus Schulze, whose album "Cycles" is regarded classic EM-album since it was released.

The energetic album –produced by Klaus Schulze- has a strong retro sound, and overall sounds quite reminiscent of what Schulze was doing in the middle and end of the ‘70’s and mid-period Tangerine Dream.

"Cycles" includes two side long pieces, the first one "Cycles" begins with huge floating synthesizer patches before breaking into one of several amazing sequences on the album, chugging along before being joined by, yes, a real drum kit. The similarities with Schulze's 1976 album Moondawn are immense here - the chugging sequencers, the drums, and yes a background choral patch. This piece floats along with all kinds of wonderful warm synthesizer patches and squirly noises throughout its duration in fine Berliner style.

Side two includes the tracks "Robsai" parts I and II, "Changes" and "Stop The World". It starts with a strange pipe organ synth patch before voices and a speedy, arpeggiated sequence patch in. These come to a pregnant pause before a rolling drum pattern and string patch sequence enter in (strangely enough) a major scale. Solo drums, and yet another drop into silence, before some key-changing sequencer trickery emerges, setting up a phenomenal drum and sequence bit that lasts out the rest of the album with some fine synth soloing and a dramatic finale with mellotron chorale and effected bells.

It’s a pity this album will never be released on CD as the master tapes of it have disappeared by mysterious reasons at Universal Music.

All in all, "Cycles" is recommended to fans of sequencer and the Berlin School style.

This is actually a compilation of two complete albums by French electronic musician Richard Vimal. "Aquarhythmies" was originally released in 1980, and "Migrations" in 1978. Included also is one track from his rare 1977 album "Transparencies" (an album that, unlike his later work, was more pop oriented and included vocals - though the track culled for this compilation is instrumental), and one new track recorded in 2001.

Vimal's music is of its age, and can be compared often to other popular electronic artists of the time, especially fellow countryman Jean-Michel Jarre, and Vangelis. The analog synths at the time were still fairly primitive, and required a bit of experimentation to get the kinds of sounds the musician was looking for. While Vimal's sound never gets quite as daring or far out as the other artists mentioned, he does create a soothing kind of music that perhaps presages the new age music boom of the 80's. Some of his pieces have an almost classical feel (in more of a chamber sense than a symphonic one) like the lovely "Arcanes", the gentle "Pavane", and the melancholy and mysterious "Metaporphose D'un Bal" (the new track recorded in 2001). But he does get a little more rhythmic and spacey, experimenting with sequences on pieces like "Elixir" and "Itineraire", and the weirdly futuristic "Les Litanies Des Animaux Cybernetiques". He even includes some nice acoustic guitar on several pieces, including the plaintive "A Cloche-Pied" and the bright and airy "Nuance".

If you're looking for some relaxing and enjoyable instrumental electronic music, that's not too challenging, but isn't cloying either, Vimal's album may be your ticket. It's been very nicely digitally remastered for pristine clear sound and features the original "Aquarhythmies" cover art.

"The Interstellar Suite" is an imaginary science fiction movie soundtrack composed on synthesizers by Amin Bhatia in 1987.

Years ago, as electronic music was strengthening its position in the mainstream and the radio was starting to play what became known as "New Age Music", there emerged a new label called Cinema, which was a new imprint from Capitol Records. The Cinema artists were mostly renowned keyboard artists from well-known bands, such as Peter Bardens (Camel), Patrick Moraz, Tony Kaye (both from Yes) and Michael Hoenig. And then there was Amin Bhatia, whose release has far outlived the others, and, in fact, most titles from that era, circa 1987.

Unfortunately, the label folded soon after its launch, and these CDs have been unavailable since. Due to a total committemnt to quality and enduring music, Amin has never let up in his desire to make this CD available again. It just took a while!! Now, BACKROADS Music is pleased to be the Source for this classic CD that was so far ahead of its time that even now it is groundbreaking, and it sounds more sensational than ever thanks to the process in which the CD has been digitally remastered from its original analog elements.

Bhatia has composed a whole orchestral suite as a soundtrack for an imaginary wide-screen science fiction movie and then produced it on synthesizers. The debt to composers like John Williams is evident, but Bhatia manages to avoid bombast and electronic clich?, leaning instead on string timbres and Minimoog brass. Fragments of imaginary dialog also pop up here and there, adding to the sense of drama.

Don't loose "The Interstellar Suite". It's definitely a unique experience.