Evening With Windham Hill Live [Live]

Various Artists - New Age | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Windham Hill Records
• ASIN: B000000NFK
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,173 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Rickover's Dream - Michael Hedges

2. Turning: Turning Back - Alex DeGrassi

3. Clockwork - Alex DeGrassi

4. Spare Change - Michael Hedges

5. Visiting - Will Ackerman

6. Hawk Circle - Will Ackerman

7. Reflections/Lotus Feet - George Winston

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4.5 Stars... Where is the Remastered and Expanded Reissue?, December 21, 2004

By 

Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evening With Windham Hill Live (Audio CD)

The Christmas season is usually the time of the year that I dig out my collection of Windham Hill CDs. The Windham Hill "new age" label, founded by guitarist Will Ackerman, issued a bunch of truly classic albums in the 80s, and this particular compilation is one of the label's very best.

"An Evening with Windham Hill Live" (1982, 7 tracks, 41 min.) is a sampler of some of the label's biggest names. The album starts off with 2 great guitar pieces: first the (late) Michael Hedges brings his wizardry on "Rickover's Dream", then it's Alex DeGrassi's 9 min. epic "Turning: Turning Back" ("it's just about a trip to Philadelphia!"). "Spare Change" finds Hedges surrounded by pianist Liz Story and bassist Michael Manring, outstanding! But wait! There's lots more! Guitarist (and then-label CEO) Will Ackerman teams up with Chuck Greenberg (of Shadowfax) and brings a soaring "Visting". The last 2 songs feature George Winston, on "Hawk Circle" he is joined by Ackerman and Hedges, and on "Reflections/Lotus Feet' it's Winston solo. Great great stuff.

The CD I have is a straight transfer from the vinyl album I had. I don't understand why this CD is out of print. This album is nothing short of a "all-star" collection of Windham Hill's best artists. If nothing else, this album should be reissued with a remastered sound AND bonus tracks, which surely exist (the sleeve notes indicate the songs were recorded over two nights). In any event, in these cold winter months, what better than to light up the open fire and to have Windham Hill music in the background while reading a good book!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a classic, January 20, 2005

By 

Erik Hansen (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Evening With Windham Hill Live (Audio CD)

i've been poor as of late. to the point that i've sold most of my cd's. this is one that i've held on to. and now that i see i could sell my mint copy for over $20, i would still never do it knowing i could never get it back. this is one of those albums i continually go back to and lost myself in. i rediscovered my dad's old windham hill vinyls back in 96 and this is one of those albums i heard countless times as a child, so putting it back on as a young adult was like deja vu in the best possible way. the songs are all great, the recording is great. i agree with a previous poster that they should release a new version of this disc with new tracks because they must exist. but even if they did release it again, i'd never part with this original, just as i won't ditch my original copies of "december" "autumn" and "winter into spring" in favor of the 20th anniversary editions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Rickover's Dream"...a career-best performance from Michael Hedges, March 26, 2007

By 

Mike (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Evening With Windham Hill Live (Audio CD)

First, there's not a bad note on the CD. In the years that followed, Windham Hill diversified in a number of different directions, but this was the "Wooden Music"....as Crosby, Stills & Nash might have labeled it...that put them on the map. It's this CD's performance of "Rickover's Dream" (by the late, tragically under-appreciated Michael Hedges) that best sums up what was at the heart of Windham Hill's "classic" sound. This CD is also notable because even though the term "New Age Music" later became synonymous with "garbage" as label after label after label lined up to clone Windham Hill's legacy, it was still young and innocent and fresh and vital here. Beautiful stuff...get it.