Customer Reviews

Hearts of Space: Starflight 1

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Years and years ago my father got a tape that was filled with hearts of space radio program sessions and I used to hear it when I would drive with him. It was always in the player and I was always happy to listen. Now I finaly found this album for my own use and I can't live without it. Especialy without song 9. by Tim Roach I belive? Wish I could get ahold of more just like that one. It's outta this world! Thanks Guys =)

I really, really like this CD. Although the first song "Carillon" seems a little out of place on the album (it's good but quite a bit different from the other songs), the remaining songs flow from one to the other extremely well and are similar in theme and style - very "outwordly" and contemplative. Overall, outstanding!

I regard this CD as a gateway to this genre. Everyone who has agreed to listen to this cd, especially track 9 by Kevin Braheny ("Other Side") forgets everything they were ever told about New Age music and leave with a real appreciation for the music. So if anyone should ask "Why New Age?" just play this for them.

this collection is supreme. all of the music is stellar, spacy,cosmic and most important,very electronic. it feels like an old vintage hearts of space program.
once upon a time, most of the hos broadcasts were like this........

I find it difficult to call this New Age, as the music just doesn't fit the format, I mean, not really, in my opinion. "Hearts of Space" has been on the air for almost 30 years, and in that time has presented some of the best ambient music from that kind of genre that National Public Radio can afford to throw out at you on a weekly basis. It is as if the makers of this music wanted you to fly out of your seat and float among the stars, if only for an hour.

This album is their first collection, and it is their best, hands down. Yes, the melodies are odd, and are "spacey," but do yourself a favor - listen to the samples provided here and think about a long ride out into the night, when the sky is crystal clear and the stars are so close to you that you can reach up and snatch them. This music gives you that floating ethereal feeling, a sense of oneness with the skies, a wonderment and just a feeling of awe.

I first listened to this on cassette back in late 1986 when I was living in Seattle, and the music fit with the night. It is all at once thought-provoking and wonderful, and if you were to bookend this with Wang Chung's wonderfully similar film soundtrack to "To Live And Die in L.A." and then place the soundtrack from Michael Mann's "Manhunter" after wards, you could have a really good night's worth of music for some really soul-searching while you night view.

I am not any kind of space cowboy by any means of the imagination, but this little CD, with 10 tracks at just under an hour is wonderfully crafted by some of the premiere music artists of the time for this kind of music. It's simple, relaxed, and pleasant to the ear - here's my 10-second review of each song:

1. Carillon - Michael Amerlan - wonderful opening music, once again, just draws me in...

2. Invisible Universe 1 - Tim Clark - Is Captain Kirk listening? This is new theme music, strong, powerful, subtle...

3. Invisible Universe 2 - Tim Clark - this is straight out of the John Carpenter style of music making - it keeps the pace, keeps the heart racing, and makes you relax.

4. Rings 3 - Tim Clark - Once again, Tim has created some of the best electronica for this album, and this shows his genius.

5. Halley's 2 - Tim Clark - Some of this music was created to meet Halley's Comet for it's 1986 arrival, this is one of them - brilliant.

6. Milky Way 1 - Tim Clark - The universe is big. Really big. so is this and it's sister song, Milky Way 2.

7. Milky Way 2 - Tim Clark - Once again, a big song for an expanding (or contracting) universe, just one of the many many many many thousands of millions of galaxies on this particular arm of the bigger galaxy we are locked into - for now

8. Contemplative Ascent - Michael Amerlan - We are merely wonderfully independent creatures walking the face of a carbon-based planet, and life is gone before we have time to use it right - this song makes me think about that, and I take the time to re-consider myself and my position in the world.

9. The Other Side - Steve Roach And Kevin Braheny - What is over there? Does it have music like this? Do they have any concept of music at all? Do we? Think about that...

10. Quiet Friend - Steve Roach - If Carl Sagan was alive, this would be his theme song - he and Stephen Hawking can then have extended conversations over a drink, and this can stimulate the thinking process and give them real true ideas about all of us, our design, and our place in the universe.

Is it New Age-y? Possibly. I've never subscribed to that kind of music myself, but this music here? As it's presented, it is true in it's intention - to create a sensation of simulated flight, over the world, over our house, over ourselves. Shut off the lights, lay down in your bed, close your eyes and put this on. I guarantee you you will be soon floating above it all, the problems, the screaming, the negative waves, everything. This collective album was created for relaxation and reflection, and I am hooked on it.

Please do yourself a favor and check it out, and if it appeals to you, as it might not to those who have closed their minds to it even before trying it (as I once did a long long time ago), buy it. It will give you endless joy and it will give you pause to think pleasant thoughts as you go above the din and just be part of this wonderful universe - this is it's soundtrack.

Years ago on K-Jazz they had a nightly segment called Hearts of Space where I first heard this album and others. It disappeared and I was sorry it did.

I bought this CD years ago and played it till it wouldn't play anymore. So finding this at Amazon was a stroke of luck.

If you enjoy sitting back with a glass of wine, your eyes closed and traveling along the stars you'll love this album.

It's more than music, it's a journey.

I love every other HOS CD I have bought, but I was very disappointed with this purchase. If you like high-pitched electronic wave music that has no melody, form, or ambience, then you will like this CD.