The vast and varied musical styles collectively known as New Age are fully referenced in this comprehensive guide to the genre's performers and composers worldwide. Performers and composers are profiled individually, with each artist's country and date of birth; present home base; background and career highlights; and album titles, catalogue numbers, and release dates. Recording labels and distribution companies are also listed and discussed. The CD sampler includes 60 minutes of music referenced in the book. 150 illustrations.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A useful, well-researched resourse guide for fans of new age music, and possibly the only book of its kind.,
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This review is from: The International Guide to New Age Music: With CD (Paperback)
I just recently found Henk N. Werkhoven's 1998 book "The International Guide to New Age Music" at a used book store and immediately snatched it up. If the author's name sounds familiar, it may be because he himself is a new age musician, both as a soloist, and as a member of the group Dream Quest. Myself? I am just a big fan of several artists in this genre, and just like my other musical love, progressive rock, I've found that good literature on the subject is hard to come by. In fact, this is the only major book on new age music that I have found at all. Thankfully, it's a good one - maybe not a perfect one, but very good! The book basically just lists biographical information and discographies of hundreds of new age/electronic music artists from around the globe, as well as info on genre record labels, radio shows, and magazines. However, as this book was originally published almost 10 years ago, please be aware that some of the info in now woefully out-of-date, particularly regarding new age radio shows (which seem to have fallen completely off the radio dial in recent years!) But the main thrust of the book is definitely the artist listings, and they range from the most well-known genre masters, to obscure artists I'd never heard of. The biographical sections on Kitaro, Bekki Williams, Gandalf, Karunesh, Jon Anderson, David Arkenstone, Contance Demby, Ray Lynch, Kamal, Rick Wakeman, etc., are certianly great reading for fans. Unfortunately many other great artists are either not listed at all, or given short-shrift; such as Patrick O'Hearn, David Wright, and Richard Burmer. Perhaps the most glaring ommissions of all are that of new age/electronic pioneers Vangelis and Tangerine Dream!!! (although a few individual TD members are given solo bios/discographies - Christopher Franke, Steve Jolliffe, etc.) Not sure why these 2 hugely influential artists were left out of the listings (in TD's case it might be that their discography could fill its own 200 page book!), but no matter what the reasoning, their ommission is a major flaw that keeps this book from getting a perfect score. However, on the plus side, I have now learned about several other newer, more obscure artists who's music I will definitely be looking into. As an added bonus, the book comes with a free CD sampler featuring 12 tracks from some of the artists featured in the book, incuding Oliver Serano-Alve, Cusco, Dream Quest, Steven Halpern, Gandalf, Asha, and Karunesh (and in my opinion, it's the Asha & Karunesh tracks that are by far the best of the CD!)..All in all, despite the few glaring ommissions, this book is a worthwhile purchase for any genre fan...I just wish we could get a more up-to-date, more complete follow-up!
5.0 out of 5 stars
A FASCINATING BOOK - "ESSENTIAL" READING FOR NEW AGE MUSIC FANS,
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This review is from: The International Guide to New Age Music: With CD (Paperback)
At the time this book was published in 1998, Dutch musician Henk Werkhoven was "a musician, columnist, lecturer, and radio host and producer. He has played professionally with more than 70 bands, and has performed on a number of recordings since his first album in 1982 (e.g., solo album 'Orphical Positions,' and 'In Search of Avalon' with the Dream Quest group). He also writes about New Age music in the monthly magazine 'Visoen,' and is currently the host and producer of the New Age radio show 'De taal van Muziek.'"He wrote in the Preface, "New Age music, though often instrumental, turns out to be a repository for diverse musical styles. It ranges from classical music to rock music, from jazz to meditation music, from Western music to Eastern music. And suddenly New Age vocal music could also be heard... Many record stores decided to call any music that could not be easily labeled New Age... To cope with all this complexity, I have tried in this book to make a first attempt at clarifying this new musical trend by building a dam around all these musical waves. New Age music isn't all that new anymore. The genre has been around for nearly thirty years, counting back to its very first pioneers... I do believe that this guide is an initial step, and I hope it does not leave too many questions unanswered... I will be glad if this guide contributes to an increase in the harmony within and between people." It contains an insightful Introduction by Steven Halpern, who writes, "What is 'authentic' New Age music? It depends whom you ask. If you ask the musicians who pioneered the new acoustic vistas, it is music that employs time, space, and silence as a sonic vehicle to get the listener into closer contact with his/her spiritual nature." (Pg. viii) Here are some additional quotations from the book: "William Ackerman ... took a job as a carpenter building summer houses, and after some time founded his own construction firm, Windham Hill Builders. In the winter there was not much to do; he then had plenty of time to express himself musically. He took up music again and composed, among other things, acoustic guitar music for theater productions at Stanford University... his solo debut album, In Search of the Turtle's Navel... was produced with money he borrowed from friends and fans. Because of the unexpected attention of an enthusiastic radio station, the album quickly became known in a large part of California. This sudden success was the beginning of his own record company, Windham Hill Records." (Pg. 2) "Just like his Yes colleague Rick Wakeman, (Jon Anderson) has looked for a new musical expression having nothing to do with the hectic and loud rock scene, music that is soft, healing, and spiritual in nature." (Pg. 10) "Rock veteral Craig Chaquico was, for sixteen years, lead guitarist for The Jefferson Starship... the talented virtuoso guitarist had traded in his electric guitar for an acoustic instrument, and planned only to perform solo on a small scale... the appearance of his first solo CD was inevitably awaited with skepticism. But ... Acoustic Highway ... became a bestseller." (Pg. 37) "English composer and keyboardist Morgan Fisher ... joined the rock group Mott the Hoople... Disullisioned and badly shaken by the increasing loss of friends and colleagues ... Fisher resolved at the beginning of the 1980s to radically change his life... So the former rock musician seems these days to have relaxed through the purifying influence of having begun a second musical life, a life which has placed him far out of reach of the grueling demands of the hectic rock music circuit." (Pg. 62-63) "Neal Schon (of Santana and Journey) in 1995 entered a new phase in his musical development, heading out of the melodic, hard rock genre for the more peaceful waters of New Age and contemporary instrumental music. The results appeared in Beyond the Thunder... Neal Schon was supported by ex-members of Journey Jonathan Cain on keyboards and Steve Smith on drums, with rhythmic reinforcement from two original Santana percussionists..." (Pg. 145)
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