Customer Reviews

Solitudes 1: By Canoe to

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Back in 1981, Canadian nature recordist and film director Dan Gibson was stepping into unknown country when he released this album of nature sounds. The key is the whole thing is assembled as just two pieces (taking up one side each of those old vinyl albums) and then released with that STUNNING cover photo. It took off, tying in with the burgeoning environmental movement. And now the imitators are EVERYWHERE. But you can't beat the original...especially quality-wise. So many imitators can't get the recordings so crisp, clear and balanced.

This package is simply 30 minutes of a stream and birds in a northern climate, then 30 minutes of canoeing (complete with the sounds of the oar in the water) on a northern lake, again with appropriate bird life sounds. The inspiration, I think, is Ontario's famed Algonquin Provincial Park.

Unlike most of Dan Gibson's current Solitudes offerings, this comes without music. And some might just like it that way.

I was a canoe guide in the Boundary Waters Canoe area and have spent many days on Little Indian Sioux and Loon Lake. The sounds in this collection bring me back there instantly. The sound of the paddle gliding through the water is wonderful. You can even hear the water trickle off the end of the paddle. The only thing missing is the feeling of riding the canoe through the water. I listened to this collection for many years on cassette. I am thrilled to find it in the CD format.