Customer Reviews

Vapor Drawings

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Mark Isham nowadays is associated primarily with his ample soundtrack work and his trumpet skills. However, Isham made a one-time expansion into the world of synthesizer moods on this 1983 album, which remains overlooked in his oeuvre.

The album is built around 4 essential tracks (unfortunately, none of which you can sample here on Amazon): "Sympathy & Acknowledgment" is a superb piece of weaving synthezisers into a mesmorizing sound caleidoscope. "On the Threshold of Liberty" (probably his best known individual piece, as a result of the plug Windham Hill gave it on sampler albums and compilations) is a Bolero-like build-up from very faint to an all-out burst of trumpet and synths. "Raffles in Rio" and "Men Before the Mirror" are two more beautifully crafted "minimalist" synth pieces.

The rest of the album are shorter pieces. "When Things Dream" and "Something Nice For My Dog", both soft piano/background synth pieces, truly are "album-fillers", reason I cannot give the album 5 stars.

Following the surprising success of "Vapor Drawings", Isham decidedly turned away from the synthesizer wizardry (one can consider his next album, the "Never Cry Wolf" soundtrack, a transition album), and ultimately disavowed "Vapor" if not in words, then certainly by his actions. (Wanna have another hit, Mark? How about "Vapor Drawings 2"?) I guess making Hollywood soundtracks was more challenging. Nevertheless, "Vapor" remains required listening for any serious synthesizer fan.

Although this is on Windham Hill, I would have to say this is not a New Age recording, even in 1983 during the height of the New Age explosion. This is more ambient music than anything else. Mark is an inventive, composer arranger and instrumetalist. He goes from fusion to ambient and many other styles in between. He has the science of implication down. He creates soundscapes that stimulate the imagination, conjuring multiple images. This is more about the composer than the instrumentalist. Mark plays trumpet, keyboards and electronic percussion here to great effect. At the time, I felt this was the single strongest release that Windham Hill had. This was so far beyond anything they had released. Mark has gone on to distinguish himself in subsequent recordings as an outstanding trumpet player/reed accompanist/film composer/conceptualist. It's all evident here. The promise is here in this recording, so are many of the manifestations.

"Sympathy and Acknowledgment" and "Men Before the Mirror" are minimalist pieces possibly inspired by Brian Eno but on par with the finest works of Reich and Glass. "Many Chinas" is full of creative synth textures and crisp trumpet lines. "In the Blue Distance" is a terrific composition, with beautifully dense chords at the end. I love this album; despite the 1983 release date it isn't dated at all, thanks to Isham's boundless creativity and his innovative synthesizer work. As much as I love his trumpet, I'd ... for another synth album from him.

After 20 years this CD still stands up. Still a good listen. Still a good example of all it wanted to be, the integration of synths and accoustic in a kind of music that gets the best of both. If its weaknesses have become more apparent with time, so have its strengths. And Mark has moved on to other things (why should he do more of the same thing?). But Vapor Drawings is still there for us to enjoy. It has outlived the stigma of New Age. (And now you can get it cheap. So if you've been holding out all these years, now's the time.)

Mark Isham cannot be pinned down to a specific new age category. His albums each are somewhat unique in their sound and style. This one, his first album, remains my favorite. This album combines elements of Eno and early Roach along with a light touch of the trumpet that would later characterize his sound. This album is about moods. Interesting loops, deep reverbs, and haunting synthesizer backings are used to create a dreamlike atmosphere. In a word...magical.

The sound that blew people away in the eighties has been widely imitated -- to the point where today it's part of our musical wallpaper (in parts of this album, you can almost hear the voiceover in the nature documentary: "and so the sun sets once more on the land of the dinosaurs"). STILL ... the guy really has something. Interesting textures. Spacious, vaguely heroic themes. A nice mix of electronic and human-produced sounds (that perfectly in-tune trumpet). Above all, the music builds in a way that repays attentive listening if you don't feel like being put into trance.

Mark Isham's 1983 Windham Hill debut has a reputation as a "new age" classic, but it transcends that oft-misused label. There is a wide variety of stylings and moods in this, from the comical "Mr. Moto's Penguin", to the sublimely minimalist "Sympathy and Acknowledgement", from the jazzy "Many Chinas" to the heroically inspiring "On the Threshold of Liberty". (The last was used a theme for the now nearly-forgotten Al Pacino film "Revolution"). The influences, from Steve Reich to Miles Davis, are readily apprarent, but Isham's creativity as a composer takes the music way beyond mere imitation - it still holds amazingly well over 20 years later. Isham has found a niche in Hollywood as a prolific film-score composer (and I for one believe his score for "Crash" should have been nominated for an Oscar - it was beautiful and very integral to the film). But this is a great way to introduce yourself to his earlier work, and it's one of the finest albums ever to be saddled with the "new age" tag. I highly recommend it to anyone with eclectic instrumental music tastes. If you like what you hear, then you also might like his other releases, especially "Tibet", "Castalia", and the aforementioned "Crash" soundtrack.

As you probably know, Mark Isham is in demand in Hollywood as a film composer. This early solo effort is notable by its minimalistic approach. So many composers throw lots of notes on the pallette - Mark uses notes & colors sparingly, and still produces a strong statement. Of particular interest on this album is his use of trumpet. Even though it's his major instrument, he chooses to use it primarily as a background instrument in many of the tracks. He also does a number of interesting things to it electronically via tape loops, overdubbing, etc - but still with taste. This is one of my favorite Isham album. And after 15+ years, it still sounds new!

I used to enjoy listening to this production back in the 80s. Back then I experienced a sense of futuristc sounds, new rythms and an overall joy that came from these. I used to
Listen to these tracks in cassette tape, and for about 15 years I did not play them. I recently purchased the Cd, used, and sadly the old joy isn't there anymore. I actually find the tracks boring, flavorless and irrelevant. I still have a great respect for this great artist, but there are certainly better samples of his talent than this release.

Had this years ago on cassette tape. You can definitely hear the film composer in this though most of the pieces didn't appear in any films I know of. This came out just prior to Isham doing soundtrack for "Never Cry Wolf." Mood producing pieces heavy on the synthesizer though one piece is just jazz piano and there's a bit of jazzy trumpet here and there. There are some good pieces on this CD even though it doesn't hang together as collection like his later, "Castalia." But the couple of standout tracks are worth it. "On the Threshold of Liberty" is very military but catchy. "Men Before the Mirror" is the best track.