Customer Reviews

Windham Hill Sampler '88, Vol. 5

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
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This was the first Windham Hill Sampler I ever bought -- as a tape. For months, it formed the audioscape for my life, mostly driving. I played it so much, the tape finally broke. I replaced it, and played the second one so much it went too... It's not just that the individual artists' performances are melodic and lovely, but that the whole album is programmed as flawlessly as a collage that creates a larger, harmonious whole. Seven years later, I miss this album so much, I'm buying my third copy -- this time on CD. Bless Windham Hill!

As with the 1982, 1984, 1986 and this 1988 Windham Hill Samplers were the golden years of windham Hill. All the songs are gold and the lable was at its greatness. You can't go wrong with these titles. As a former owner of a New Age store these titles sold very well. Pick them up and you will enjoy them. I have these titles and they sound better than ever.

The Windham Hill Sampler Series is what made the company one of the top publishers of new age music. This Sampler is one of their Top Samplers of all time. The 1990 (First Ten Years) is better than this album, and so are most of George Winston's albums, but if you can get this sampler I highly recommend it as it represents "The Greatest Hit Artists of 1988" on the Windham Hill Label.

In the late 1980s the Windham Hill label was at its commercial peak, and perhaps also at the beginning of its slow decline. Or not, but either way this was one of the last years that I was fully into the WIndham Hill musicscape.

"Windham Hill Sampler '88" (11 tracks; 46 min.) is a straight reissue of the vinyl album, which I used to have more than 20 years ago. Schonherz and Scott kick things off with the gentle "Wishing Well", which is followed by a piano-solo piece from W.A. Mathieu. After that this sampler starts sounding like a greatest hits album: Shadowfax's "Road to Hanna" (from their fantastic "Too Far To Whisper" album), Scott Cossu's "Angels Steps" (from his equally fantastic "She Describes Infinity" album), Michael Hedges' "Because It's There" (from his perhaps career-defining "Live From the Double Planet" album), Montreux's "To Be" (from their great "Sign Language" album), Belgian minimalist Wim Mertens' "Close Cover" (from his first US release after many more previous releases in Europe), and of course Will Ackerman's "Climbing in Geometry" (from "Conferring With the Moon", his finest album in my opinion).

Wow, what a fantastic collection. I ended up with most of those albums (on vinyl) and again when they were reissued eventually on CD. I've recently gone through a long delayed Windham Hill reappreciation period (not sure why), and have listened to some of these CDs for the first time in many, many years, and the proof is in the pudding: this music remains fantastic and has stood the test of time. Highly recommended!

Windham Hill pioneered "New Age" music, and hit the pinnacle of quality with their 1986 Sampler, which is my personal favorite. This 1988 Sampler is nearly as good, with music that is perfect background music during reading, studying, working on the computer, or just plain relaxing.

This music is not "sleepy" or "boring" as some classical or instrumental music often is. It has a subtle power that allow your brain to get into a very focussed, relaxed state.

This is in the top ten of all New Age music CDs out there.

Probably the best sampler from the Windham label. Highlights are songs from Schonherz and Scott- Wishing Well and Michael Hedges (God Rest His Soul) -Because Its There. Shows off the serious musicianship that the label carried in the late 80's.

We love this CD. My parents had a copy of it when I was growing up and it was lost, so it is great to have a copy of it again!