Vapor Drawings

Mark Isham

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 29, 1997)
• Original Release Date: 1983
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Windham Hill Records
• ASIN: B000000NFM
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #87,806 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Many Chinas

2. Sympathy and Acknowledgment

3. On the Threshold of Liberty

4. When Things Dream

5. Raffles in Rio

6. Something Nice for My Dog

7. Men Before the Mirror

8. Mr. Moto's Penguin (Who'd Be an Eskimo's Wife?)

9. In the Blue Distance

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mark Isham's enduring 1983 solo debut captures his graduation from gifted trumpeter with groups like Rubisa Patrol, Group 87, and, most visibly, Van Morrison, to composer with a more versatile and ambitious body of work. On Vapor Drawings, Isham's trumpet and flugelhorn are augmented by synthesizers, piano, soprano sax, and electronic percussion in a series of layered, atmospheric tone poems that nod to Philip Glass and Steve Reich, as well as to European classicism and Eastern modalities. Deemed a new age record as much for its label home as for any intrinsic musical elements, this music is cinematic in scale and drama, especially on its best-known track, the majestic"On the Threshold of Liberty," which anticipated Isham's prolific output as a major film composer in the intervening years. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Debut Album, June 13, 2001

By	SHAD E JESSEN (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

"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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mark Isham's Forgotten Synth Dreamwork, October 4, 2000

By	Paul Allaer (Cincinnati) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding debut by a a Talent deserving Wider Recognition, November 14, 2002

By	NDBx "NDBx" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

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.