Search - Environments :: Environments 3: Dawn at New Hope English Meadow

Please Bring Back the "Environments" Series, on CD!

Robert Boyle | Winnetka, CA USA | 06/04/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

""New Hope, PA" is perhaps the most beautiful of an aesthetically and technically unparalleled collection of "natural sounds" recordings known as the "Environments" series. This series, which puts other natural sounds recordings (/w or w/o music) to shame, was first issued in the 1970's on vinyl, using an advanced recording process that allowed the listener to hear every breath, every crackle, every ripple, every flap of a falling leaf, all painstakingly recording by expert audio artists. The excellent sound quality of the LP recordings cries out for a CD release (or even a vinyl release!), and the variety of sound captures in the dozen-odd albums reveals artistic imagination in selection as well as in recording: The lush and colorful orchestra of birds singing in "Optimal Aviary", the ebb and flow of "Ultimate Ocean", the intense beat and deep beauty and mystery of the most vital of anatomical organs in "Ultimate Heartbeat", "Tintinnabulation" (the chorus of soft high, medium and deep-pitched bells is wonderful to hear; the producers recommended you play it at any of the four LP speeds (16 2/3, 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm), as well as more traditional themes of rainstorms (that naturally calming hypnotic patter of water drops that for a time was the only sound the ailing WC Fields could go to sleep to), thunderstorms (NOT the relentless and tasteless crash-bang of a THX Dolby Sensurround hurl-you-out-of-your-chair cut-and-paste movie soundtrack, but a recording that faithfully depicts the artistic composition and orchestration of of a purely natural phenomenon, from the dead calm, to the light breeze, to the faint rumbles and cracklings far off in the distance, growing nearer and nearer, and nearer... Perhaps the least successful (as a repeat play "environmental recording") of the series was "Be-In", a fascinating and delightful capture of the sounds (not just the indicidual sounds, but again, the entire composition of interlaced sounds) one could hear at an authentic "hippy love-in" of the late '60's. Its only limitation was that because it included some human speech and other "artificial" sounds (bongo drums, whistles, shouts and the like) which we interpret differently from non-semantic-laden sounds (those of you who can hear the human voice as a natural phenomenon need not worry), it did not bear as much cyclic repetition as the rest of the works in the series. Those reviewers who report playing a single recording (such as "Rain") All Night Long are NOT exaggerating one bit. These recordings are genuinely "environmental" in the second sense, as sounds used to produce your own audio environment. I successfully used these recordings for a time to go to -- and stay -- asleep at a time in my life when I was too stressed even for medication to calm me down and alleviate my tension headaches. These recordings are good food and fine wine for the ears -- "New Hope, PA" in particular is as fundamentally beautiful an environmental piece of the American experience as Grant Wood's "American Gothic" painting, or Aaron Copeland's music. It is well worth savoring -- as are the rest in the series, which truly Ought to be re-release in an age when sound technology has finally caught up with the artistic ear. -- RDB"

HIghly recommend

mountaingirl | Redwood City, CA USA | 05/24/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I bought quite a few nature tapes before I found this one. It is by far the most realistic and best sound quality. The 30 minute tracks are wonderful. Your home will be an oasis - animals love it too! Thanks to the previous reviewers for helping me find it!"

Very Relaxing!

mountaingirl | 07/29/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD contains 2 tracks... 30 min of the sounds of sunrise in the woods, and 30 min of the sounds of dusk in the woods. I love it! It's so nice to put this one on in the dead of winter and "loop" one track or the other and let it play ad infinitum to listen to the crickets chirp, hooting owls, etc. Excellent sound quality, and a wonderful background "music" CD to unwind by."