Search - Michael Stearns :: Collected Ambient and Textural Works: 1977-1987

Wonderful retrospective of truly original ambiant music

John C. Craig | San Jose, CA | 06/13/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This CD has some of the very best ambiant music ever recorded. It covers all sorts of moods and textures without degenerating into "drums and rattles" or horrible dissonance.The only disappointment is to realize just how many of Michael's works are now out of print...."

Ambient music in its childhood

James Schulze | 06/15/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This retrospective disc shows the promise of ambient music, along the lines of Brian Eno and early Tangerine Dream. Uneven but compelling, the artist Michael Stearns later works eclipse these rough sketches. A must if already a fan, but try Kronos or The Lost World first if uninitiated."

A Little Known Masterpiece

James Schulze | 01/03/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the vast ocean of ambient music, Michael Stearns has been left out to sea. Having been eclipsed in the public mind by high-profile artists like Brian Eno, Stearn's back catalog has been reduced to two LPs, consisting of disjointed snippets of much longer pieces. I've always been surprised that Stearns hasn't been more revered after scoring such films as Baraka. Having been confined to the New Age shelves probably hasn't helped, but above all, Stearns doesn't seem to try and come up with an artists image like so many young, hip, ambient artists. Stearns is above all an earth-hugging hippie, and his music is all the more powerful and sincere because of it.
Ambient and Textural works consists of most airy, floating synthezisers, bells, eerie and beautiful female vocals, and field recordings. Stearn's big strength on this album is his ability to create not simply experimental pieces, but to create emotionally potent and beautiful pieces, without resorting to any of the luke-warm New Age flourishes that many of his contemporaries did. The nine-minute tape, vocal, and bell piece "Jewel" is worth the purchase price, and listeners would be hard-pressed to hear anything that didn't exite them. Anyone looking for organic, sincere, and ascendent ambient music would regret not buying this album."