Thursday, August 04, 2016

Ambient Decades: 1970s


This is the first in a series of mixes featuring ambient music from each of the past 4 1/2 decades.

Ambient music came to it's full expression during the 1970s with Eno's Discreet Music & Music for Airports. This mix explores those albums and other electronic gems. This mix/list is by no means definitive. It's music from my collection that is a representation of the emergence of ambient in the 1970s.

As I was sorting through tracks for the mix I realized that I'm definitely going to have to make a mix of 70s berlin school & kraut music electronic tunes. That way I can use Jean Michel Jarre, Can, Holgar Czukay and more rhythmic Tangerine Dream & Klaus Schulze.

Cheers!





T R A C K L I S T :
  • 00:00    Michael Hoenig - Voices of Where(1978)
  • 04:20    Harmonia - By the Riverside(1976)
  • 07:15    Klaus Schulze - Wahnfried 1883(1975)
  • 12:50    Wendy Carlos - Fall(1972)
  • 18:00    Gavin Bryars - The Sinking of the Titanic(1975)
  • 23:25    Tangerine Dream - Sequent C(1974)
  • 25:00    Brian Eno - Discreet Music(1975)
  • 33:33    Kraftwerk - Heimatklänge(1973)
  • 36:45    Tonto's Expanding Head Band - Tama(1971)
  • 41:37    Cluster - In Ewigkeit(1976)
  • 48:30    Ashra - Deep Distance(1976)
  • 53:30    Steve Hillage - Garden of Paradise(1979)
  • 62:25    Tangerine Dream - Rubycon(1975)
  • 65:50    Klaus Schulze - Some Velvet Phasing(1974)
  • 71:50    Brian Eno - Two Rapid Formations(1978)
  • 74:36    Brian Eno - Music for Airports 1/1(1978)
  • 91:09    end




9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful compilation, thank!

Low Light Mixes said...

Thanks! So glad you liked the mix. It was fun putting this one together. :-)

Kryten42 said...
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Kryten42 said...
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Kryten42 said...

Oh my!! I have all the albums these came from! :D

I remember getting a phone call from my favorite Music store that they had a new album I might be interested in. I went down there and it was Michael Hoenig's "Departure from the Northern Wasteland"! I loved it. Sadly, he only produced 2 albums (from memory).

I have most of Tangerine Dreams albums (vinyl & CD) from the 1969 "Electronic Meditation" to the 2014 "Supernormal". Plus Klaus Schulz solo albums. I think the first I'd heard & bought was "Phaedra". :D I was so sad to hear that Edgar Froese had died. I haven't yet listened to the latest album since his death. I must do that.

Thank you for the wonderful memories! :D
Paul.

(Sorry! I deleted the previous 2 comments because of typo's & errors! I am rushing because I have to go out! LOL)

Dave said...

Paul, thanks for sharing your musical memories.

I somehow missed "Departure from the Northern Wasteland" when it was originally released and didn't discover until years later. A fine album indeed.

That must be a ton of T Dream you have there! I only have a handful of physical releases left. Most of my musical catalog now is digital. I definitely miss the sensation of vinyl and the liner notes, etc. But the digital files are so much more convenient.

After compiling this mix I've been listening to much more old school electronic music so I'll have to make a new mix to the more rhythmic 70s electronic tunes.

Thanks for listening. Cheers!

Kryten42 said...

oh... Don't get me started David! ;) :D

Actually, all the vinyl records are stored in a fireproof safe! I converted them to CD (or bought CD's when they were re-released), and then HQ MP3's.

I've been listening to this 70's (and the 80's) mix you've put together. Very nicely done. :)

It was the elctro-experimental age. Moog was the big thing. :) Some great artists and music that took you on a journey, got you moving, or just relaxed. :) Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre, Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Isao Tomita, Rick Wakeman and others.

But I'm fairly eclectic. I love a broad range of music from Classical to modern. Some I like, others not so much! :D

I've been enjoying MDB's, Ambient-Angel & other mixes on Mixcloud (and your's of course)!

I sometimes think Music is the only thing that keeps me sane. I was a drummer in my teen's, worked in a small studio & became a studio engineer. Saw too many good people destroyed by the big (and some smaller) labels, so I got out.

Anyway, thanks again! I will keep an ear on you! ;) :D

Low Light Mixes said...

Hi Paul,

I didn't see your last comment until now(Nov. 26). Like you, I have eclectic taste as well, covering a broad range. I find myself chasing new releases so relentlessly that I don't develop deep, strong favorites. That's probably why I still love going back to my 70s collection often. I go in phases sometimes, I'll binge on 70s Cantebury scene music for a week. Then weeks later dive into 70s Bowie, then a month later play a ton of Genesis, UK, Yes and Pink Floyd and eventually bingeing the berlin school electronics of TD, JMJ, Klaus Schulz, Cluster, etc.

Thanks again for listening. Cheers!

Chris said...

I found this show to be particularly emotionally evocative for me as I first discovered ambient music in the late 70s and early 80s so hearing these pieces altogether really sent me back to the day! It's left me in kind of a nostalgic space back when I was a teen and music like this was pretty rare and unusual. As mentioned, some of the other notable artists during that time were Tomita (first discovered him and Vangelis on the Cosmos soundtrack), Mike Oldfield, Jarre (most of all! Oxygene was absolutely stunning! And I still think it holds up well 40 years later!), were all of that time. The other thing was listening to instrumental sections of rock songs--Pink Floyd, Elton John's Funeral for a Friend, Moody Blues, the opening to "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith, ELO (especially "Fire on High" from Face the Music), to name a few that stand out. Good times! Thanks for the nostalgic trip down memory lane!