Dreamtime Return
| Dreamtime Return | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Steve Roach | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Recorded | 1987-88 at The Timeroom | |||
| Genre | Ambient | |||
| Length | 130:23 | |||
| Label | Fortuna Records | |||
| Producer | Steve Roach | |||
| Steve Roach chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  |
| Alternative Press | favorable |
| John Diliberto | favorable |
| Hearts of Space | favorable |
| Linda Kohanov | favorable |
Dreamtime Return (1988) is a groundbreaking double album, based on Australian Aboriginal culture and the concept of the Dreamtime, by the American ambient musician Steve Roach. Described as "one of the pivotal works of ambient music," the album has been included on a number of lists of the world's best music, including 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.
Roach had already begun composing this album when by chance he received a letter from writer/photographer David Stahl. Stahl had heard Steve Roach’s third album, Structures from Silence, on the radio while driving through the desert towards Mexico. He informed Steve Roach of his current documentary film project Art of the Dreamtime. Several months later Roach and Stahl traveled to Northern Australia to visit that region's ancient Aboriginal sites.
This album is Steve Roach’s first true tribal album, as well as being the first of his many double album projects. The music consists of slow haunting electronic textures, sometimes featuring various ethnic percussion instruments and traditional Aboriginal chants and voices. The track “Truth in Passing” features atmospheric piano work rare in Steve Roach’s music.
The earliest recorded track on the album is “The Other Side”. This piece was recorded live, with Kevin Braheny playing a Steiner EWI (Electronic Woodwind Instrument). This piece was broadcast on the National Public Radio program Music from the Hearts of Space in 1986. This particular edition of the program, titled Starflight 1, was so popular that later that year it was released as an album, consequently “The Other Side” was released two years before the rest of Dreamtime Return.
After this album was released, Steve Roach embarked on a second trip to Australia.
The groundbreaking album has been described as "one of the pivotal works of ambient music" and "dazzling hypnotic." The album has also been said to "activate listeners to reach a deep level of consciousness that draws upon the trance-inducing music (Roach) has created."
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