A Brief History of Ambient Volume 1: 152 Minutes 33 Seconds (1973-1993)
In August of 1993, Virgin Records dug into their vaults to compile and release this two-disc collection of ambient music. This compilation helped kick off a more widespread appreciation for this type of mellow electronic mood music. Considered the father of ambient music, it was Brian Eno that first coined the phrase in the mid-70s, describing it as music to be "actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener."
Limited to music originally released by Virgin Records, the historical importance of each track varies, but it is still an essential and important primer for fans of music in general and electronic music in particular. From this point forward, electronica would begin to diversify to such an extent that the descriptive use of ambient music as a genre would become irrelevant.
I found four fan-made clips on YouTube that utilize music from Amorphous Androgynous' "Mountain Goat," Brian Eno's "An Ending (Ascent)," Tangerine Dream's "Phaedra" and Sheila Chandra's "Sacred Stones":
Virgin Records released a second two-disc compilation by the end of 1994 that covered much of the same ground. A third volume followed in 1995. In 1997, Virgin Records released the fourth and final volume in the series. It was the first to feature licensed tracks from other labels and focused solely on the darker Isolationist sub-genre.
A Brief History of Ambient Volume 1: 152 Minutes 33 Seconds (1973-1993)
1. Harold Budd - Flowered Knife Shadows [1986] (7:00)
2. Tangerine Dream - Thru Metamorphic Rock (Edit) [1978] (9:43)
3. Robert Fripp / Brian Eno - Evening Star [1975] (7:29)
4. Amorphous Androgynous - Mountain Goat [1993] (4:28)
5. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - Sea of Vapours [1990] (3:49)
6. Hawkwind - The Forge of Vulcan [1977] (3:01)
7. Killing Joke - Requiem (A Floating Leaf Always Reaches the Sea Dub Mix) [1992] (10:35)
8. Brian Eno - An Ending (Ascent) [1983] (4:11)
9. Richard Horowitz - Marnia's Tent [1990] (2:58)
10. Irmin Schmidt / Bruno Spoerri - Rapido de Noir [1990] (6:32)
11. Ashra - Kazoo [1980] (5:36)
12. Harold Budd / Brian Eno - Their Memories [1984] (2:38)
13. The Grid - Leave Your Body [1993] (4:46)
14. Christopher Franke - Electric Becomes Eclectic [1991] (3:36)
15. Tangerine Dream - Phaedra (Edit) [1974] (10:21)
16. Brian Eno / Jon Hassell - Delta Rain Dream [1980] (3:19)
17. William Orbit - The Monkey King [1993] (4:49)
18. Gong - Castle in the Clouds [1973] (1:02)
19. Hawkwind - Life Form [1979] (1:40)
20. Laraaji - The Dance #2 [1980] (9:04)
21. Sheila Chandra - Sacred Stones [1992] (5:26)
22. Michael Brook - Earth Floor [1985] (4:44)
23. Faust - Läuft...Heisst das es Läuft Oder es Kommt Bald...Läuft [1973] (3:19)
24. Jon Hassell - Gift of Fire [1981] (4:41)
25. Material - The End of Words [1989] (3:44)
26. Edgar Froese - Panorphelia [1974] (9:31)
27. Roger Eno - Voices [1985] (2:14)
28. Holger Czukay - Träum Mal Wieder [1984] (7:21)
29. David Sylvian - Home [1986] (4:10)
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16 comments:
HEYYYYYYY!! Missed you Kevin! Great post!
Great to be back! A failed motherboard and then hard drive (not to mention a heavy load at work) all conspired to keep me away. I enjoy maintaining PLM and will do so 'til I run out of stuff to post!
I'm glad you're okay. I was worried about you and yours... or maybe the Orange Box swallowed you up! lol Well again, I'm glad you made it back. You have class!
Classy? Well, shit, I'll take that!
Y'know, on a more serious note, you guys really rock! I honestly appreciate the folks that check in regularly. Especially the ones that leave comments. Thanks again! It's comments like this that make it all worthwhile!
Yessssssss!!!
Been looking for this one for years.
I've not seen any other collection
like this one -- the personnel list
is amazing.
Thank you!
Brillant blog!
www.ychorus.blogspot.com
I'm in shock to see Killing Joke on any ambient collection. Yeah, ambient for Klingons!
I had a brain cloud - As I was culling my LP collection the other night I realized that Killing Joke's first record was on the label Ambient Records. The label not the type of music. Then I realized that "A Brief History" was about the label Ambient not the music Ambient!
After that they switched to EG Records.
No, this is definitely a compilation of ambient music released on various Virgin-owned labels. Including Killing Joke may seem like a stretch, as they are certainly not an ambient band, but the included song is not a typical Killing Joke song, it's a dub remix. Maybe the point Virgin was trying to make was that many bands have participated in creating ambient music in one way or another. They probably wanted present as diverse a collection of artists as possible and used this atypical Killing Joke track to do so. The same could be said for their use of Material, Gong and Hawkwind. It could even be said that Virgin were doing what they could to fill two discs ;)
Thanks, great collection.
It was the whole idea of hearing Youth turn the Killing Joke song into ambient music that made me buy this many years ago. The entire collection is incredible, would you consider giving us Volume 4 sometime? That is the only one I can't get my hands on.
Absolutely! In fact, that's the plan. I just have to get around to posting Volumes 2 and 3 first...
thanks for vol 1 and 2. i remember these from long ago and its nice to hear them again.
It's great to find this on here. I've had volume 2 for years but have never come across any of the other volumes.
Thanks for the post.
Download stops everytime at half of the road...shame. For my pc this file is a too big cake to digest. I'd like to share with you impressions...hope to find this album in a more suitable part1.2.3.4 way. Cheers!!
Thanks, this was a classic album that deserved to be posted.
I am a big fan of ambient 'band' the Orb. Here's a quote.
Paterson began his career in the music business as a roadie for the influential English band Killing Joke, signing on to their crew in the late 1970s when he was just eighteen. "This was the major turning point in my life," he told Melody Maker's Ian Gittins. "If Killing Joke hadn't formed, The Orb would never have existed."
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