The "good New Age" music

I guess there are already threads about this but a search did not return any useful results so I'm starting this new thread.

New Age is a term which frequently causes loathing among proggers, as it may be associated with those horrible ambient and muzak albums you find in shopping malls or alternative medicine stores with titles such as “The healing power of music”, “Soundscapes from the Machu Picchu” etc, frequently made by some guy with a bit of musical knowledge and one sequencer software. I despise this kind of New Age too.

But also some really good musicians from the classical and jazz school jumped on the train of the New Age as an opportunity to make some money making decent music in the 80's and 90's. The output of decent music in those years was scarce and I, like many others, embraced some New Age as a way of keeping listening to good music.

The artists fell mostly into 2 groups:

a) instrumentalists who recorded solo or soloist-oriented albums, such as William Ackerman, Alex De Grassi, Michael Hedges, Suzanne Ciani, Andy Narell, and including some which were closer to the prog scene like Rick Wakeman, Steve Hillage or Lyle Mays.

b) full bands, mostly coming from the jazz or jazz-rock scene who softened their approach to fit into the New Age field. Some names that come to mind include Scott Cossu, Lito Vitale Cuarteto, Shadowfax, Spyro Gyra or Nightnoise.

I’m not going to argue for inclusion of New Age music in PA, but did other PA members also enjoy some of the “good New Age”?

You have mentioned a number of artists who I like. During the 80s, when prog became poor I went in search of ambient soundscapes and I have found in the newage what the actual prog was no longer able to give me.

irrelevant wrote: Zazen are referred to as progressive rock/new age. And it's actually really good I think! Here's an album if you want to listen:  http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Atlantis+Rising/5741076

^yes, I remember. I was surprised they were suggested for neo-prog, I would rather see them in eclectic, due to the "world" side. They certainly deserve a place here. Maybe they are still under evaluation, I don't have a clue. 'Enlightenment' is a briliant album.

^I am myself surprised at the number of artists/bands that never got the recognition they deserved...Most of the time, it's linked to a lack of hype around their works.

irrelevant wrote: Zazen are referred to as progressive rock/new age. And it's actually really good I think! Here's an album if you want to listen:  http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Atlantis+Rising/5741076

 

The new album from Echo Us is called New Age by some.  To me, it's just a cool and interesting album.  

I was one of those who got into prog as it was in decline and I like many of the artists that fit under the new age umbrella: Shadowfax, Michael Hedges, Alex DeGrassi...

I think it gets a bit of a bum rap the same way Fusion got tainted by some of it's artists.

^Thank you Luca. I still need to get more acquainted with Kitaro's music.

What are your thoughts on Yanni?  I think I've only listened to one of his albums, once, and I come across him in concert on PBS occasionally.  I find some of it a bit of a "guilty pleasure", and some of it is just terrible.  Especially in concert he seems to "play up" to his audience.  Meaning, a band member will have a solo of some sort and he'll grin and clap and cheer on the audience.  Repulsive.  But musically I like some of it.  Not enough to pursue it, though.