Features

New Age, the musical genre, is generally dismissed as tacky, dull, and even dangerously stupid. Fair enough, but according to a small coterie of serious record collectors and underground musicians, it’s also extremely misunderstood and increasingly crucial in a world gone mad. I’ll discuss my personal discovery of New Age’s virtues and my encounters with its leading figures, and present a revisionist account of the genre’s rarely-considered connections to the larger musical continuum.

Though Ron may not be a household name to many listeners, he has played on more major league recordings than most: backing Dylan in the late 60s and leading Leonard Cohen’s band throughout the 70s.

For those only familiar with Ted Lucas from his self-titled LP (aka The Om Album, also recorded in 74), Ted’s ebullience, idealism, and total engagement in this conversation may come as something of a surprise, but this is who he was — funny, charming, a master musician, and a bit crazy.

If not for the rampant, chaotic, and unsuppressed expansion of major label recordings in the late 1960s, many strange, wonderful, and mysterious LPs would never have existed, and Jay Bolotin’s first, self-titled is certainly one of them.

Bob Brown’s first LP was not completely overlooked the first time around. As a protege to Richie Havens during the peak of his career, he was able to connect with an audience eager for the dreamy, open-hearted melancholia he perfected on The Wall I Built Myself.

This is it. The definitive wall of bone.

Based in Paris, France, Musique Pour L’Image was founded in 1967 by jazz composer Robert Viger. The label began its operation by issuing 10″ LPs, moving to the 12″ format after its twenty-fifth release.

The record with the giant face on the cover, usually looking right back at you. every record collector owns at least one. What is great about these records besides their musical value is that the covers can double as masks. check out waxidemy’s growing gallery of face album self-portraits.

I come from a land called Alberta. A land of big oil companies, a Premier who is an alcoholic, loads of country, and the great Wild West. However, tucked away amongst all our honky-tonk is a hidden sanctuary known as folkwaysAlive!.

With so many records out there, sometimes it can be difficult to sift through the crap and find the ones that will stir your emotions, hold your attention from beginning to end, and make you proud to own. What can one do to find those special records containing that type of music, you ask?