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review by Bill Binkelman This is a rather unusual affair - three distinctly different CDs packaged together (attractively, too, I must say) and marketed under a unifying theme, that being an overall goal of achieving well-being. Admittedly, the subtitle of the collection is "Music for Relaxation, Meditation, Bodywork," so the separate and unique musical identities of the three recordings contained within may be intentional. While these selections might not be the choices I would make from the label's catalog, Essence of Well-Being does serve as a well-executed initiation into several kinds of new age and quasi-ambient music so that neophytes and novices can be introduced to music that's certainly worth their valuable time and hard-earned money. The three CDs contained within are Al Gromer Khan's Monsoon Point, Anuvida and Nik Tyndall's second collaboration, Reiki, Touch of Love, and Kamal's Shamanic Healing. For me, there is little doubt that Gromer Khan's heady intoxicating quasi-ambient recording is the clear-cut winner here. Featuring guest vocals (of a chanting variety) from the gifted Amelia Cuni, this is a superlative long-form (i.e. a single long piece of music) ambient soundscape that patiently and serenely unfolds its elements, which are less East Indian in nature than some of the artist's previous albums. Gentle washes and drones undulate under heavily echoed bell/piano-like tones; the tones seem to reverberate forever into eternity. It's extremely soothing in nature. Cuni's subtle sensual vocals come and go sporadically throughout the fifty-five minutes, and her voice melds perfectly with the tamboura-ish drones and twinkling notes. Whether or not you can handle fifty-five minutes of relatively static (although beautiful) music that only subtly shape-shifts is a matter of what you demand of your ambient music, I suppose. I reviewed and praised Tyndall's and Anuvida's first teaming up on Reiki: Healing Hands and once again they combine Tyndall's fluid floating synthesizers with Anuvida's Asian-sounding instrumentality on the kiboe (sounding like a Japanese koto). While this album is not as strong an effort as their previous one, it is still a pleasant and enjoyable blending of world fusion (Asian) textures and modalities with calm floating electronic space and new age music. This is less ethereal (at times) than their earlier Reiki: Healing Hands but not to the point that this is a marked departure. As befits a recording aimed at providing accompaniment for Reiki bodywork, there is the solitary striking of a bell every three minutes (the signal for the practitioner to change hand positions). One of the new musical elements is what sounds like a gently pealing electric guitar, although no such instrument is mentioned in the liner notes. Tyndall's trademark use of reverberating percussive textures fleshes out the assorted layers of synthesizers nicely. Nature sounds occur here and there throughout the album, applied with unobtrusive precision. Unlike the Gromer Khan album, which hews very close to ambient and spacemusic, this disc sits on the exact boundary of new age and spacemusic (the abundance of synthesizer washes is what accounts for the latter). Kamal's Shamanic Healing is the least satisfying of the three discs in this set. Kamal performs on keyboards, chimes, and percussion, and is joined by a handful of accompanists on ney flute, vocals, didgeridoo, santoor, and bamboo flute. Part of my dissatisfaction is the result of the overt world fusion nature of the music as well as the relative lack of continuity between tracks (when compared to the other two discs). The use of vocals are also not as welcome as they are on Gromer Khan's album; some of them here are spoken word and they serve as a distraction from the calming music. Still, there is undeniable appeal for new age music fans on serene ethereal tracks like "Water Healing." Vision of the Eagle" mixes in some Native American flute and other elements as well as a slightly less subdued sound, although it's still restfully slow. Percussion takes a front seat on "Heart Initiation" and while well-executed, it seems to sidetrack the more ambient-like flow of earlier cuts. "Dreamcatcher," one of the later songs, is delightful, though, marrying assorted haunting and beautiful Native flute and percussion with some great synthesizers and echoed bell tones. Overall, I would recommend this set to several groups of people, principally wellness practitioners, massage therapists, and the like. In their cases, the variety of the three CDs would work in their favor, preventing the music from getting stale after repeated playings. Likewise, lovers of an assortment of low-key floating electronic new age music will almost certainly find a lot here to enjoy. I still don't know that this package is perticularly cohesive or well thought out, but all of the music is, at the least, good and the Gromer Khan recording is outstanding. Hopefully, I have given you enough of a review to help you decide if buying the entire collection is something you want or you only want to pick up one or two of the recordings on their own. I'd say the less familiar you are with this kind of music, the better served you will be by picking up this set. Obviously, since none of this material is new (all of it is previously released) there is virtually no reason to buy this if you already own any two of these three albums. |
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