Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One

Last updated
Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One
BestofRay.jpg
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedFebruary 10, 1998
Genre Instrumental
New-age
Adult alternative
Length69:03
Label Windham Hill Records
Producer Ray Lynch
Ray Lynch chronology
Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening
(1993)
Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One
(1998)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One is Ray Lynch's first (and only) compilation album. In addition to songs from Lynch's previous albums, the compilation also includes three new music tracks, Ralph's Rhapsody, The Music of What Happens, and a remix of Celestial Soda Pop. The album peaked at #19 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums Chart". [3]

Raymond "Ray" Lynch is an American guitarist, lutenist, keyboardist, and composer. He began his musical career in 1967 by performing in The Renaissance Quartet in New York City before leaving in 1974 and giving up his musical career. During his hiatus, Lynch studied with his spiritual teacher, Adi Da, who would ultimately encourage him to return to music. Lynch released five albums during the 1980s and 1990s, including Deep Breakfast, No Blue Thing, and Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening. Initially producing his music independently, Lynch eventually worked with Music West. After Lynch sued and left the company, Lynch joined Windham Hill in 1992 before retiring in 2000. Lynch has won three Billboard awards.

A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for release together as a single work, but may be collected together as a greatest hits album or box set. If from several performers, there may be a theme, topic, time period, or genre which links the tracks, or they may have been intended for release as a single work—such as a tribute album. When the tracks are by the same recording artist, the album may be referred to as a retrospective album or an anthology.

<i>Billboard</i> (magazine) American music magazine

Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Billboard-Hollywood Reporter Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style, and is also known for its music charts, including the Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular songs and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows.

Contents

Reception

Carmel Carrillo of The Baltimore Sun gave the album two stars out of five, praising Lynch's combination of "synthesized and classical styles" but criticized the three new tracks, commentating that they are "disappointing compared with his better-known works from previous releases." Carrillo especially criticized the "Celestial Soda Pop" remix for being "too techno for many New Age devotees." [4] Meanwhile, Steve Huey of Allmusic game the album 4.5/5 stars, claiming that the album is "the perfect introduction to Lynch's brand of lush, ambient electronic music." [1]

<i>The Baltimore Sun</i> daily broadsheet newspaper in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States

The Baltimore Sun is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the American state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries. Founded in 1837, the newspaper is owned by Tribune Publishing.

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States during the mid-to-late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno in reference to a specific genre of music was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of sub-genres have been built.

Track listing

Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One includes the following tracks. [5]

No.TitleLength
1."Ralph’s Rhapsody"4:43
2."The Music of What Happens"4:04
3."The Oh of Pleasure"5:22
4."Celestial Soda Pop"4:40
5."Clouds Below Your Knees"4:54
6."The Vanished Gardens of Córdoba"8:24
7."The True Spirit of Mom & Dad"8:06
8."The Temple"8:03
9."Her Knees Deep in Your Mind"6:18
10."Kathleen’s Song"4:08
11."Tiny Geometries"6:06
12."Rio Clarifies"0:06
13."Celestial Soda Pop [Remix]"4:09

Personnel

All music composed, arranged, and produced by Ray Lynch except The Oh of Pleasure which is co–written with Tom Canning.

Keyboard instrument class of musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos. Other keyboard instruments include celestas, which are struck idiophones operated by a keyboard, and carillons, which are usually housed in bell towers or belfries of churches or municipal buildings.

Violin bowed string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths

The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths with notes G3, D4, A4, E5, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.

Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found.. Improvisation, in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of improvisation can apply to many different faculties, across all artistic, scientific, physical, cognitive, academic, and non-academic disciplines; see Applied improvisation.

Charts

Chart (1998)Position
Billboard New Age Albums [3] 19

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References

  1. 1 2 Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One at AllMusic
  2. Larkin, Colin (2006). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Muze. p. 384. ISBN   0195313739.
  3. 1 2 "Top New Age Albums" (PDF). March 14, 1998. Retrieved March 19, 2017.
  4. Carrillo, Carmel (March 19, 1998). "Ray Lynch - Best Of". The Baltimore Sun: 78.
  5. "Ray Lynch - Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One". Discogs. Retrieved March 19, 2017.