Soma (Steve Roach and Robert Rich album)

Last updated
Soma
SteveRoachRobertRichSoma.jpg
Studio album by
Released1992
Recordedat The Timeroom in Tucson, Arizona and Soundscape Studio in Mountain View, California
Genre Electronic, ambient [1]
Length57:11
Label Hearts of Space Records/Fathom
Producer Robert Rich and Steve Roach
Steve Roach chronology
Now / Traveler
(1992)
Soma
(1992)
The Lost Pieces
(1993)
Robert Rich chronology
Geometry
(1991)
Soma
(1992)
Propagation
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic (Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg) [1]
Muze (positive) [2]

Soma (sometimes spelled SoMa) was the second collaborative album by the U.S. ambient musicians Steve Roach and Robert Rich, following their 1990 album Strata .

Contents

Overview

The liner notes explain that the word soma can be found in the ancient Vedic texts describing a drink made from plants to help commune with the gods (a botanical hallucinogen), and that the same word meant "body" in Ancient Greek. [3]

The music on the album is electronic and ambient music with psychedelic overtones. [1] The album ends with a gentle, serene piece for electric guitar titled "Touch".

The album reached number nine on the Billboard New Age chart for April 17, 1993. [4]

Track listing

  1. "Love Magick" – 7:40
  2. "Nightshade" – 9:07
  3. "Going Inland" – 4:05
  4. "Silk Ridge" – 6:05
  5. "Blood Music" – 8:10
  6. "Soma" – 12:07
  7. "Seduction of the Minotaur" – 5:21
  8. "Touch" – 4:36

All compositions by Steve Roach and Robert Rich.

Personnel

Musical [3]
with
Technical [3]
Graphical [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Passion</i> (Peter Gabriel album) 1989 soundtrack album by Peter Gabriel

Passion is an album released in 1989 by the English singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel. It was the first Peter Gabriel album to be released on Real World Records. It is his second soundtrack and eighth album overall. It was originally composed as the soundtrack album for the film The Last Temptation of Christ, but Gabriel spent several months after the film's release further developing the music, finally releasing it as a full-fledged album instead of a movie soundtrack. It is seen as a landmark in the popularisation of world music, and won a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in 1990. It was remastered with most of Gabriel's catalogue in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Roach (musician)</span> American composer and musician

Steve Roach is an American composer and performer of ambient and electronic music, whose recordings are informed by his impressions of environment, perception, flow and space. His work has been influential in the trance and new-age genres.

Robert Rich is an ambient musician and composer based in California, United States. With a discography spanning over 30 years, he has been called a figure whose sound has greatly influenced today's ambient music, New-age music, and even IDM.

<i>Dreamtime Return</i> 1988 studio album by Steve Roach

Dreamtime Return (1988) is a double album by the American ambient musician Steve Roach, based on Australian Aboriginal culture and the concept of the Dreamtime. Described as "one of the pivotal works of ambient music" and "groundbreaking," the album has been included on a number of lists of the world's best music, including 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die.

<i>Desert Solitaire</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny and Michael Stearns

Desert Solitaire is a collaborative album by American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Kevin Braheny, and Michael Stearns. This album was conceived as a follow-up to Roach and Braheny's 1987 collaboration Western Spaces.

<i>Strata</i> (Robert Rich and Steve Roach album) 1990 studio album by Robert Rich and Steve Roach

Strata is a collaborative album by the U.S. ambient musicians Robert Rich and Steve Roach. Robert Rich's influence on this album is strong, with complicated mixes featuring various acoustic sound sources and Rich's own brand of organic synthesis called "glurp". The two artists collaborated again on their 1992 album Soma.

<i>Halcyon Days</i> (Steve Roach, Stephen Kent and Kenneth Newby album) 1996 studio album by Steve Roach, Stephen Kent and Kenneth Newby

Halcyon Days is a collaborative album by the ambient musicians Steve Roach, Stephen Kent and Kenneth Newby. This album was recorded in the period from December 17 to 28, 1995. At that time most of the United States were experiencing severe winter weather, but the Sonoran Desert region, where this album was recorded, was enjoying a period temperate calm and clear skies.

<i>Body Electric</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Steve Roach and Vir Unis

Body Electric is a collaborative album by ambient artists Steve Roach and Vir Unis. The music is a unique blend of smooth ambient textures, techno rhythms and various acoustic and natural recordings.

<i>The Serpents Lair</i> 2000 studio album by Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf

The Serpent’s Lair is a two disc collaborative album by the American ambient artists Steve Roach and Byron Metcalf.

<i>Rainforest</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Robert Rich

Rainforest (1989) is an album by the U.S. ambient musician Robert Rich. The inspiration for this album came when Rich traveled through the rainforests of the American Pacific Northwest. Seeing the lush beauty of that environment contrasted by the devastation caused by clear-cut logging filled the artist with a sense of urgency. A portion of the proceeds from this album goes to the Rainforest Action Network, a non-profit organization set up to protect the world's rainforests.

<i>Gaudí</i> (Robert Rich album) 1991 studio album by Robert Rich

Gaudí (1991) is an album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. It is a tribute to the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí. It is a stylistic mix of active tonal sequences and slower ambient pieces that Rich first explored in the mid-1980s when he recorded Geometry.

<i>Propagation</i> (album) 1994 studio album by Robert Rich

Propagation (1994) is an album by the American ambient musician Robert Rich. This album is an expression of Rich’s interest in biology and is a tribute to the proliferation of organic life in all its forms. It features a complex range of world music influences, just tunings and guest performers, similar to Rainforest (1989).

<i>Seven Veils</i> (Robert Rich album) 1998 studio album by Robert Rich

Seven Veils (1998) is an album by the U.S. ambient musician Robert Rich. It is inspired by Arab culture and music. This album has a heightened emphasis on rhythms, from guitar and percussion. All pieces except track 3 were composed in just intonation. Guests include David Torn on guitar and Hans Christian on cello. Ranked by Allmusic as one of Rich's best albums, it was praised as, "This Muslim psychedelia is a must for every shrinking world audiophile."

Thom Brennan is an American electronic ambient musician, composer and synthesist. Active since the 1980s with his first album Mountains (1987), he belongs to the scene of Californian pioneers of electronic music. His style encloses the principal traits characterizing the evolution from Terry Riley's and Morton Subotnick's minimalism to the form of electronic new-age suite.

<i>Collection</i> (Joe Sample album) 1991 compilation album by Joe Sample

Collection is a compilation album of jazz songs by American pianist Joe Sample that was released in 1991 through GRP Records.

<i>John Zorns Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory</i> 1995 live album by John Zorn

John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory is an album of a performance of John Zorn's improvisational game piece, Cobra, performed at the Knitting Factory in 1992. The album resembles the missing link between John Zorn's work with Masada and Naked City. It also had a major impact on the electronic scene of New York.

David & Steve Gordon are a new-age and chill-out music recording duo.

<i>Right from the Heart</i> 1985 studio album by Johnny Mathis

Right from the Heart is an album by the American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on March 18, 1985, by Columbia Records. It was his first album without songs that were previously recorded by other artists. The title track is one of the album's four ballads that, along with four of the remaining six up-tempo tracks, delve into the subject of relationships, but it is the synth-driven "Step by Step" and the anthemic "Hold On" on which Mathis take a break from the usual focus on love songs. The former offers the hope that can be found in change that comes gradually until "I can see the way free from yesterday to a new beginning". The latter stresses the importance of being oneself: "Life is a party. Why don't you come the way you are?"

<i>Forgotten Gods</i> 1993 studio album by Steve Roach, Jorge Reyes & Suso Saiz as Suspended Memories

Forgotten Gods is a collaborative album by American ambient musicians Steve Roach, Jorge Reyes & Suso Saiz as Suspended Memories. Recorded and mixed at the Timeroom, Tucson, AZ. Mastered at Hearts of Space studio, San Francisco.

<i>Locust Star</i> 1996 EP (split) by Neurosis & Tribes of Neurot

Locust Star is a split EP between Oakland bands Neurosis and Tribes of Neurot released in 1996 through Relapse Records as a CD and a promo. Unlike most split releases, both groups involved with this EP are composed of the same members.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Soma at AllMusic
  2. "Soma (by Darren Bergstein)". Steveroach.com. Retrieved 2012-03-10.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Source: Roach & Rich, "CD liner notes"
  4. "New Age Music: Top New Age Albums Chart". Billboard. April 17, 1993. Retrieved 11 July 2017.

Sources