Mark Isham – Vapor Drawings (1983)
Posted by Beamer
From my stacks of new age, here’s Mark Isham’s debut album. It was oddly released on Windham Hill, which isn’t known for it’s electronic influence.
He plays the trumpet, which is more apparent in the rest of the album, but listen to it’s incorporation into the first track.
It’s a beautiful release, and even if it wasn’t, the sleeve would make up for it.
10 Comments Leave A Comment
Jamison says:
October 9, 2012 at 11:56 pmThis stuff is beautiful Beamer! Thanks for pointing me towards it!
Jakub says:
October 10, 2012 at 1:43 amInsanity! complete insanity, I love it
Gil says:
October 10, 2012 at 8:37 amAs I remember, Windham Hill always had New Age cache. It was definitely not as explicitly electronic as other labels, but new age didn’t really aim to group by technique or instrumentation.
Beamer says:
October 10, 2012 at 10:43 amSure they did. Windham Hill’s focus was acoustic; mostly minimalist piano solos and guitar. Innovative Communications was focused on keeping Berlin school alive. Narada had a more world jazz approach.
Anonymous says:
October 10, 2012 at 11:46 amI picked up a vinyl copy of this recently. Its a beautiful album in, as you noted, a beautiful sleeve.
Steven says:
October 10, 2012 at 5:05 pmoh man. soooo good. one cool thing about this album (at least in my current perspective) is that it is so old, but similar to stuff made recently. each song has a different vibe.
this might just have to be a purchase.
Mattia says:
October 11, 2012 at 7:42 amThe influence is clear: Minimalism. This sounds just like a Steve Reich’s work.
Kaöoro Charlie says:
October 11, 2012 at 3:56 pmSo fucken good!
(*≧▽≦)オハツでっす♪
John Dickinson says:
October 11, 2012 at 4:48 pmMan this brings back memories! I had this CD and the Mrs Soffel Score also composed by Mark Isham, back in the day!
steven smith says:
October 15, 2012 at 9:19 ami remember when this was released, back when i was really into electronic music. i love the opening cut “many chinas”. my fav.