Interviews

Vangelis Papathanassiou - Reve

The soundtracks Vangelis did for Frédéric Rossif's documentaries were all beautiful, particularly the last one, Opéra Sauvage. I'm sure he just jammed the whole piece live, but it's such a great dreamy piece of music. You can hear him here developing the style he used later on for the Blade Runner soundtrack.

Jun Fukamachi - Desillusion

Jun Fukamachi was a classical and jazz pianist who played on a few US jazz albums but mainly released solo records. This is a great piece of music, full of longing and melancholy. The 1980 album it's from, Quark, is a hidden gem of synthesiser loveliness that doesn't get much recognition.

Steve Roach – Merge

Steve Roach is one of those people who just relentlessly ploughs on releasing electronic music, not really getting caught up into any kind of scene or zeitgeist. He was probably very untrendy when first releasing music in the 80s but his music has a wonderful purity to it. This piece is a kind of hypnotizing robotic waltz.

Howard Jones – Elegy

I love this album but would rarely admit to it! I first heard this watching laser images of dolphins being projected on to the sea in Brighton one Saturday night, it fit perfectly. Of course there’s a lot of overly commercial stuff he did, but this one really pulls on the heart strings.

Carmine Coppola and Francis Coppola – Chef's Death

Apocalypse Now is a fantastic piece of work and obviously not the most chilled film, but there are moments of gentle beauty in the soundtrack, particularly this piece. Amazingly Tomita was the first option for the film but couldn’t commit due to contractual issues.

Michael Hoenig – Departure

Michael Hoenig was originally a member of Agitation Free in the 70s and occasionally made Berlin School type albums through the 80s. I picked up this album from a record shop in Totnes a few years ago, and just loved the fact that it sounded like a really good hidden Tangerine Dream album.

Monica Beale – Aerospace

I know very little about Monica Beale except that she released a few albums of synth library music in the 80s. The album this is from, Sound Stage 12, is a great collection of quirky synth pieces that may have well been used on a few TV programs at the time. I think she deserves a lot more recognition for this.

Tomita - Round of the Princess

I love Tomita, and of course he was very much in the footsteps of Wendy Carlos, but his recordings were so lush and the voicings incredibly imaginative. This track is from his rendition of Stravinsky's Firebird.

Takashi Kokubo - Breath of Blue Water

This is a spacious dreamy piece that you can easily fall asleep to, and it comes from that rich seam of Japanese ambient/advertising music from the mid 80s. I’ve got a blue vinyl copy of the album which looks great.

Tonto's Expanding Headband – Ferryboat

I bought the CD compilation of all the Tonto works many years ago, and when it didn’t arrive I found myself talking by email directly with Malcom Cecil, which was a bit mind blowing. I printed off the exchange and kept it in the case, of course he’s now no longer with us. This track doesn’t appear on the first two Tonto albums although it sounds like it’s from the same era.