STEVE ROACH - EARLY MAN (2000)
Steve Roach is well renowned as being the first man in the ambient music scene. Over 30 years he has produced dozens of albums, and has many dedicated listeners. Sensing the awesome magnitude of his accomplishments, I visited his website and browsed through his extensive discography. I picked one out that I thought sounded interesting - EARLY MAN - and added it to my birthday list, without any kind of idea of what it would sound like.
On my birthday this year, I received it as a gift. This of course made me happy, as at last I could hear it.
On first examinations, I looked at the artwork. It is abundant with trilobite fossils, earthy colours and aboriginal paintings. (I may add that Australia is a common theme in Roach’s music, and he has provided many references throughout his musical career.) Another addition to the artwork, curiously enough, is images of technological equipment. This may go unnoticed at first glance, but they provide an interesting side-story to the album. Perhaps it refers to the science used to analyse and unearth the prehistoric heritage of our ancestors?
Upon doing some research about this album’s release, I discovered that it came in a limited edition. A unique design, the original package contained a CD case made from a block of slate, with the disc housed within. These were limited to 1000 copies, and each is different from the rest. Of course, I don’t have a limited edition copy; mine is the second pressing, which comes with a second disc of more tracks made from the sounds of the first disc.
Mr Roach takes the listener on an epic journey of primordial excellence, back in time to the ancient world of our predecessors. And I suppose that’s the reason why I like it so much. All who know me understand that I am no fan of the happenings of the modern world; instead my interest lies in the past. The music and the concept of this CD take me back to our first footsteps on this planet, on a rich organic world unspoilt by concrete civilisations and electric technology. I can visualise this realm perfectly, and can imagine early man exploring this dense world of nature. There are very few places like this on the planet today unfortunately, as man has spread everywhere. I wish I could see this ancient world first hand and explore it like our ancestors did.
All the tracks have wonderfully relevant names: Walking Upright, Hunting & Gathering, Mastodon, Carbondate... They fit right into the concept.
The music itself is just like the ancient world I described, rich and dense with sounds of nature and so organic you can almost feel the dirt beneath your feet. The first disc, the original release, details the journey of a single early man, wandering alone through the misty landscape of the unspoilt earth. It is everything I ever imagined when I thought about how this CD would sound when I first discovered it. Mr Roach has created another fine ‘soundworld’ to add to his worthy collection he has built up over the years.
It is hard to describe each track individually, as they all flow into each other so smoothly, and the whole thing is like one big piece of music; a chunk taken right out of history. My favourite track on the first disc is the final one: Flow Stone. As its title suggests, this track flows just like the air in the skies above our early man’s world, well represented by a long drawn out flowing synth, or even several synths flowing together. The whole thing seems almost magical, and the image that is evoked in my mind is that of our early man looking up at the night sky, eyeing the stars and thinking about what lies up there. Although there is a track on this release called 'Begins Looking Skyward', the visuals I perceive are much different for that one. The composition is made even better with the addition of the sound of stone scraping against stone, echoing throughout the endless atmosphere this track creates.
Sounds of deep nature are present throughout all the tracks, including prehistoric bird calls, flowing water, and sounds that I can only describe as deep rumbles of the earth; though I have managed to now create a similar sound to this myself. All this is adequately accompanied by the ancient atmospheres conjured by Mr Steve Roach’s synthesizers.
Steve Roach
was
assisted on this project by his friend and
fellow musician Vir Unis, who provided a ‘fractal groove
element’ on
the
Walking Upright track. This track, as well as Early Man and
Hunting and
Gathering, all contain a distinct rhythm of some kind, with
synths and
other
sounds flowing in and out over the top. Now I don't know much
about Vir
Unis himself, nor have I heard many of his tracks, but he
provides a
good accompanyment to the said track.
Disc two, although made up of the same sounds as the tracks on the first disc, provides another prehistoric experience. There are nine tracks on this disc, averaging at nearly eight minutes in length, and they are just as dense and varied as the original tracks. From what I’ve researched, these tracks were assembled in the same year Early Man was released, ready to add to the re-release the following year. Even though these tracks are equally good as the first lot, I still prefer disc one, probably because I can form more of a storyline with them than I can with these ones. That’s not to say these ones should be disregarded though - I still listen to it as much as the first disc. It’s great to listen to in the background of your life, as I often do. But what’s even more amazing is lying in complete darkness with it playing on a big hi-fi system. Your imagination will run wild.
I’d say my favourite track on the second disc is ‘Late Dawn’. It sounds very natural and organic to me, and really conjures the image of the misty ancient world I can vividly imagine when I think about this album. I think about how our early man character must be exploring his world in this track, and experiencing the natural wonder before him. What a sight that must be.
I know this review is much shorter than the one I did for Thom Brennan’s Mountains, but I think an album of this magnitude deserves to speak for itself. This is one I highly recommend to anyone who thinks along the same lines as I do, and shares the deep passion for history and atmospheres like this. It’s incomparable to anything I’ve heard before.