I can tell you precisely when I first heard Deep Breakfast by Ray Lynch. It was in the wee hours of the night/morning after my wedding. Remember Keith? The guy that got me interested in U2? The guy that I camped out for U2 Tickets with. The guy who asked me who I was taking to the concert. The guy I told “The woman who will change my life.” That same guy gave me Ray Lynch’s Deep Breakfast as a wedding gift.
After our reception, the entire wedding party went to the midnight movies at Glenbrook Cinema (which is no longer there). After the movie, we were wiped out. I turned on the fibre optic flower music box that was also a wedding gift and played Deep Breakfast. And by the flickering colored lights I listened to the soothing sounds of Ray Lynch and my new bride crying about how she could never go home again.
While I thought Deep Breakfast was nice to listen to that night. It wasn’t until a few days later in our new home that I really listened to it and became fully aware of this genre of music known as New Age. Yes, Tubular Bells is often classified as New Age but there were no labels designating it as such when I bought it. It seemed as though New Age just popped up all of a sudden and I was crazy about it. New Age took my love of instrumental music and mixed it in with my love of electronic music. Often times good guitar parts were mixed in as well.
Even though Tubular Bells was technically my first New Age CD, I believe that Ray Lynch marks the start of my New Age journey. It was Ray Lynch that introduced me to the label New Age. Wooden Nickel didn’t have a New Age section at that time so I spent a lot of money at Musicland which had a small but growing New Age area.
I can’t stress how significant this move to New Age is to My Musical Evolution. Since late 1988, almost a quarter of a century, New Age has been the most played genre of my Eclectic Collection. In my office most days, I listen to New Age all day long. It has that mind focusing power to mask out the sounds of the office and not distract me with lyrics or air drum solos. Any time that I have thinking to do New Age helps. On long drives New Age inspires me to recognize the natural beauty around me. If you are curious about New Age music, I highly recommend starting here with Ray Lynch and Deep Breakfast.
Celestial Soda Pop
The Oh Of Pleasure
Falling In The Garden
Rhythm In The Pews
Tiny Geometries