Visions of a Peaceful Planet
by Ancient Future
Ancient-Future.Com AF 2004. 25th Anniversary Edition.
24 Bit Mastering. Exclusively at Ancient-Future.Com.
CD-R- $19.98:
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AF 79. Original Vinyl Pressing. Very Limited Stock. LP- $35.00:
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Visions of a Peaceful Planet by Ancient Future is the band's debut recording, recorded between December 1978 and May of 1979, when all of the members were studying at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California, under the late sarod master, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
"By listing the instruments involved in this wonderful, worldly
recording project one can imagine the aural possibilities – sitar,
steel string guitar with scalloped fretboard, North Indian bamboo
flute, tabla, cymbal, esraj, zither, flamenco guitar, Irish harp,
tanpura, etc."
"The first thing that makes this LP a delight is the magnificence
of the instrumental blending. 'Zzaj,' by Montfort, for instance,
sounds like music to celebrate the sunrise. 'Morning Song,' on
the other hand, is based on Indian instruments, the Bansuri flute
of Klein over a harmonic bed of sitar, tabla, sarod, zither, and
tanpura; great stuff sounds like a dove whistling in a forest
of stringed instruments."
– Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner
CD-R Release
"When I started the 24 bit CD-R remastering project on Ancient
Future’s debut recording, ‘Visions of a Peaceful Planet,’ I had
not listened to the release in years. My memories of the project
were that four indigent musicians in their very early 20’s were
financing the recording on whatever funds they could scrape up.
For this reason, mistakes were left in and we were all disappointed
that we couldn't reach our vision of perfection with the funds
available. But to my surprise, what I heard was a record with
an unbelievable amount of innocence, freshness and raw magic that
seems totally lost in music today. I also heard a record that
has held up well to the ultimate test of time. I felt very proud
of what four very young musicians had done 20 years ago before
anyone had ever heard of what is now known as world music."
– Matthew Montfort, Bandleader, Ancient Future
Original Collector's LP
Ancient-Future.Com Records has a very limited number of original vinyl LPs of this release that are now collector's items. Old Ancient Future LPs are being sold by collectors on eBay for between for up to $44 each depending on condition. These copies are still new, and quite a bargain at $35 while supplies last!
Featured Sound File
>audio. Eternal Embrace. #1 World Music Song on the mpulse.com Internet Music Chart (March-July 1999)!
Track List
>audio. (Play all tracks.)
- Zzaj (Matthew Montfort. 5:43). >audio. Jazz spelled backwards. Originally the lyrical movement of a 17 minute progressive jazz suite Montfort wrote while attending Boulder High School.
- Moonbath (Matthew Montfort. 7:10). >audio. First song recorded by Ancient Future, December 1978.
- Morning Song (Mindia Klein. 7:48). >audio. Bansuri flute, sitar, sarod, esraj, and tabla bring the morning in.
- Incandescence (Benjy Wertheimer. 8:28). >audio. Includes tabla bols (vocal recitation of the drum sounds).
- Bright Wind (Matthew Montfort. 7:37). >audio. Montfort woke up in the middle of the night with this song in his head.
- Eternal Embrace (Phil Fong. 6:12). >audio. Phil Fong's amazing sarod composition captured a spirit of the time. #1 World Music, #1 New Age, and #1 Ambient song on the March 1999 mpulse.com Internet music chart!