Is there anything out there that will satisfy my needs?
Yer Pal, Gel-Sol
Hi Gel-Sol, Alan Evil brought up something that I think applies, but you know already ;) ... The em:t catalogue (and IMHO, Woob's first, 1194, and the first mix, 0094) is right up there with albums that will BAM! BAM! BAM! you away. The Woob album is best listened to as a whole, not as individual tracks. What a trip! I also revisited the Orb's first album (2xCD version) in it's entirety the other night (first time in over 5 years), and I would have to agree that that's up there too. Surprisingly, still holds up quite well after 13+ years... I'm re-adding it to my list of top 10 faves - better late than never. As for other stuff... yikes, it is difficult to point out a 'stellar' album that's along the lines of Dark Side of the Moon or Revolver. Both are completely different albums, take you in different directions, but excellent in their own rights... I personally really enjoy Yello's 80-85 New Mix in One Go, great mixing on that one in some spots, but not everyone likes every one of the tracks on it... But I consider it to be a great little 'trip' album on it's own... Air's 10,000 Hz Legend was quite good too, seems more of a concept album too. Hey, did you check out some of Tangerine Dream's early early stuff, like Rubycon? (sp?) Supposed to be quite up there for ambient listeners... I liked it, but I think it's effect would have been 500% more had I listened to it in the mid-70s when it first came out. There's one other TD album from around the same time that is quite good, can't recall the name. I'm not a TD fan by any means (stuff from the 80s and later tend to be cheese - no, make that 'fromage'). But those two are fantastic albums - the only two by TD I'd ever listen to, period. Someone on the ambient list posted a document a couple years ago of top-30 or so albums that were groundbreaking for Ambient/Chillout. I believe it was a magazine that offered this list, but for the life of me, can't recall. You really should dig this out, it had some top notch recommendations on it. Finally, a lot of 'trip' type albums can be found via the older prog rock stuff... Not necessarily electronic music, but there's a lot of them out there. One of my faves is a record by Mountain... Oh yeah, one that's similar to DSOTM is Hawkwind's "In Search of Space"... Very good album, from start to finish, has some nice synth work in it, and an awesome bassline in "Master Of The Universe". I dunno about the rest of the stuff they put out - I listened to Levitation before, and I didn't find it very inspired. Hope this helps. Robbo