Blake, Tim

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 1978 / 2017
Remastered with 3 Bonustracks
Song For A New Age is a gentle guitar led piece with lots of synth twitters and chords behind it. Lighthouse is quite Star Treky due to some of the lyrics but a good tune nonetheless. I feel generator is the weak song of the bunch. Passage Sur... is a sequencer driven blast that manages to merge Tim's lyrical musical style with TD style rhythms.
For me the best part of the whole CD is Blake's New Jerusalem, which has to be one of the most beautiful electronic music tracks ever made. Again you'll have to remember where Tim comes from to appreciate the lyrics - much of the images referring to esoteric symbols and images. The movement between the vocals, rhythms and melodies is, dare I say this, lovely. This track is electronic music that has no dark edges, and like many of the pictures of Tim from this time is full of light and hope. I find it hard to link this music to other artists as it seems to be in a genre all by itself. Edgar Froese's Epsilon in Malaysian Pale is perhaps the nearest in my memory (is this available anywhere) due to its warmth and lightness.

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 2002 / 2017
This is a terrific album that is reminiscent of early New Age music from the 1970s. With this album, Tim goes back to the early sound of New Age while still incorporating more modern sounds and styles.
Caldea is a Catalan health resort in Spain, consisting of several swimming pools and spas which are fed by a natural hot spring. Blake has spent some time there to get relief for the arthritis in his hands, which he refers to as a ‘typical old musician’s ailment’.
Apparently the surroundings inspired him so that he recorded this relaxation disc. The music sounds like a blend of pieces by Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis and several others like them. Caldea Music 1 was made by Michel Huygen.
This new version is remastered.

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 1978 / 2017
Remastered with 3 Bonustracks
Delicate drones swirl to form a pool in which higher-pitched sounds can bloop and beep to a relaxed tempo. The electronics manifest as fragile vibrations, tones that might be damaged by a stray breeze. The gurgling breathing of cheerful insects surges as an undercurrent. The next track presents a livelier pace with frantic E-perc (sounding like synthesized wood blocks) dueling with liquid basslines while complex keyboards go through melodic convulsions. The third track is live from 1976. Mellow electronics of simplistic nature circle the listener, cajoled by a brief vocal repast. The next track is live from 1977 and possesses a tasty 15 minute dose of Blake's sparkling electronics.
Frolicsome ambience leads to swifter passages as pleasant-but-shrill keyboards explore an engaging melody. As the piece progresses, the electronics grow denser and more emphatic, racing to outdistance themselves. The last track is a brief collection of surging pulsations that build in volume and intensity...and then are gone.  The first three cuts, "Midnight", "Metro/Logic" and "Last Ride of the Boogie Child" are typical for this album, but "Synthèse Intemporel" is a real delight for all those who enjoy mid-period Tangerine Dream (i.e. Ricochet) as that cut is an obvious attempt at Blake trying to sound just like TD.
The last cut, "Crystal Presence" is basically an experimental piece that sounded like it came right off "Other Side of the Sky" from Angel's Egg. Crystal Machine is not perfect, it gets a little repetitive, but as a '70s vintage keyboard fan, it has that most wonderful '70s synth sound, so if you hate plastic sounding digital synth sounds (like too many albums from the 1980s and 1990s), and you like Gong or '70s electronic music, you might like this one.

Artist: Tim Blake
P:  2018
Four disc (three CD + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) set. We are pleased to announce the release of this anthology celebrating the career of celebrated synthesiser and electronic ambient music pioneer Tim Blake. Tim first came to prominence as a member of Gong where his synthesiser experimentation and mastery was demonstrated on albums such as Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg and You. He would also join Hawkwind from 1979 - 1980 and from November 2007. This anthology celebrates Tim's work both as a member of Gong and Hawkwind and as a solo artist and includes tracks from all stages of his career. Most interestingly, Lighthouse also features eight previously unreleased recordings, including three from The Birth of Crystal Machine in the 1970s, along with three recordings from the so-called Forgotten Tapes and two tracks recorded live in Amsterdam and Exeter in 2006 and 2009 respectively. As a final highlight, the anthology includes a bonus DVD featuring a previously unreleased recording of Tim Blake's appearance on French television in April 1979 performing 'Generator (Laser Beam)', 'Passage Pour La Cité Des Révélations', 'Lighthouse' and 'New Jerusalem'.

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 2000 / 2017
The spirit behind this recording, was to minimize the musical equippment as much as possible. So just a sequencer, a keyboard and a microphone was used, to record this music direct to stereo within a windmill in Brittany at moonlight. No re-recordings had been made and this is a nice slow meditative music in its special unique kind.



 

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 2012 / 2018
Reissued form his 2012 download album, here for the first time on CD.
On this CD, Tim Blake impressively shows and determines his qualities on the Keytar, Roland's conversion keyboard, with which he controls his synthesizer. "Noggi Tar" means of course no guitar and works as proof that the synthesizer belongs to this part. The four pieces are all instrumental, but have a song character. In this respect, "Noggi Tar" is not a successor to "Chrystal Machine" or "Caldea 2". Signage sounds are also of no importance to his parts with Gong, Hawkwind fans will probably stay here on demanding terrain. Mr. Moonweed has a small piece of jewelry from the electronic music management.

Artist: Tim Blake
P: 2001 / 2017
"The tide of the century" is an album of diverse influences, with modern electronic sounds and trance like rhythms finding harmony with ambient beauty. The opening "Nature 'L' " forms an appealing overture, with distorted vocals interplaying with an electronic beat and synthesiser motifs. The title track is the first of three longer pieces on the album. This beautiful mid-paced song features a fine blend of piano, vocals, lead guitar and synth. While never ambient, there is an unhurried mood to the song which is both captivating and stimulating. The icing on the cake is the mellotron like synth which provides the framework for this majestic opus. On "St. Doolay", Blake sound a bit like Chris De Burgh (the early years when he was good!), as he sings accompanied only by piano. The track incorporates a delightful piano and synth duet. The second of the longer pieces is "Crystal island" the title bringing to mind Blake's debut. Here, Blake adds a little light rapping to a song which is a bit like a cross between Ian Dury and Kevin Ayers. The mood is decidedly more wispy here, and girlie backing vocals add a pop feel. Nevertheless, the track builds superbly, its hypnotic rhythm supporting some more fine synth work. At just over 9 minutes, " Byzantium Dancing" is the longest track on the album. Here, Blake is supported by Min Tse Chou on guitar and Stof Kovaks on analogue synthesiser. This is one of just two genuine instrumentals on the album, the piece being very reminiscent of Tangerine Dream around the time of "Rubicon". "Sarajevo (Remember)" features highly effective bagpipes like synth, the song dealing sensitively with the tragic war in the Balkans. The song blends influences such as "Biko" (Peter Gabriel), and "Belfast Child" (Simple Minds) in a piece of great emotion. The album closes with "Tribulations", a reggae style song with rapping by Loys Kerhoas. It is not quite as bad as at sounds, but if you leave the album after track six, you will not have missed anything! In all, a superb album by Blake which sees him blending a diverse range of styles and sounds into a highly enjoyable set. There is plenty of good old fashioned monophonic synth to enjoy, along with a fine array of other sounds. Recommended.