Michael Stearns - Collected Thematic Works (1977-1987)

This CD compiles the best of the first ten years of Michael Stearns' "thematic" work, which took off from his early experiences as a rock and surf band guitarist and matured into his famous soundtracks for widescreen films like Chronos and Baraka. Along with many of my composer friends and acquaintances from the late 1970s and early 1980s, I've occasionally been labeled a "New Age" composer. I remember one meeting held in Topanga Canyon with myself, Gary David, Stephen Hill, Georgia Kelly, Steven Halpern and others, to discuss what we could do about being labeled "New Age." Nothing. Initially many of us did earn our bread and butter through a loose association with the New Age movement. At the time there were no formal distribution channels for such music, and many emerging artists made extra income on the New Age fair circuit. These were large public gatherings where people hawked everything from meditation techniques to communal life styles. We would travel around the country to diff