In Search of the Angels

The record label that the cassette was made by is called Dawn Awakening. I found their website.

“Music to reduce and manage Stress, Anxiety & Depression. Calming, therapeutic relaxation CDs and cassette tapes for alternative healing and mind massage. We specialise in creating interesting music for use with various therapies and work closely with both Musicians and Therapists. This music is also suitable for creating a relaxed atmosphere after a stressful day.”

Well, that all sounds nice, and actually I’m all for that kind of thing; but a search of that site for “Nicholas Dodd” brings back absolutely nothing. Nothing!

A search of Amazon brings up loads of soundtrack CDs which he as worked on. A search on play.com brings back some CDs by British comedian Ken Dodd. I don’t think he made Starlands 1 or Waves.

So, I’ve searched the internet, and there’s no trace of Nick’s “new age synthesizer” stuff. Are there two people called Nicholas Dodd? One a very well known conductor/arranger in the film score world and one an unknown but extremely talented synth wizard? I don’t know. Oh well, anyway…

Starlands 1 is something really special. I’ve never heard anything quite like it before or since. The only way I can describe it is that it’s kind of like film music, really moving film music. Most of the pieces start off very quietly, with quiet, drifting notes floating in, gradually followed by some other soft notes gently sliding in; and the sounds build, the notes increase, and smoothly glide from one to another, and then they sometimes settle down to a more subdued level again.

What is this? I wouldn’t call it ambient, not in the sense that most people understand ambient music. It’s not classical, because it’s created electronically. It’s not even a synthesizer version of existing classical music. I suppose the nearest comparisons I know of are Vangelis (who has done various movie soundtracks, including Bladerunner) and Angelo Badalamenti (who did the music for most of director David Lynch’s stuff, including Twin Peaks and Mulholland Drive). Not quite the same though. Although Vangelis and Angelo B are great; actually, some of the music on David Lynch’s stuff is spectacular, particularly the opening theme to Mulholland Drive and some of the mood pieces in Twin Peaks.

Anyway…

Sometimes, when I am driving home from work, and I’ve got Starlands 1 playing in my car, I look at the glow on the horizon, and the silhouettes of the trees, and I almost feel as if it is the actual sound of my own inner being.

Actually, that’s it! That’s the best way to describe it! If you could imagine what it would sound like if you could take the experience you have when you’re meditating, or when you’re having a beautiful, peaceful dream, and turn that into sound, THAT is what Starlands 1 sounds like.

And as for Waves, well for side one, the piano piece, imagine you’re lying on a raft on the sea on a quiet sunny day, relaxing, and remembering golden times, and your heart sings; for side two, imagine you’re dreaming of your perfect lover, your soul mate, and you’re lying on a beach as the last glow of a sunset is going down, and once that last drop of red disappears, your lover fades away, leaving the sound of angels calling their name from far across the ocean, and then eventually even they disappear, and you’re just left with intense memories, and everything that makes you feel…

And then I ask myself, why oh why is there no more of this to buy?

Then I wonder what his classical work is like, and a whole new world of possibilities opens up before me.