Fresh Aire

Chip Davis didn't have to look far for inspiration on Fresh Aire 7, using the occasion to indulge a long-standing interest in the number seven. The result is rather strict program music: the seven chakras are aligned to seven unique works, the seven colors (or "colours" if you live in the U.K. or Nebraska) of the rainbow are transcribed into seven separate notes/instruments, a seven-part rondo is recorded between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on a single day, etc…

Winter had a polarizing effect on the band, drawing them toward a more severe, economical sound that favored clarity over sentimentality. Gone were the overly romantic piano pieces and giddy medieval romps. This is music tinged with a certain sadness (as on "Red Wine"), at times alien and foreboding ("Crystal"). It's not a complete departure from their formula, but it does succeed at matching that formula to a specific season, moreso than the first three Fresh Aire records anyway…

This is a rehash of the medieval themes and romantic piano pieces found on the first Fresh Aire. Fresh Aire II gets the nod over the debut by separating the two styles rather than alternating them; the side-long "Fantasia" consists of variations on a stirring medieval theme, not as fertile as Rick Wakeman or Camel's The Snow Goose perhaps, but not far off the mark either. The variations are described as doors (a convenient allusion given the music's conduciveness to reverie), with the intended effect of each described with Epimethean acuity by (presumably) Chip Davis. Without all those precious piano interludes in the middle, Mannheim manages to steamroll its way through more than 15 minutes of medieval mind candy.

Two different anniversaries are the focus of this 2014 anthology by composer Chip Davis' world-famous new age ensemble Mannheim Steamroller. The 30 in the album's title refers to the three decades since the release of their wildly successful Christmas collection, an album that would eventually go platinum six times over and inspire a bevy of sequels and tours, essentially turning the band into a veritable holiday industry. The 40 refers to Davis' debut album, Fresh Aire, which arrived a full decade before the Christmas album. Blending symphonic sounds with synthesizers and rock instrumentation, the first groundbreaking Fresh Aire album went gold and became the flagship name under which Mannheim Steamroller would operate for the next 40 years. The 30/40 collection takes a look back, offering 15 remastered tracks from both the Christmas and Fresh Aire series of albums as well as a new rendition of "Greensleeves" sung by Davis' daughter Elyse.

Delia Derbyshire’s incredible 1969 library record 'Electronic', written under the Li De La Russe and Nikki St. George pseudonyms along with a few collaboration/contributions by her BBC radiophonic workshop colleagues, David Vorhaus and Brain Hodgson, who were collectively known as Kaleidophon. The material here tends towards Delia's minimal and best work, carefully detailed sketches full of sci-fi feels and abstract scapes, each with their own apt description in the liner notes, and including among them highlights such as the proto-Ø styles of Restless Delays and the sublime series of Delia-suffixed reveries, waltzes and ideas, plus Vorhaus’s brilliantly titled and tripped out Snide Rhythms, including material that eventually surfaced on The Tomorrow People.

Sky is the debut album by the supergroup Sky, released in 1979. Formed in 1979 as a direct result of classical guitarist John Williams' 1971 Changes album in which he ventured into soft rock for the first time, Sky was an attempt to meld the worlds of classical music and rock instrumentals, with results that echoed the U.S.-based work of composer Chip Davis with his Fresh Aire projects. In 1971, Williams recorded Changes with the intent of displaying his classical guitar prowess in the context of soft rock arrangements. Amongst the session players on the album were bassist Herbie Flowers (then with Blue Mink), keyboardist Francis Monkman (then working with Curved Air), and drummer Tristan Fry, who was doing session work in addition to working as a percussionist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the Fields.

This album served as the soundtrack for a PBS special that focused on endangered species around the world. Call it the Carnival of Animals with a social conscience, Saving the Wildlife is a modern musical bestiary from Mannheim Steamroller. Chip Davis combines the character of the animals with their environment, using two percussionists to evoke landscapes like Africa and the Orient…

Under the expert guidance of Peter Holman, as formidable a scholar of the period as he is experienced executant, these performances by the Parley of Instruments remain as fresh and incisive as on their first appearance over a decade ago. With no special interpretative axe to grind, they remain classic accounts, deserving of a place in anyone’s CD collection, specialist and general listener alike.