Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Shona Bridge
2. Breakdown
3. Red Shift
4. Skip Wave
5. Slipstream
6. Andean
7. Slow Breakdown
8. Ultramarine
9. Urbana
10. Lakbossa
11. Ten
12. Hawaii

Disc 2:

1. Shona Bridge
2. After Image/Urbana
3. Andean
4. Ultramarine
5. Lakbossa
6. Cascade
7. Red Shift

Product Details

• Released on: 1999-03-23
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Import, Best of, Live

Customer Reviews

The infinite guitar
I'm not sure what the infinite guitar actually is, but I am fascinated by its sound and have seeked out every album that it's on, played by Brook of course, though I know the Edge uses it from time to time too. Hybrid is also very recommendable as it is a collaboration with Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and Dream from the Real World Label has Brook playing a more out of control and loud guitar on it, which I really enjoy.

Very underappreciated artist
Generally the field of ambient music is dominated by musicians, producers, and DJ's who are able to coax atmospheric bliss from keyboards and, aside from Talvin Singh's msterful tabla exploits, not much else.
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Then there's Michael Brook. Probably the mystery of Michael Brook's anonymity involves his choice of instrument and the music he makes with it. He plays guitar, so he can't be techno-ambient, but he lacks that "granola factor", so he can't be New Age, either. I had first heard of him when I bought "Night Song", an excellent collaboration with the late, great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and one of the finest examples of East/West musical fusion I've ever heard. "Night Song" also utilizes layers of synthesized ambience, but the sound of something called the "Infinite Guitar" is also fairly prevalent (as near as I can tell, the "Infinite Guitar" is either a pet name for Mr. Brook's own customized effects rig, or else it is an electric guitar with no frets on its fingerboard, enabling a wider, "infinite" selction of tonal varieties).
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This double CD provides a much more telling glimpse of the guitarist's talent. The chill-out factor alone makes this CD a must-have if you like to listen to music during meditation or other times of introspection. The guitar sound is much more dominant (and more clearly defined) than it was on Mr. Brook's earlier "Hybrid" CD, the sound of which was absolutely saturated with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois' involvement. The studio recordings on the first CD are magnificent, and the live set that appears on the 2nd CD is reminiscent of the The Orb's "Live 93" recording, in that it proves that electronic music performed live does not need to be by definition the pressing of a playback button from a reel-to-reel tape machine...very surprising.
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In short, Michael Brook is the maker of very satisfying music; anyone who appreciates ambient electronica and an original guitar sound owes to themselves to give him a listen.

A wonderfully textured ambiant delight
These two releases are wonderfully textured ambiant delights. Michael Brook developed the infinite guitar, which The Edge played beautifully on U2's "With or Without You." His technique features long, sustained notes, with layerings and ambiant echo. Bill Frisell comes to mind as a similar musician. You will love playing these discs as background, relaxing music. So will your date... :-)