Vapor Drawings

Track Listings

1. Many Chinas

2. Sympathy and Acknowledgment

3. On the Threshold of Liberty

4. When Things Dream

5. Raffles in Rio

6. Something Nice for My Dog

7. Men Before the Mirror

8. Mr. Moto's Penguin (Who'd Be an Eskimo's Wife?)

9. In the Blue Distance

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Mark Isham's enduring 1983 solo debut captures his graduation from gifted trumpeter with groups like Rubisa Patrol, Group 87, and, most visibly, Van Morrison, to composer with a more versatile and ambitious body of work. On Vapor Drawings, Isham's trumpet and flugelhorn are augmented by synthesizers, piano, soprano sax, and electronic percussion in a series of layered, atmospheric tone poems that nod to Philip Glass and Steve Reich, as well as to European classicism and Eastern modalities. Deemed a new age record as much for its label home as for any intrinsic musical elements, this music is cinematic in scale and drama, especially on its best-known track, the majestic"On the Threshold of Liberty," which anticipated Isham's prolific output as a major film composer in the intervening years. --Sam Sutherland

Vapor Drawings,Mark Isham,Windham Hill Records,Ambient,Crossover Jazz,Electronic,Fusion,Jazz Music,New Age,New Age / Meditation,Pop,Progressive Electronic,Trumpet

Vapor Drawings

Tracks:

Many Chinas
Sympathy And Acknowledgement
On The Treshold Of Liberty
When Things Dream
Raffles In Rio
Something Nice For My Dog
Men Before The Mirror
Mr. Moto's Penguin (Who'd Be An Eskimo's Wife?)
In The Blue Distance

Amazon.com

Mark Isham's enduring 1983 solo debut captures his graduation from gifted trumpeter with groups like Rubisa Patrol, Group 87, and, most visibly, Van Morrison, to composer with a more versatile and ambitious body of work. On Vapor Drawings, Isham's trumpet and flugelhorn are augmented by synthesizers, piano, soprano sax, and electronic percussion in a series of layered, atmospheric tone poems that nod to Philip Glass and Steve Reich, as well as to European classicism and Eastern modalities. Deemed a new age record as much for its label home as for any intrinsic musical elements, this music is cinematic in scale and drama, especially on its best-known track, the majestic"On the Threshold of Liberty," which anticipated Isham's prolific output as a major film composer in the intervening years. --Sam Sutherland

Customer Reviews:

Timeless Magic.......2007-06-09

This cd was the my first exposure to Mark Isham's music. How lucky we are to have such a talented man to write in a way that takes us away, to a special dream state. That's what this music does, and you can't sit still while you listen to it, even dancing in your car. Pure pleasure!

Just good for one song.......2006-09-05

"On the Thresh hold of liberty" is a very dramatic song that has been commonly used in movies and tv. The rest of the cd is a snooze fest!

A True Instrumental Classic.......2006-04-20

Mark Isham's 1983 Windham Hill debut has a reputation as a "new age" classic, but it transcends that oft-misused label. There is a wide variety of stylings and moods in this, from the comical "Mr. Moto's Penguin", to the sublimely minimalist "Sympathy and Acknowledgement", from the jazzy "Many Chinas" to the heroically inspiring "On the Threshold of Liberty". (The last was used a theme for the now nearly-forgotten Al Pacino film "Revolution"). The influences, from Steve Reich to Miles Davis, are readily apprarent, but Isham's creativity as a composer takes the music way beyond mere imitation - it still holds amazingly well over 20 years later. Isham has found a niche in Hollywood as a prolific film-score composer (and I for one believe his score for "Crash" should have been nominated for an Oscar - it was beautiful and very integral to the film). But this is a great way to introduce yourself to his earlier work, and it's one of the finest albums ever to be saddled with the "new age" tag. I highly recommend it to anyone with eclectic instrumental music tastes. If you like what you hear, then you also might like his other releases, especially "Tibet", "Castalia", and the aforementioned "Crash" soundtrack.

20 years and still going.......2003-09-16

After 20 years this CD still stands up. Still a good listen. Still a good example of all it wanted to be, the integration of synths and accoustic in a kind of music that gets the best of both. If its weaknesses have become more apparent with time, so have its strengths. And Mark has moved on to other things (why should he do more of the same thing?). But Vapor Drawings is still there for us to enjoy. It has outlived the stigma of New Age. (And now you can get it cheap. So if you've been holding out all these years, now's the time.)

Putstanding debut by a a Talent deserving Wider Recognition.......2002-11-15

Although this is on Windham Hill, I would have to say this is not a New Age recording, even in 1983 during the height of the New Age explosion. This is more ambient music than anything else. Mark is an inventive, composer arranger and instrumetalist. He goes from fusion to ambient and many other styles in between. He has the science of implication down. He creates soundscapes that stimulate the imagination, conjuring multiple images. This is more about the composer than the instrumentalist. Mark plays trumpet, keyboards and electronic percussion here to great effect. At the time, I felt this was the single strongest release that Windham Hill had. This was so far beyond anything they had released. Mark has gone on to distinguish himself in subsequent recordings as an outstanding trumpet player/reed accompanist/film composer/conceptualist. It's all evident here. The promise is here in this recording, so are many of the manifestations.

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