Ascension II - The Healing Touch
When I first heard that Clifford White was going to follow up his critically acclaimed 2009 album The Gods of Olympus with a sequel to his very first record Ascension (released by New World Music is 1985), I was both surprised and excited. Twenty-five years since the release of that classic work, the news that there would be another album in the style of Ascension certainly had me counting the days until its release. However on reflection this feeling of pleasurable anticipation was offset somewhat by a nagging worry. What with White's best-selling masterpiece being such a hard act to follow, and with so many years having elapsed, could the artist possibly recapture the mood of the original? Would this latter-day return to his roots live up to expectations? I needn't have worried.
Inevitably, Ascension II: The Healing Touch, published by MG Music in 2010 will invite comparisons with its successful predecessor. And quite rightly; the entire album features various nods to the original (some of which I will discuss later on in this review), both in terms of melody, choice of sounds and tranquil mood. While the first album is imbued with a charming simplicity, this excellent sequel updates and revisits several of the themes of Ascension, while successfully recapturing the gentle and serene qualities that helped make White's 1985 work such a hit with New Age music fans.
Before I go on to comment on the individual compositions that make up this album, the superb production is worthy of note. Recording technology has come a long way since the mid-eighties, and it certainly shows here. All the subtleties, textures and layers of instrumentation are allowed to shine through, courtesy of White's top-notch producing skills. The clarity and balance of his magical soundscapes, apparent throughout, benefit the listening experience a great deal.
» Not long after CD Services first opened for business in the mid-late 80's we produced our first Synth / New Age Catalogue, and this brought many new names to our world-wide Synth / Instrumental Music customer / fan-base. One of these new musicians was Clifford White, a UK based keyboardist with a strong fair for melody. His crystalline and celestial tuneful synth themes set the world alight with: 'Ascension' his debut album of Vangelis styled dream-like tracks of uplifting beauty, first on Cassette and then on CD, selling regularly over the years that followed and going on to become one of CDS Towers biggest selling titles of the late 80's and early 90's.
Clifford White is a new age musician based in the UK who has been creating great music for quite a number of years now and like a fine wine continues to improve with age. Clifford's latest release is called Ascension II: The Healing Touch and is actually a sequel of sorts to an album he released years ago called, not surprisingly, Ascension back in 1985. Unfortunately I have never heard Clifford's earlier album so my review will be strictly based on Clifford's current release without any comparrisons to what has come before. Besides I like to listen to music not so much based on what has been done by the artist in the past so much as I like to look at new collections of songs to see how it stands on its own in the here and now.
I'm always amazed when an artist totally changes style from one album to the next. Only a talented and versatile artist is able to express something entirely different from one release to the next. Last year Clifford White gave us the massive The Gods of Olympus, which tells the story of the principal gods of the Greek pantheon. The 71 minute long album is simply a new age music Tour de Force, an album worthy of gods.
This year Clifford White has something truly different in store for us; The Healing Touch - Ascension II. It is just as laid back and chilled as The Gods of Olympus was dramatic. In other words; totally different. White is proving that magic also is to be found in the most gentle of sounds.
Some New Age music has the power to inspire us right from the moment it was first created, capturing your attention right from the beginning while also standing the test of time. Inspiring music reaching this level is powerful, imaginative, and well defined.
Something I find just as inspiring are the true life biographies of the artists themselves and their individual success stories that sets them apart from all others, and what may be revealed in their futures. I find their innermost passions and true life stories of their careers incredibly powerful and real.
"The Healing Touch" is the follow-up to Clifford White's new-age album "Ascension", a landmark release in the genre of new age music back in 1985. Clifford has come up with a similar kind of release, but also one sounding contemporary and fresh. The outcome harkens back to the original recording in very subtle ways, blending graceful and romantic melodic lines, but always retaining an unhurried, tranquil state. Like its predecessor, the music of "The Healing Touch" flows naturally, gently and in balance, radiating positive vibrations as each track gradually unfolds in a sense of grace. The electronic instruments provide soft and warm blankets of sounds, blending the elements in harmony and beauty, with occasional orchestral outings as e.g. heard on Vangelis-flavoured "Eternity". Compared to the previous release, "The Healing Touch" speaks its own language though, while it embraces, relaxes and pleases the listener during a smooth 62-minute ride up to the heavens. All in all, the accomplished "Ascension II" offers well-rendered new age music for the new generation in the slow lane. Nicely done, Mr White!
