Various Artists - Windham Hill - The First Ten Years (1990)

Today marks the tenth anniversary of The CD Project and I'll admit that I bought this 2 disc set based mainly on its title and solely for the purpose of featuring it today. But it's fitting so I make no apologies. Here's the gist of this new age compilation directly from the liner notes:

Note: label founder William Ackerman doesn't care for the term 'new age' when describing Windham Hill:

We actually pre-date the term considerably, and I don't see why we should be particularly enthused about settling for it.

However, I believe history will remember the label (1976 - 2007) as synonymous with the genre.

I thought I was quite familiar with the Windham Hill label since I've been listening to some of its releases since the early '80s. Plus, CDs from William Ackerman, George Winston, and Liz Story have all appeared on this blog. However, after giving these discs a listen, I quickly discovered there were quite a few Windham Hill artists I had never heard nor heard of. Overall, a very relaxing album, as you might expect, but with more variety than most new age albums - a nice primer.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did Not Chart
Peak on the US Billboard New Age album chart: #10

Tracks:

Disc One:

Song	Artist	Year
Bricklayer's Beautiful Daughter	William Ackerman	1977
White Rain	Alex de Grassi	1979
Colors/Dance	George Winston	1980	✔
Angel's Flight	Shadowfax	1982
Bradley's Dream	Liz Story	1983	✔
Afternoon Postlude Soliloquy	Daniel Hecht	1980
2nd Gymnopedie	Bill Quist	1979	✘
Homfeld Suite	David Qualey	1980	✔
Rickover's Dream	Michael Hedges	1983	✔
Variations on Clair De Lune	Robbie Basho	1979
Oristano Sojourn	Scott Cossu	1984
Clockwork	Alex de Grassi	1983
Peace	George Winston	1982	✔
Aerial Boundaries	Michael Hedges	1984	✔
Egrets	Montreux	1985
On The Threshold Of Liberty	Mark Isham	1983

Disc Two:

Song	Artist	Year
Welcoming	Michael Manring	1985	✔
The 19A	Nightnoise	1984
Montana Half Light	Philip Aaberg	1985	✔
Shadowdance	Shadowfax	1983	✘
Pittsburgh 1901 (Theme From Mrs. Soffel)	Mark Isham	1984
The Calling	Stein & Walder	1986
Gwenlaise	Scott Cossu w/Eugene Friesen	1986
Dolphins	Mike Marshall	1985
Wishing Well	Schönherz & Scott	1987	✔
Theme for Naomi Uemura	Philip Aaberg	1986	✔
Toys Not Ties	Nightnoise	1987
Close Cover	Wim Mertens	1986
To The Well	W. A. Mathieu	1987
Hot Beach	Interior	1982	✔
New Waltz	Malcolm Dalglish	1985
Processional	William Ackerman	1986
Woman At The Well	Tim Story	1987

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

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First post, 2010: Paul Simon - Graceland (1986)
1st anniversary, 2011 (post #378): Electric Light Orchestra - Time (1981)
2nd anniversary, 2012 (post #694): Seal (1994)
3rd anniversary, 2013 (post #948): Fun Boy Three - Really Saying Something: The Best of Fun Boy Three (1997)
4th anniversary, 2014 (post #1127): Ultravox - Quartet (1982)
5th anniversary, 2015 (post #1231): Soul Hits of the '70s: Didn't It Blow Your Mind, Vol. 5 (1991)
6th anniversary, 2016: no post
7th anniversary, 2017: no post
8th anniversary, 2018 (post #1461): Pat Metheny - Watercolors (1977)
9th anniversary, 2019 (post #1524): Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever (1989)