Artist or Title Artist Title Label

Tracks:

Disc 1: The Ritual Continues
1. The Ritual Continues 4:50
2. Comeback 2:10
3. Seeking 5:25
4. Conquest 6:09
5. The Breathing Stone 6:46
6. Flatlands 4:49
7. Towards the Dream 7:09
8. The Continent 4:51
9. Steel and Bone 2:38
10. Artifacts 11:43
11. Dreaming Now 7:27
12. Ancestral Horizon 7:49

Disc 2: Looking For Safety
1. Magnificent Gallery 6:15
2. The Slow Turning 7:40
3. Something in Tears 5:16
4. Quiet Friend 13:15
5. Cloud Motion 5:11
6. The Memory 5:57
7. Temple of the Frog 8:55
8. Drift 7:43
9. The Passing Time 12:13

This double CD presents selected pieces from Steve Roach's large body of work on the Fortuna Records label. Carefully selected and sequenced by the artist himself, and remasterd by Roger King, Disc 1 presents the rhythmic-electro-tribal-trance side of his work in nearly chronological order, starting with "The Ritual Continues" from 1982 and winding down with a previously unreleased live montage from 1997. Disc 2 presents an overview from the vast atmospheric soundworlds that only Steve can brew up. A stirring, spiraling, unreleased archive piece closes the second disk in a subtle yet profound way, illustrating why this influential artist continues to inspire listeners worldwide.

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Dreaming ... Now, Then is divided into the two broad strokes of Roach's music, one active and one in the drone zone. You can hear his early influences on tracks from Traveler, and Empetus, with repeating sequencer patterns borrowed from German space music and overlapping melodic and rhythmic patterns taken from minimalism. In 1987 he began to reveal his textured soundscapes inspired by the desert Southwest where he lives. That evolved into his highly influential techno-tribal sound, initiated with Dreamtime Return. The second disc is culled from Roach's more ambient works, notably the spacious, sensual unfolding of Structures from Silence, and includes a previously unreleased piece. A misprint on the CD spine calls this an "Introspective," but I think that's an accurate take on music circumscribing an interior world. --John Diliberto