Editing Dreamtime Return

{{Infobox album
| name       = Dreamtime Return
| type       = [[Album]]
| artist     = [[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]]
| cover      = Dreamtime_Return_original.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = 1988
| recorded   = 1987–88 at The Timeroom
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Ambient music|Ambient]], [[electronic music|electronic]]<ref name="AllMusic"/>
| length     = 130:23
| label      = [[Projekt Records]]
| producer   = [[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]]
| prev_title = Quiet Music
| prev_year  = 1988
| next_title = Stormwarning
| next_year  = 1989
}}

'''''Dreamtime Return''''' (1988) is a double album by the American [[Ambient music|ambient]] musician [[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]], based on [[Australian Aborigine|Australian Aboriginal]] culture and the concept of the [[Dreamtime (mythology)|Dreamtime]]. Described as "one of the pivotal works of ambient music"<ref name="Moon"/> and "groundbreaking,"<ref name="Catlin"/> the album has been included on a number of lists of the world's best music, including ''[[1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die]]''.<ref name="Moon"/>

== Overview ==
Roach had already begun composing this album when by chance he received a letter from writer/photographer David Stahl. Stahl had heard Steve Roach’s third album, ''[[Structures from Silence]]'', on the radio while driving through the desert towards [[Mexico]]. He informed Steve Roach of his current documentary film project ''Art of the Dreamtime''. Several months later Roach and Stahl traveled to Northern Australia to visit that region's ancient Aboriginal sites.

The earliest recorded track on the album is “The Other Side”. This piece was recorded live, with [[Kevin Braheny]] playing a Steiner [[EWI (musical instrument)|EWI]] (Electronic Woodwind Instrument). This piece was broadcast on the [[National Public Radio]] program ''[[Music from the Hearts of Space]]'' in 1986. This particular edition of the program, titled ''Starflight 1'', was so popular that later that year it was released as an album, consequently “The Other Side” was released two years before the rest of ''Dreamtime Return''.

Before this album was released, Steve Roach traveled to [[Australia]] for musical inspiration.<ref name="AllMusic"/>

== Reception ==
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dreamtime-return-mw0000201882|title=Dreamtime Return – Steve Roach|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=February 14, 2012}}</ref>
| rev2 = ''[[Exclaim!]]''
| rev2score = 8/10<ref name="Hayes">{{cite web|last=Hayes|first=Bryon|url=https://exclaim.ca/music/article/steve_roach-dreamtime_return|title=Steve Roach: Dreamtime Return|website=[[Exclaim!]]|date=May 4, 2018|access-date=May 4, 2018}}</ref>
}}

In a 1989 appraisal for ''[[CD Review]]'', [[Linda Kohanov]] lauded ''Dreamtime Return'' as Roach's "masterpiece" and wrote that Roach "demonstrates that [[electronic music]]'s greatest potential may lie in bringing our most elusive dreams and ancient memories into focus through potent, highly imaginative soundscapes."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Kohanov|first=Linda|author-link=Linda Kohanov|url=http://steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=54|title=Steve Roach: Dreamtime Return|magazine=[[CD Review]]|date=August 1989|access-date=March 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204104123/http://steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=54|archive-date=February 4, 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Dreamtime Return'' helped Roach gain a worldwide reputation.<ref>{{cite news|last=Irwin|first=Dave|title=Aural Enlightenment – Ambient Artist Steve Roach Redefines the Sound of Music|newspaper=[[Tucson Weekly]]|date=May 25, 2000}}</ref> Retrospectively, the album has been described by the ''[[Hartford Courant]]''{{'}}s Roger Catlin as "groundbreaking",<ref name="Catlin">{{cite news|last=Catlin|first=Roger|title=A leading ambient light|newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]]|date=November 4, 1999|page=28}}</ref> and by [[AllMusic]] as a landmark of "[[Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics|fourth world]]" music.<ref name="AllMusic"/> Author David B. Knight opined that Roach "seeks to activate listeners to reach a deep level of consciousness that draws upon the trance-inducing music he has created."<ref>{{cite book|last=Knight|first=David B.|chapter=Dreamtime|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yP_0nxswIVgC&pg=PA35|access-date=July 11, 2017|title=Landscapes in Music: Space, Place, and Time in the World's Great Music|publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]]|year=2006|isbn=978-0-7425-4116-0|page=35}}</ref> Reviewing the album's 1998 reissue, Mark Burbey of ''[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]'' wrote that ''Dreamtime Return'' "remains a landmark recording of extraordinary emotional resonance."<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Burbey|first=Mark|url=http://steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=52|title=Steve Roach: Dreamtime Return|magazine=[[Alternative Press (magazine)|Alternative Press]]|issue=127|date=February 1999|access-date=March 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050204102320/http://steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=52|archive-date=February 4, 2005|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has also been included on a number of lists of the world's best music, including [[Tom Moon]]'s ''[[1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die]]'' (2008), which notes that it has come to be regarded as "one of the pivotal works of [[ambient music]]."<ref name="Moon">{{cite book|last=Moon|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Moon|chapter=Deep Space Swirls: Dreamtime Return – Steve Roach|title=1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die|title-link=1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die|publisher=[[Workman Publishing]]|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7611-3963-8|page=649}}</ref> 

John Diliberto, host of the ambient music radio program ''[[Echoes (radio program)|Echoes]]'', commented in 2005 that ''Dreamtime Return'' was "a seminal recording that has influenced a generation of musicians",<ref>{{cite web|last=Diliberto|first=John|url=http://www.steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=348|title=Steve Roach: Dreamtime Return|website=[[Echoes (radio program)|Echoes]]|date=June 2005|access-date=March 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110233706/http://www.steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=348|archive-date=January 10, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref> while ''[[Hearts of Space]]'' presenter [[Stephen Hill (broadcaster)|Stephen Hill]] said, "Musically ''Dreamtime'' richly deserves its classic status, but Roach also deserves credit for leading electronic musicians out of their sheltered studios and into an active relationship with the landscape, the wider world, and deep cultural history."<ref>{{cite web|last=Hill|first=Stephen|author-link=Stephen Hill (broadcaster)|url=http://www.steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=347|title=Steve Roach: Dreamtime Return|website=[[Hearts of Space]]|date=June 2005|access-date=March 8, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060111001015/http://www.steveroach.com/Press/review.php?id=347|archive-date=January 11, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After ''Dreamtime Return'' was remastered and reissued for its 30th anniversary in 2018, Bryon Hayes from ''[[Exclaim!]]'' wrote, "Thirty years later, in a period of intense rediscovery of barely remembered classic albums, it's fitting that this iconic gem has been uncovered."<ref name="Hayes"/>

==Track listing==
<small>All tracks by [[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]] except where noted</small>

===2-Disc CD Release===
====Disc one====
#”Towards the Dream” – 7:08
#”The Continent”  – 4:49
#”Songline” (Robert Rich, Roach) – 3:10
#”Airtribe Meets the Dream Ghost” (Rich, Roach) – 7:00
#”A Circular Ceremony” – 11:18
#”The Other Side” (Kevin Braheny, Roach) – 13:14
#”Magnificent Gallery” – 6:07
#”Truth in Passing” – 8:41
#”Australian Dawn-The Quiet Earth Cries Inside” – 6:18

====Disc two====
#”Looking for Safety” – 31:21
#”Through a Strong Eye” – 6:50
#”The Ancient Day” – 6:06
#”Red Twilight with the Old Ones” – 9:48
#”The Return” – 8:33

===1988 Fortuna Records 2-LP release===
The 1988 2-LP release lacks the songs "Truth in Passing" and "Through a Strong Eye." It also has shorter edits of several other pieces, including a version of "Looking for Safety" that is 20 minutes shorter than the CD version.

====Side 1====
#”Towards the Dream” – 7:08
#”The Continent” – 4:48
#”Songline” – 3:11
#”Airtribe Meets the Dream Ghost” – 6:59

====Side 2====
#”A Circular Ceremony” – 9:35
#”The Other Side” – 13:13

====Side 3====
#”Magnificent Gallery” – 5:03
#”Australian Dawn-The Quiet Earth Cries Inside” – 5:11
#”Looking for Safety” – 10:03

====Side 4====
#”The Ancient Day” – 6:06
#”Red Twilight with the Old Ones” – 9:48
#”The Return” – 8:33

==Personnel==
*[[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]] – analog and digital [[synthesizer]]s, [[Music sequencer|sequencers]], [[sampler (musical instrument)|sampler]], [[Apple Macintosh|Macintosh]] with “M”, digital drums, Taos drum, sticks
*[[Kevin Braheny]] – Steiner EWI
*[[David Hudson (musician)|David Hudson]] – [[didjeridu]]
*Chuck Oken, Jr – [[rainstick]]
*[[Robert Rich (musician)|Robert Rich]] – gourd drum, [[dumbek]]

==See also==
*[[Ambient music]]
*[[Electronic music]]
*[[Australian Aborigine]]
*[[Dreamtime (mythology)]]

== References ==
{{reflist |25em
}}

{{Steve Roach}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1988 albums]]
[[Category:Steve Roach (musician) albums]]