I have picked some up at the thrifts and garage sales -- some samplers and George Winston. The most accurate word for me to describe it is pleasant - and I mean that most neutrally. Except for a few Winston pieces, I find it difficult to get into their genre. I guess it's known at as a "new age" label. Too often I find myself wondering when it is going to be over. An album side can be a nice diversion, but a full CD is way too much. :boring:

Anyone else feel the same way?

Regards,

D-Ray

I'm suprised you made it through a whole side.....I was working in wholesale music back in the 80's when this stuff first hit the shelves. It's not for me, droning melodies, no soul to it whatsoever. :boring::boring:

Yeah. I picked up a couple George Winstons. Very nice packaging. Well recorded. Neo-Classical Muzak. Just enough dissonance so you know it's not Mozart. Rainy day "time to take a nap" music.

Yes!
I am a big fan and pick up copies when I find them and I added 2 titles this weekend.
My collection now consists of the following;

LP's

Sampler 86
Sampler 87
Sampler 88
George Winston-Autumn
George Winston-December
Love: An Invitation to Windham Hill

CD's

An Evening with Windham Hill
A Winters Solstice
Scott Cossu-A Windham Hill Retrospective ( A signed copy BTW that I picked up at a thrift for $1)
George Winston-December
Interiors

I know it is considered "New Age Muzak" by many but I like listening to it in the early morning or late evening when everyone is asleep and I can't crank anything too loud. It is great background music when you are reading or doing other things IMO. On my vintage system all of their recordings are crystal clear even at low volume. The great thing about their LP's is that I have never seen a scratched or dirty copy. That either says something about the quality of their pressings or the care that Windham Hill owners took with their LP's.

Yes!
The great thing about their LP's is that I have never seen a scratched or dirty copy. That either says something about the quality of their pressings or the care that Windham Hill owners took with their LP's.

Another possible explanation is that the albums only came out of the jacket one time.

Regards,

D-Ray

agree wi Wolverine; good background music or for winding down at end of day.

Never understood the backlash. Great sounding recordings (they actually used decent quality tape for their cassettes) of music other labels woudn't touch. Some great guitar and piano artists (ackerman, hedges, degrassi and liz story, winston,etc.). Chris botti did some early stuff on WH. I'll grab anything WH or ECM out of habit- they're the only labels I watch for regardless of artist. I have an acoustic guitar sampler from WH on vinyl that has the best recorded guitar sounds I've heard. To each their own

I pass those "snooze age" LPs up all the time in the thrifts - nice, peaceful nature scenes on the fronts. Kind of remind me of Thomas Kinkade paintings - mass market pastoral scenes based on idealized nostalgia. But then I like to wind down to George Shearing, so probably shouldn't criticize.

Edit:

Come to think of it, I did pick up an Erik Satie on Windham Hill by some unknown pianist that isn't half bad.

Heading to a Luau today, so was just digging through the CD's for that old favorite, Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Masters. Guess what label it's on? (OK, Dancing Cat, a Wyndham Hill label).

Really nice stuff. There's another one with singing, which is not the one to own. This is the good one, pure instrumental. :music:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41FAJWDQSQL._SS500_.jpg

I've got probably 10 of the albums. I really like them a lot.. Some I will sit down and really listen to. Others I put on as background music for a nice dinner or something similar..

Another possible explanation is that the albums only came out of the jacket one time.

Regards,

D-Ray

I doubt that. The people that bought Windham Hill albums, knew what they were getting.

I have a few WH records and a couple of CDs. Best use for me is playing the records for system evaluation. They are usually pristine, even if used, and the recording is uniformly impressive. Another use for me is background or wind-down music.

Except for the Dancing Cat record of Professor Longhair's "Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo".

I've got a few. My massage therapist gave them to me. Nice guitar work. Unfortunately I can't figure out the logic I used when storing them. Can't remember the artist name and not under w or h. I need a media librarian.:D

Yep. I like 'em.

Big fan here. I grab them whenever I see them.

I just recently picked up an "electronica" lp on WH...it was great!

I have several of their cd's....

Great sounding....

I would not pass one up....

I have bought a few perhaps as many as twenty so far. They are well done and are always nice should my wife be napping close by they are perfect to play because they tend to have a easy sound that is smooth. The cover and album artwork is always top notch as are the recordings too.

There was another thread about this a year or two ago. Pretty much was half of responding AKers thought WH was very good, and the other half thought WH was pretty boring. I'm a big fan. Been listening to several artists since the early 80s when I picked up Ackerman's "Past Light" album based on the album cover's description of the recording process they used. I've got both CDs and Albums. The late Micheal Hedges CD "Aerial Boundaries" has a few dynamic guitar tunes on there that I had me taken aback by the sound he produced and me being able to withstand getting my Carver M500T amp to zing past 400+ watts through my JBL 100T speakers. Couldn't snooze through that...:D