COLLECTION

THE AMBIENT COOKBOOK

 Disc one:
  1/  Terasury                                                                 10.10
        Sad World (Dr. Atmo/Ramin)
  2/  Holy Dance                                                               15.33
        Ambiant Otaku (Tetsu Inoue)
  3/  Movement 5                                                               13.08
        Music for Films (Dr. Atmo/Oliver Lieb)
  4/  Sad Alliance                                                             12.26
        From Within (Pete Namlook/Richie Hawtin)
  5/  Heaven (aw-cut)                                                          6.54
        Silence (Pete Namlook/Dr. Atmo)
  6/  Kisy Loa                                                                 14.09
        I.F. (Dr. Atmo/Deep Space Network)
  7/  4VI Outro                                                                2.24
        4Voice (Pete Namlook)

 Disc two:
  1/  Electro Dreams                                                           11.34
        Zenith (Tetsu Inoue/Carlos Vivanco)
  2/  Trip #9                                                                  8.23
        Air (Pete Namlook)
  3/  Time Span Zero                                                           7.11
        Transonic (Robert Musso)
  4/  Angel Circle                                                             12.38
        The Putney (Pete Namlook/Ludwig Rehberg)
  5/  Biotrip                                                                  24.10
        Shades of Orion (Pete Namlook/Tetsu Inoue)
  6/  Data Haiku                                                               6.23
        Datacide (Atom Heart/Tetsu Inoue)

 Disc three:
  1/  Floating Sync                                                            11.11
        Electro Harmonix (Tetsu Inoue/Jonah Sharp)
  2/  The Gate To the Milky Way                                                8.26
        Namlook (Pete Namlook)
  3/  Astralbohrer                                                             5.48
        Otras 2 (David Reeves)
  4/  Loop 6 excerpt                                                           10.00
        Recurring Dreams of the Urban Myth (Chris Meloche)
  5/  Talk                                                                     16.47
        A Day in the Park (Dr. Atmo/Pino/Wildjamin)
  6/  Antarctica                                                               6.34
        Bedroom (Daniel Pemberton)
  7/  Another Green Airport                                                    15.03
        Aerial Service Area (Victor Sol/Niko Heyduck)

 Disc four:
  1/  Excerpt                                                                  7.27
        Music for Ballet (Pete Namlook)
  2/  Whirlpool (Slow Spiral of Clouds)                                        6.50
        Transonic 2 (Robert Musso)
  3/  In-Out                                                                   15.58
        Solitaire (David Moufang)
  4/  Celophane                                                                10.59
        Xjacks (Dandy Jack/Victor Sol)
  5/  Excerpt                                                                  6.40
        Wechselspannung (Pete Namlook/Jonah Sharp)
  6/  Chill In Chill Out                                                       12.56
        Organic Cloud (Tetsu Inoue)  
  7/  Subharmonic Interference excerpt                                         11.24
        Namlook (Pete Namlook)  

          Compilation produced by Pete Namlook

(D2, t3) Robert Musso: sounds, processing, guitar; Bill Laswell: bass.

          1995 - FAX +49-69/450464 (Germany), PKPWPS 3 (4CD)
          1995 - Ambient World (Germany), AW 007 (4CD)

Note: This was also release by Instinct Records (USA) in two 2-disc sets entitled 'FAX Compilation I' and 'FAX Compilation II".

REVIEWS :

The story of the new-school, post-dance ambient label Fax is really the story of Pete Namlook, its founder and major recording artist (see PETE NAMLOOK). Not since Eno has a single musician done so much to revive ambient ideas, both with his own music and the impressive array of talent he has signed to the label since 1992. Fax compilation albums have been numerous over the years but, like Namlook's own releases, many of them are limited editions. Fax Compilation 1 and 2 are among a select few that have been licensed by Instinct Records in North America and continue to be more widely available. They include most of tracks from the hard-to-find 4CD compilation The Ambient Cookbook, which has the curious addition of some tasty recipes from Pete Namlook's kitchen in the accompanying booklet. Either way, they are highly recommended summaries of what the artists on this amazing label have to offer. Old analogue synth sounds are merged with light techno beats, industrial percussion or live instruments in fresh and evocative ways; some tracks remain completely beatless, others pulse with gentle rhythm; some are cosmic and beautiful, some dignified and classical, others shadowy and ominous. It's often brilliant, inspiring stuff that has withstood the fall of ambient techno from flavour-of-the-month status in the early 90's and will remain a benchmark of quality for years to come.

Mike Watson (courtesy of the Chill Out website)

..................................................

If I was banished to a desert island and allowed a single album of music this would surely be a serious contender. Available in three forms - the original, the AW reissue and via a combination of the two Instinct compilations - this is a carefully selected and quite superb guide to much of Fax's very best releases from the mythical era that is 93 through to early 95. The reason I don't actually own it anymore is quite simple ... I subsequently went out and acquired each individual release in it's own right and I'm sure many others have done (and will do) the same. It would be pointless to review each track as they're all covered elsewhere on this site and I couldn't possibly do them all full justice here without this review becoming a gigantuan task! Virtually all of the acknowledged Fax classics put in an appearance - Tetsu's Ambient Otaku + Organic Cloud, Namlook's Air + Shades Of Orion, to name just a few - but, also and more interestingly, choice tracks from many other less renowned titles which quite frankly belie their origins. This is the irony of The Cookbook ... it will turn you on to the originals, only to find that several are greater in part than they are in whole. The best examples of this are arguably the extracts from Music For Film, The Putney, A Day In The Park and Bedroom. Each one a piece of wondrous ambience lifted from an otherwise indifferent context ... I particularly found the remainder of The Putney and MTF to be generally very boring, ADITP is far too drawn out (lacking in further ideas) and the introspective Bedroom suffers from rather poor recording quality. Most difficult must have been deciding which parts to lift from Music For Ballet and Recurring Dreams as these are both virtually the same throughout. However, in this viciously pared down form they both come off a lot, lot better. Niche artists like Victor Sol and David Reeves are well served but, I think it was a mistake to include two tracks from the Transonic series ... after all there's nothing from either of the first two releases in the 2350 Broadway series and *just one* example of Atom Heart's work but, that is to criticize an otherwise definitive sampler of Fax's golden era, crossing all three labels. Recommended.

Paul Milligan (courtesy of 2350.org)