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Topic: Sorry (not sorry) but I just can't get enough HR, My "go-to" comfort album of all time< Next Oldest | Next Newest >
shenry Offline




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Posted: April 07 2022, 05:26

I don't have anything new to say here, but just can't help expressing how much I love Hergest Ridge. Through my whole life since I first heard it in 1990, it's been the album I've probably returned to most often. I honestly just never tire of it, and it really feels like a favourite place, a familiar land to come back and just relax and forget all life's problems. I've never known music so comforting and so visual (well, apart from Tubular Bells and Ommadawn, actually....).

Everyone I know thinks I'm mad, and NO-ONE in "real life" that I know sees anything special in the album. I've given up trying to convert people. Cloth-eared nincompoops, the lot of them.

I'm trying to work out how many times I've actually listened to Hergest Ridge, and I have no idea. i would guess probably on average once a week since 1990 so (quick calculation) 1,612 times!

From best to worst, here's my rating of the different versions I own:

(1) Boxed LP set - My favourite mix, warm and minimal, and it's an album that just feels right as an LP not a CD.
(2) Boxed CD set - Still my favourite mix, but the LP just edges it over the CD.
(3) 2010 CD re-release - Special because I love the new cover and the booklet is fantastic.
(4) 1974 LP pressing - Just because. The original.
(5) 2010 limited edition LP pressing - Can't believe this is bottom, because it is still brilliant.
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Priabonia Offline




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Posted: April 07 2022, 05:48

I know what you mean, except in my case I probably heard it soon after its release in 1974 as a young adolescent, so for me it always has a resonance to those "different times". For me it is a "comfort" album (though i prefer the warmer 1974 mix!)...I'll listen to Ommadawn if I need something more "uplifting"...and Incantations if I want to get lost in the intricate technicalities of the structure.

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shenry Offline




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Posted: April 07 2022, 06:56

You have put that very well! Yes, Ommadawn is uplifting by comparison ("intense" I might say), and Incantations is intricate and mesmerising.
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Happy? Offline




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Posted: April 07 2022, 08:10

Just curious: what do you think of the 1974 demos?

For me personally, I'm glad Mike turned down the metallic/synthy organ sounds and made the recording sound a lot more soft and acoustic in the final version.


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I'd rather be... happy?
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shenry Offline




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Posted: April 07 2022, 08:27

I love the demos! One of the reasons I love the 2010 set so much.

I would add, obviously, I probably only love them as much as I do because of what they became, not what they are... but they are still very listenable and interesting. I quite like the organ and distorted guitar tones: it's fascinating how he uses these to build up a serene feel rather than the kind of heavy feel you might expect (compare, say, Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music!;). But yes, you are right, the fact he fleshed it out for the finished version and added a lot more of an organic feel really makes it special. The oboe and trumpets especially.
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