The short version
- One track from each of the five artists this site is built on, a little over an hour in all.
- The order is Kitaro, Vangelis, Jarre, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze. It starts at four minutes and ends at 27.
- Melody leads the first three tracks and repetition the last two. As the tracks get longer, your ear learns to wait.
- Play it at night, on headphones, without breaks between tracks.
People who cannot get into this music usually stop at the length. They put on a 20-minute piece, wait three minutes for something to happen, and switch it off. So this hour runs the other way. It starts short, with a clear melody, and each track is longer than the last. By the final one, 27 minutes should not feel long. That, at least, is the idea behind the order.
All five come from albums that our "where to start" guides pick first or second, and each one links to the review of its album.
The hour
| 1 | Kitaro, Silk Road Theme (Silk Road, 1980) | 4:12 |
| 2 | Vangelis, Alpha (Albedo 0.39, 1976) | 5:44 |
| 3 | Jean-Michel Jarre, Oxygène (Part II) (Oxygène, 1976) | 7:49 |
| 4 | Tangerine Dream, Phaedra (Phaedra, 1974) | 17:39 |
| 5 | Klaus Schulze, Floating (Moondawn, 1976) | 27:15 |
Timings are the ones in our reviews, and they add up to 62:39. English Wikipedia gives "Oxygène (Part II)" as 7:49, but the 1976 French first pressing prints 8:20, which takes the hour to just over 63 minutes. "Floating" is timed from the German first LP; some early-1990s CDs carry shorter edits.
1. Kitaro, "Silk Road Theme"
The hour opens on a single melody. A low tone settles in and for a while nothing happens. Then one Minimoog line climbs above it. This is why the Silk Road review tells you to listen for the moment before the melody. Something arrives after a wait: in four minutes you get a first taste of what the whole hour will keep doing.
2. Vangelis, "Alpha"
A short theme, and instruments added on top of it one at a time. As the Albedo 0.39 review notes, the drums come in late. Compare how it sounds at the end with how it began: the same theme, with weight piled on. This is where you first hear that repetition does not have to be dull. Carl Sagan's Cosmos used this track.
3. Jean-Michel Jarre, "Oxygène (Part II)"
Now something starts turning under the melody. As our Oxygène review explains, the beat is a single preset on a Mini-Pops rhythm machine, "swing". It was also the first thing Jarre wrote for the album. Listen for the waves. When your foot starts moving between the tune and the beat, you are ready for what comes next.
4. Tangerine Dream, "Phaedra"
The track length more than doubles here. For almost two minutes there is only haze, and at 1:55 a low eight-note sequence comes in. After the first three tracks, you can wait for it. At around 10:50 the sequence starts sliding down: the Moog warmed up in the studio and drifted out of tune, and the band kept it. The Phaedra review follows it minute by minute.
5. Klaus Schulze, "Floating"
The last track runs 27 minutes. The first sound is a human voice. As the Moondawn review reports, Head Heritage's review identifies it as the Lord's Prayer in Arabic. When the voice falls back, sequenced clusters of notes begin to turn, and a few minutes later the drums slip in and the piece lifts off. By now you have stopped checking the clock. The Schulze guide says to play this kind of thing at night. That is how the hour ends.
How to listen
- At night, lights low, on headphones.
- No breaks between tracks. Queue all five and let them run.
- Do not skip ahead inside a track. The waiting is part of it.
- Afterwards, start with the guide for whoever stayed with you longest: Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Kitaro, Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis.
One track to send a friend
Send "Phaedra", 17:39, with one line. At 10:50 the notes drift out of tune, and that is not a fault. The band chose to leave it in.
Where to get it
Each review's "Where to get it" section explains which pressing to look for. Line the five records up and start with the one holding the shortest track. By the time the last one ends, it is darker outside.
