Imaginary Roads is an album by the new-age guitarist William Ackerman, released in 1988.[2] The album was reissued in 2009 by Valley Entertainment.[3]

Imaginary Roads
Studio album by
Released1988
GenreNew-age
Length51:18
LabelWindham Hill[1]
ProducerWilliam Ackerman
Dawn Atkinson
William Ackerman chronology
Conferring with the Moon: Pieces for Guitar
(1986)
Imaginary Roads
(1988)
The Opening of Doors
(2002)

Critical reception

edit
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [2]

The Kingston Whig-Standard wrote that the album "consists mainly of [Ackerman] simply strumming his acoustic guitar ever-so-slowly ... five years ago this stuff sounded revolutionary and filled a need for baby-boomers who couldn't relate to the current musical marketplace."[5]

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Oxford University Press) describes Imaginary Roads as "one of guitarist William Ackerman’s finest albums, and the one where the new instruments Ackerman had been slowly adding to his sound through the 80s finally jelled with his distinctive playing. The result is that even on the duet pieces, Ackerman and his musical partners sound and feel like an actual band, not a composer and his sidemen. Interesting additions like shakuhachi flute, oboe, and fretless bass join the usual synthesizers, piano and violins, giving a variety and depth to the arrangements that is sometimes missing from Ackerman’s more monochromatic earlier albums."[6]

Track listing

edit
  1. "The Moment in Which You Must Finally Let Go of the Tether Which Has Held Your Hope Airborne" – 5:42
  2. "A Region of Clouds" – 4:42
  3. "If You Look" – 5:39
  4. "Floyd's Ghost" – 6:18
  5. "Wondering Again What's Behind the Eyes" – 5:50
  6. "Dawn Treader" – 4:21
  7. "The Prospect of Darrow's Barn and the Blossoms of an Apple Spring on Imaginary Road" – 3:03
  8. "Brother A Teaches 7" – 2:57
  9. "Innocent Moon" – 3:37
  10. "The Moment – Reprise" – 0:37
  11. "If You Look - Version II" - 5:30 [*]
  12. "Darrow's Barn - Version II" - 3:05 [*]

Production

edit

Other contributors

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 1. MUZE. p. 35.
  2. ^ a b The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 5.
  3. ^ "Imaginary Roads". Valley Entertainment-Windham Hill Records. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
  4. ^ AllMusic review
  5. ^ Burliuk, Greg (November 19, 1988). "Remembering to Forget". The Kingston Whig-Standard. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Ackerman, William - Imaginary Roads". Oxford Reference. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 10 June 2024.