PureBeam Music: Reviews

The Light Beyond the Atoms

This is the piano and synthesizer album we've been waiting for. Ron Hart combines the virtuosity and soulfulness of Keith Jarrett with the softness and warmth of romantic classical music. In this fine suite, he's taken his most inspired concert improvisations on grand piano and added synthesizer orchestrations to create a unique blend of spontaneity and structure. The rich string tones and multi-colored ambiences of the synthesizer enhance and complement the piano in a completely natural sounding integration. Each movement is centered emotionally around an "essential quality of personal growth." The final movement, "Train is A'Comin'," includes the old American spiritual tune "Oh Susanna," concluding the album with a tinge of nostalgia and a deep sense of peace. The lyricism and balance of this music is very appealing. You'll find yourself returning to Ron Hart's music again and again.

The Divine Gypsy

Reviewed on November 28, 2004.
***** Perhaps the most heart-soothing recording ever released.

When this recording was first released on cassette in the 1980s, it quickly soared to the top of the charts at "alternative" distributors. Its delicate, ethereal sounds touched all who heard it. When it played in the background of our book shop or at a yoga class, everyone insisted on acquiring a copy. Energy-sensitive individuals would spontaneously comment on how they could feel first their heart centers opening and then the higher centers.
I do not know how much credit belongs to the sensitive arrangements by the...musicians and how much belongs to subliminal effects impregnated in these melodies by Yogananda... but I found it one of the best ways to introduce people to music as a healing modality (through direct experience - not having to explain in words). One friend said he could always bring his blood pressure down 10-15 points at the end of work by sitting back and listening to a few tracks from Divine Gypsy.

For those of you who already have a copy, you might want to try listening through headphones. I was astonished the first time I did: the eyes insisted on closing themselves and were drawn upward toward the point between the eyebrows. The soothing sensations spread across the forehead and up over the scalp - a perfect antidote to a mentally hectic day!

Where Golden Dreams Dwell

World & New Age Music Reviews

Sweet enough music to grace a baby's nursery, Where Golden Dreams Dwell (Self-Realization Fellowship) is a collection of Paramahansa Yogananda's Cosmic chants in instrumental arrangements. The gentle, peaceful selections are performed on electric piano and synthesizer and performed, recorded and produced by lay members and monks of the Self Realization Fellowship. The album is aptly named, as the music is indeed dreamlike. It will serve well in healing environments as well as in your own home.