Search - Terje Rypdal :: After the Rain

Marvelous Old Friend

Robert M Briggs III | 07/11/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Having lost my original 70s vinyl copy during a chaotic move I am overjoyed to find this album again. This is an otherwordly group of works, eclectic beauties, haunting and evocative. His best, in my opinion."

Rypdal heralds the new age

Gavin Wilson | 06/10/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Is this the next Tubular Bells?" asked the critics about this 1976 release, on the assumption that Mike Oldfield would not be creating the next Tubular Bells himself. And this wasn't the first LP they asked the question about -- Neil Ardley's 'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows' received the same marketing hype. I guess the fact that Rypdal plays all the instruments on 'After the Rain' drew the comparison with Mike Oldfield most clearly.In retrospect, one can see that the critics were fumbling about trying to position these various New Age albums before anyone had invented the New Age category. Rypdal's heart has been in jazz and modern classical msuic, but he has an unusual technique in clipping the attack off each guitar note, giving his music a blurred, dreamy quality.This is a hauntingly beautiful album, which I have owned in both LP and CD formats. But curiously, I find it very difficult to listen to the whole thing in one go. Maybe it's the forbidding European landscape photo on the cover, or it could be the rainy theme, or it could be the sombre tone of some of the tracks. One might think it music to inspire depression if not suicide. But strangely it never makes me feel lower for having heard it. Irritated perhaps -- I've tried driving along the autobahns of Belgium with this CD on, and it doesn't help at all -- but never regretful.This is a crucial album in the formative history of New Age music. Buy it, listen to it during a moment of peace, and be transported to the Nordic fjords."

Another Very Pleasing Album From Rypdal

J. Rich | 07/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Terje Rypdal - "After the Rain" - 1976 ECM Records



This is one of the most beautiful albums in all of Terje's catalog. "After the Rain" came exactly a year after the very successful "Odyssey," which is by far one of his best albums of the 70s. Rypdal plays all the instruments on this release. He overdubs parts on top of each other and so on. The end results of all these overdubbed parts really give the listener some very personal, almost face-to-face, textural music. Rypdal is a master at getting his emotions and moods across through his music. You can't really compare this album to anything, but then again you can't really pin down Rypdal's style anyway. It's so many things at once. Another thing that's amazing about this album is it was released in 1976 and still sounds as fresh as any of today's music. Passion, grace, and beauty are all things that are timeless and the most spirited music have all these elements and if they don't then they'll forever be forgotten.



I have 13 of his albums and this one continues to be in the CD player. What a great album! His early stuff is very hard to come across, but this album is worth the search."