Some context: The Future Sound of London (often abbreviated to FSOL) is a British electronic music group composed of Garry Cobain (sometimes stylised as Gaz Cobain) and Brian Dougans. The duo are often credited with pushing the boundaries of electronic music experimentation and of pioneering a new era of dance music. Although often associated with ambient music, Cobain and Dougans usually resist being typecast into any one particular genre. Their work covers many areas of electronic music, such as ambient techno, house music, trip hop, ambient dub, acid techno.
"Cascade", released as a single in 1993, introduced the commercial music world to the new FSOL sound. Despite its length, clocking in at nearly forty minutes and stretched over six parts, the track made the UK top 30, and previewed what was to come. In 1994, they released Lifeforms to critical acclaim. The album featured unconventional use of percussion interspersed with ambient segments. The eponymous single from the album featured Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins on vocals. The album itself featured epic, ambient soundscapes, with tracks flowing from one to the next with no pauses in between. Throughout the record, familiar motifs and samples repeated themselves, sitting alongside tropical birdsong, rainfall, wind and an array of other exotic sounds, lending the album a natural, organic feel, backed up by the environmental landscapes that filled the artwork booklet. Brian Dougan's father was involved with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop which was a heavy influence in the almost musique concrete feel to Lifeforms. The album was also a top 10 hit on the UK album chart. Cobain has said that around this time that journalists would come to talk to them and one of the first things they would ask would be if they liked Brian Eno (whom they cite as an influence), to which they would laugh and say that they were about looking forward, not to the past. It was, to them, very much a new work rather than just another Eno-type ambient album. We wanted to release a very immersive, mind-blowing piece of music that was long and would deeply drench you in it...Lifeforms was redefining 'classical ambient electronic experimental' - that was the phrase we used. That year, they released the limited edition album ISDN, which featured live broadcasts they had made over ISDN lines to various radio stations worldwide to promote Lifeforms, including The Kitchen, an avant-garde performance space in New York and several appearances on the late John Peel's celebrated BBC radio Sessions shows. These shows marked the evolution of the Kiss FM shows of 1992 and 1993, moving away from DJ sets and into ambient soundscapes, with previously released material performed alongside unheard tracks. One live performance to BBC Radio 1 featured Robert Fripp performing alongside the band. The released album's tone was darker and more rhythmic than Lifeforms. Cobain stated that with ISDN they had wanted to achieve something epic and grand but no matter how much technological or personal support they had (and they had everything they could have possibly wanted) they never got to truly do what they envisioned; he admits to wanting too much at this time, even though the album was successful; the 90s, for Cobain in particular, were a time of frustration and feelings of not being able to do what they wanted to, because the technology at the time didn't fit the band's ideas. The following year, the album was re-released with expanded artwork and a slightly altered track list as an unlimited pressing.
How successful was Lifeforms?
A: Cascade", released as a single in 1993, introduced the commercial music world to the new FSOL
Some context: Gary Wright was born and raised in Cresskill, New Jersey. A child actor, he made his TV debut at the age of seven, on the show Captain Video and His Video Rangers, filmed in New York. Among other acting work, he appeared in TV and radio commercials, before being offered a part in the 1954 Broadway production of the musical Fanny. Wright played the role of Cesario, the son of Fanny, who was played by future Brady Bunch matriarch Florence Henderson.
In 1988, Wright released Who I Am on A&M-distributed Cypress Records. Among the album's contributors were Western musicians such as Harrison, White and Keltner, a group of South Indian percussionists, and Indian classical violinists L. Subramaniam and L. Shankar. The previous year, Wright had contributed to Harrison's album Cloud Nine (1987), for which he co-wrote "That's What It Takes" with Harrison and Jeff Lynne, and played keyboards on songs such as "When We Was Fab". One of the tracks from Who I Am, "Blind Alley", was used in the 1988 horror film Spellbinder. Wright's next solo album was First Signs of Life (1995), recorded in Rio de Janeiro and at his own High Wave Studios in Los Angeles, and issued on the Triloka/Worldly record label. The album combined Brazilian rhythms with elements of African vocal tradition, creating what AllMusic's reviewer describes as "an infectious worldbeat hybrid", where "the musicians' performances radiate sincerity and joy". First Signs of Life featured guest appearances from drummer Terry Bozzio, Brazilian guitarist Ricardo Silveira and Harrison. The song "Don't Try to Own Me", co-written with Duane Hitchings, was later included on Rhino Records' Best of Gary Wright: The Dream Weaver - a 1998 compilation spanning his solo career from 1970 onwards, and featuring extensive liner notes by Wright. Human Love (1999) included new versions of "Wildfire" and "The Wrong Time", as well as "If You Believe in Heaven", a song written with Graham Gouldman that had first appeared on Best of Gary Wright. The album was co-produced by German world-music producer Marlon Klein and released on the High Wave Music label. Contributors to the sessions, held at High Wave and at Exil Musik in Bielefeld, included Hindustani classical vocalist Lakshmi Shankar, Lynne and German composer Roman Bunka.
What were some of the singles on this album?
A:
Don't Try to Own Me", co-written with Duane Hitchings,