Track Listing

1. Organic (LP Version)
2. Cloudscape (LP Version)
3. Resource (LP Version)
4. Vessels (LP Version)
5. Pruit Igoe (LP Version)
6. The Grid (LP Version)
7. Prophecies (LP Version)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18907 in Music
• Released on: 1998-10-12
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Fifteen years after its initial release, Philip Glass's score to Godfrey Reggio's film Koyaanisqatsi is still as timeless as it was meant to be. Glass's epic score, virtually the only sound in this non-narrative movie, accompanied an exhilarating, wordless meditation of images ranging from expansive, slow-motion landscapes to whirling-dervish city scenes shot using time-lapse techniques. Glass's music was a perfect match. The opening chant is still unlike anything Glass has composed, a Tibetan monk operatic growl that set up the foreboding sense of loss the film engenders. Most of the score, however, casts Glass's minimalist themes in orchestral expanses. Bass strings troll the bottom while flutes draw circles in the air. On "The Grid", manic keyboards drive into the night, pounding out the cyclical refrains that are a Glass trademark. When Koyaanisqatsi came out, it seemed opulent with its orchestral forces, but always at the centre were the keyboards, reeds, and voice that are Glass's characteristic sound. Koyaanisqatsi means "life out of balance", but Glass's remarkably austere score remains perfectly poised. This newly re-recorded edition adds nearly 30 minutes to the previous CD release with two previously unissued tracks and extended versions of "The Grid" and "Prophecies", the two signpost works of the film. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Part of a wonderful Trilogy
Koyaanisqatsi is part of a magical musical and visual trilogy. Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi complete the holy trinity.
Glass' music is spectacular and, once you have seen the video then the music, which stands monumental in it's own right, will haunt you with it's memorable interplay with the images captured by Godfrey reggio.
This is a soundtrack which is almost insidious in its ability to dive deep into your psyche.
To my mind this is truly Glass' masterwork.

Life out of Balance
Please, just buy this CD. Furthermore, if you have arrived at this product page by accident and wonder what on earth 'Koyaanisqatsi' *is*, then I suggest that you try and get hold of the film too.

Philip Glass (The Secret Agent, Powaaqatsi, Anima Mundi) excelled himself with this entralling piece of music which was composed back in the early 1980's. Much like the film itself, the music is a utterly absorbing experience and admitedly will also not be everyone's cup of tea. Basically, it will either leap to the top of your collection, or you'll sit and wonder what on earth you ever bought it.

Stand out tracks? Well, the opening epic title piece - Koyaanisqatsi is perhaps the most powerful piece of all, but the final track Prophecies pushes it all the way. The pace of the CD moves into the frenetic category with middle pieces and matches the fantastic imagery which is present in the film beat for beat.

Overall, think carefully before obtaining this CD. I suggest that you see the film first. If you like the film, you'll want this CD as soon as possible. If you don't understand the power of the film, you'll go nowhere near the CD and save some money.

Seminal ambient work by one of THE creators of the genre.
Philip Glass's film soundtrack "Koyaanisqatsi" is ideally listened to along with the film itself: a film without dialogue directed by Francis Ford Coppola, showing glimpses of life around the world. As a soundtrack alone, Glass's music is beautifully simple, and simply beautiful, and illustrates exactly why he is an inspiration to today's 'ambient' creators. Without being too sparse or minimal in construction, Glass 'economises' in sounds, preferring simple repetitive melodies and noises which progress over several minutes, to overcomplicated multi-layered music, the result being emotionally charged and 'subliminal'. As with ALL ambient music, it is just as easily listened to at low volume for falling asleep to, or as loud as possible, when the music seems to transform. This album does stand up on its own, but it is important to remember that Glass composed it as an accompaniment to the film, and the moods he conveys match the images perfectly.