Artist: Stairway
Title: Chakra Dance
File: New Age/Ambient
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By contrast to his blues/psych/rock super-group Yardbirds, drummer Jim McCarty‘s band Stairway was a leap away.
In turn it was a relative step from his progressive bands Renaissance and Illusion, and a close partner project for McCarty’s later new-age act, Pilgrim.
Stairway began in 1985, Jim McCarty (keyboards, percussion, vocals) bringing in guitarist Louis Cennamo (Steamhammer, Colosseum, Renaissance) when he discovered their shared interest in healing music.
For 1989’s ‘Chakra Dance’ the duo were augmented by Andy Portman (keyboards) with wind player Volker Cat guesting.
From an idea by Malcolm Stern, the album’s journey through the seven energy centres (the titular ‘chakras’) of the body used guitars, keyboards, saxophone, bass, percussion and vocals to generate multi-layered rhythms for improvised dance with a musical meditation and affirmation for re-energising the body, mind and spirit.
Their four albums, sold through new-age shops as well as record retailers, found a ready and eager audience for Stairway’s music, sales totalling over 40,000 copies during the band’s lifetime.
Tracks:
- Prologue
- Base Chakra
- Sacral Chakra
- Solar Plexus
- Heart
- Throat Chakra
- Brow Chakra
- Crown Chakra
- I Choose Love
- Chakra Dance