Music and images Copyright 1971 - 2016 Paul R. Marcano and respective contributors.
LINKS: HomePage | The Music of LightDreams | Islands in Space Vinyl Re-Issue | 10001 Dreams Vinyl Re-Issue


A little personal history...
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From an early age, probably 16 or 17 years old, I concluded that it takes almost as much energy to learn someone else's song as it does to create your own original song from scratch. With that mindset I set about the task of writing at least one song a day for awhile, the notion being that the art of 'doing' in itself is not only an exciting challenge but 'doing it a lot' could only result in better songs! Alas not many of those early works survived the test of time but a few pieces were recorded much later on a compilation, my 41st album in 2006 called "The Day before Yesterday 35 Years Ago". I think of these songs as "pre-stone age" because most were written before a transformative psychedelic period which lasted from 1972 to 1984 with after effects still lingering I suspect ;-).

Each decade since I began recording has been pretty productive, I love creating new music. I remember that I was often motivated to create new music purely for the purpose of having some music perfectly tailored to listen to while pursuing my visual art in paintings and airbrush work. This was something I did right up until I fell into computers in 1984 with my first Atari drawing tablet! The '80s were particularly productive musically as I found new inspiration through electronic art and the evolving technology of home recording and music sampling along with easier access to symphonic sounds and synthesizer fx. It was quite an exciting leap from my mono, reel-to-reel sound-on-sound recordings of the 70's to the TEAC 144, 4 track cassette in the 80s, then to Optical Disk Recording in the 90s and now to pure digital desktop recording today.

My influences were listening to artists like Alan Parson's and George Martin's work with the Beatles which taught me so much about recording production and layering... often falling into that 'spectre' of creating a wall of sound. However, I do have a preference for multi-layers of sound anyway and panning stereo into the mix for those who enjoy listening with headphones. In fact a similar layering and an attempt to reveal other dimensions shows in my visual artwork as well! I rarely am found unplugged but I still use the accoustic guitar to write and it is almost always included on a track or two in my final recordings.

In 1981, a short-lived studio group was created called LightDreams because a friend of mine, known only as "Mushroom Dann" was impressed with an album I was producing at the time called "Islands in Space". He offered to help finance my first vinyl pressing which resulted in the only official record that I ever released in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The TEAC corporation was so impressed that I actually pressed an album from their then, cutting edge, multi-4 track TEAC 144, that they sent representatives to Canada from Japan to purchase a couple of cases of my records. It was really at the tail-end of the vinyl medium's peak before the current revitalized interest in vinyl. I still sell the occasional original copy of the first pressing to collectors from the few copies I have left. A recent second pressing has been licensed to and re-issued by Got Kinda Lost/ Guerssen Records and it's been very carefully reproduced with the added-value lyrics and liner notes! See Islands in Space Vinyl Re-Issue as well, the record companies decided to release a very rare limited first-issue of my double album 10001 Dreams Vinyl Issue, which is the 1982 follow-up to Islands in Space.

Slowly but surely I am remastering and making my material available through this webpage for sampling and purchase and using all the wonderful channels and avenues offered by the Internet. I have also been producing music videos (some in 3D and some in the new 360 VR format) through my established YouTube Channel - please subscribe! CD Baby is my main commercial distributor for MP3 Digital Downloads as well as iTunes and others. These companies offer officially released digital downloads of my work and I add to them periodically, mostly single songs I feel particularly stand the test of time. The albums listed at the top of this page in the dropdown menu are an up-to-date archive of albums I have prioritized over time as 'best of' albums of my work. I use PayPal for online payments and will send you a link immediately to where you can download a copy (usually within 24 hrs), complete with album art sufficient to make a personal-use CD copy. You may request multiple albums in the catalogue via email and I will prioritize those and get you a link ASAP, feel free to inquire.

Thank you for stopping by and for your interest in my music.

EMAIL: Paul Ralph Marcano
British Columbia
Canada


PaulMarcano.com