Originally released in 1994, Land of a Thousand Trances acted as an even more ambitious counterpart to the previous A Produce albums, Reflect Like a Mirror, Respond Like an Echo (1992) and solo debut The Clearing (1988, reissued in March 2023 by Independent Project Records). This new expanded and remastered (by Warren DeFever at Third Man Mastering) edition is now available for purchase.
Similarly to what Eno had done in the mid 70s when he defined the context and nature of the newly baptised ambient genre, the late Barry Craig (A Produce) accompanied Land of a Thousand Trances with a press release that outlined the fundamental elements of what he liked to call trance music. “It can be as driving as the sound of world beat rhythms against modern day electronics”, he wrote, “or as subtle as the tinkling of Japanese bells mixed with background environmental sounds. Whatever the vehicle, the fundamental requirement of any style of trance music is that it sets up a rhythm (percussion), a sustained sound (drone), or a repetitive figure that over time, evokes a spellbinding hold on the listener, gradually drawing them deeper into the music, or trance”.
Transcendental at heart, A Produce’s trance language encompassed ambient, industrial, new age and so-called world music, only to go further. It was eager to find a direct line from Gregorian chants to Erik Satie, while tending to the needs of a fractured post-modern world. To anyone who cares about etymologies, it was also properly psychedelic. There is certainly a parallel to be drawn between A Produce’s work and that of some of his guiding lights: Terry Riley, Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Harold Budd, Jon Hassell… But it is also true that the voracious, multitudinous nature of the perfectly titled Land of a Thousand Trances feels unprecedented and idiosyncratic. You could compare it to A Produce’s relationship with his city, Los Angeles, crucial muse since the post-punk days of his former band Afterimage: what he most loved about it was the simultaneous proximity of deserts, oceans, mountains and industrial metropolis.
In 2007 A Produce worked on a remaster of the album, adding a second disc featuring bonus material from around the same time the album was recorded. This second chapter in the Land of a Thousand Trances journey is ultimately as hypnotic as the first and original one: there are cuts taken from the same recording sessions that didn’t previously make the tracklist, as well as live renditions and alternate versions. It’s fascinating insight into A Produce’s mindset during a prolific, particularly inspired moment in his ever fascinating career.
The new deluxe remastered edition is housed in a package that proves one of Independent Project Records and Independent Project Press founder Bruce Licher’s most elegant designs (which, you’ll agree, is saying a lot). Evocative and seducing, it features some of Craig’s sublime landscape photographs - a perfect accompaniment for the pictorial dreaminess conjured by the sounds contained within.
Listen and what you’ll find is a music of many layers. A four-dimensional affair. You can float above it or fall deep into it. Most importantly, you can let it infiltrate your mind - boundless journeys await. Back in ‘94, A Produce talked of what he was seeking through sound: “personal, spiritual healing which, whether the world knows it or not, is what is needed now more than ever in our modern society”. Almost thirty years later, the need has done nothing but exponentially increase.
DISC ONE:
1. The Far Shore
2. Land Of A Thousand Trances
3. Heart of The Dunes
4. Insect Justice
5. The Dreaming Room
6. The Wall of Dali (#6)
7. It Comes In Waves
8. Meeting At Chiracahua
9. Heart of the Dunes (Live)
10. The Dreaming Room (Live)
DISC TWO:
1. Big Background
2. Lost River
3. Initiation
4. The Far Shore (Solo Version)
5. The Wall of Dali (#5)
6. It Comes In Waves (Extended Version)
7. Jimbe
8. Harold’s House
A PRODUCE - Land of a Thousand Trances expanded double CD
"Forget the brain-bashing 120 beats per minute that the word trance may have brought to your mind and be prepared to lay back under the spell of A Produce as he transports you into a dream world via his entrancing musical hypnotics inspired by Los Angeles' proximal environs of desert, ocean, mountains and industry. The original Land Of A Thousand Trances album was released in 1994 and enjoyed an expanded CDR reissue in 2007 which has been remastered for this deluxe release on Independent Project Records. That means we get Bruce Licher's hand-printed oversized card envelope packing containing the two discs and a glossy 24 page booklet to savour."
—Alan Taylor, Pipeline
"There’s a lush quality to Land of a Thousand Trances, the 1994 album from A Produce that has been newly reissued and expanded. A majestic, wide-screen feel redolent of Alpha Centauri-era Tangerine Dream (with a bit of early post-Barrett Pink Floyd and a dash of 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' aesthetics) characterizes some of the music. The instrumentation is conventional, but the sonics themselves are not. Effective use of sustain, volume and other effects/techniques serve to create an aural landscape that’s inviting and evocative. What tools are used to make the sounds are of far less consequence than the manner in which they’re executed... The track titles are remarkably spot-on, offering cues/clues as to character that lies within. 'Heart of the Dunes' presents a placid yet somehow foreboding landscape. 'Insect Justice' is the sound of intense activity just below the surface. 'The Dreaming Room' is borderline nightmarish. 'The Wall of Dali, No. 6' features exotic chiming sounds that evoke thoughts of dripping water and scurrying shadows in far-off corners. Yes, this music is as 'cinematic' as one could imagine. Each track sets up its own ambience (as it were) and runs with it. A Produce is (or was, he passed away some years ago) Barry Craig. And his trance-heave works as showcased on Land of a Thousand Trances are exemplars of the ambient style."
—Bill Kopp, Musoscribe
"This new remastered edition includes all of the pieces from [an earlier] two-disc version, eighteen tracks in all. It’s clear that in the six years between The Clearing and Land of a Thousand Trances that the trajectory of the music has become more focused, with an emphasis on floating ambient, trance, and world music, while shedding much of the experimental electronica and song-based material of six years earlier... The album kicks off with 'The Far Shore,' based on a series of sweeping melodic bursts executed on ambient guitar with synth and deep random percussive backing, much like the echoey blasts of thunder in a storm. An alternate stripped down ‘solo version’ exists on the second disc. The title track comes in next, at nearly nine minutes; it’s a powerful trance-percussive whirlwind of drums and bells with guest players joining on keyboards. With 'Heart of the Dunes' a more widescreen floating ambient sound is explored, beautifully melodic and shimmering with smooth textures. There are numerous standouts across the album’s eighteen tracks, including the pulsating veil of color offered up in 'The Dreaming Room' (presented in both studio and live versions), the raga inspired 'The Wall of Dali' (presented in two different versions, one on each disc), the churning, busy interlude 'Lost River,' and the dreamy and magical eight-minute orchestra of bells and gongs titled 'It Comes in Waves,' with an even longer near-twelve minute version on the second disc. Both of these classic A Produce albums have much to offer the adventurous listener, especially in their expanded, remastered versions."
—Peter Thelen, Exposé Online