76:14 [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

This is a fantastic album from the era when ambient was at its peak, rank this alongside works like The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, KLF's Chill Out. Those who know of Tom Middleton will probably know of his work as Cosmos (spacey lovely house), Jedi Knights (nu-school breaks which inspired the likes of Adam Freeland) and his Sound Of The Cosmos mix (which is a blinding exercise in breaks, house and downtempo spread over 3CDs) ... or perhaps the even later Global Communications tracks The Way / The Deep which explored funky cosmic house. This, however, is as far detatched from the housey Middleton as possible. 76:15 follows the 'swirling ambience' template, beatless, seamless and atmospheric ... taking you on a journey from one end of the CD to the other. Take 9:39 for example, full of deep space cosmic bleeps, a hypnotic 'warrooooooom!' bass pulse, and eerie choral synths. Definately swirling ambience. There are some astoundingly beautiful moments on here too. 14:31 is plain gorgeous, a slowly ticking clock keeps the beat of the track while lush orchestral synths create a gorgeous uplifting mood. Its not all totally beatless, 9:25 has a gentle break that helps the track move along. Think Orb's Supanova At The End Of The Universe and you're pretty much there. 7:39 features almost Plaid-y Warp style synths, while 8:07 and 5:23 work hypnotic keys over deep pulsing Sasha style bassline stabs. 12:18 finishes off the album with more dramatic orchestral synth action like in 14:31 ... a top closer.

As you can tell, the entire album is named after the sum of its track times, with each track named after how long it is. Apparently to stop the listener having preconceptions about how the music sounds before they listen to it. A nice idea, this is an album you make your own concept for, your own story ... as opposed to The Orb's journey from Earth to the Ultraworld.

Thanks to the scattering of perkier tracks, the fades between tracks with ocean waves crashing, strange chattering voices, and the sheer lushness and quality of production, the album never gets boring, its a corker. If you're into your electronica, be it a Warp head, Orb fan, Orbial ... whatever, this is one to check! With Middleton being a bit of a funky house and breaks master recently, you could pass this by ... overlook it as 'unworthy'. Don't! Its probably one of the best chill albums you can buy.

If you want things with a bit more bump to them, or in fact something less spacial. Try heading to Middleton's later albums like the Jedi Knights Nu-School Science or the aforemention epic 3CD mix The Sound Of The Cosmos. Both quality.

I have lot of Ambient/Electronica CDs and have been lucky enough to own this title since the day it was originally released. Something that makes it stand head and shoulders above its peers is the strength of the melodies, something that ambient music can be lacking in at times, where lesser talented rivals opt for lengthy and tuneless synth doodles. The album is consistently brilliant from start to finish but highlights are 14:31, 7:39 and the epic two part 8:07 and 5:23 which was also released as the album's only single under the alternative title 'Maiden Voyage'. The 2 CD reissue includes a mixed bag of hard to find tracks and singles which the duo released under their other names. It ties up loose ends for someone who missed them first time round but the tracks don't sit very well alongside the first disc and would be better suited to a separate release of rarities and deleted singles.

Ambient is one of the most innervating and difficult forms of music for an artist to excel at. While most can be classed by virtue of their generic label as being pleasant and listenable, few are acknowledged as classics that will stand the test of time, which of course is not the case with rock, soul and pop. I've been buying Ambient music since I discovered Brian Eno, s albums on the E.G. label in the late 1970,s. I loved all of those; indeed I viewed "Discreet Music "as the absolute pinnacle of the genre. That is, until I first heard 76.14. This is an album of such timeless ( Funny given it's fixation on time with the track titles ) beauty and yes emotional resonance that I wouldn't be surprised that if in the distant future we have evolved to some higher level of consciousness and left music in a cultural context behind this will still be being played.
While a great deal of Ambient music is encumbered by an over reliance on noodling curricles of sound or esoteric blips and bleeps, or jarring dips and breaks Global Communication have understood that the music must flow with an continuous organic grace, and that it is possible to do this and still include the various textured over layers of instrumentation or added sound. Each track here is given a title alluding to its running time so as not to weigh the listener down with the preconceptions that actual titles present. (Floating on the diaphanous ocean of silk anyone?) 76.14 is of course its total running time. It's pretty pointless dissecting individual tracks as I feel this is a work meant to be listened to in one sitting , so is a concept album of sorts. But it must be said that second track 14.31, the one with the constant clunking clock ticking is so outstanding it could make it into many peoples top tens .It doesn't detract from the rest of the music on this album however taking the listener on it's intended journey to where ever your imagination lets you wander. And by naming the band Global Communication Tom Middleton has given the clearest indicator of what his intentions were when making this music. To commune with as many people as possible in a language most of us can understand all too clearly. The language of beauty, and believe me, music doesn't come more beautiful than 76.14.