Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Towards The Dream
2. The Continent
3. Songline
4. Airtribe Meets the Dream Ghost
5. A Circular Ceremony
6. The Other Side
7. Magnificent Gallery
8. Truth In Passing
9. Australian Dawn-The Quiet Earth Cries Inside

Disc 2:

1. Looking for Safety
2. Through a Strong Eye
3. The Ancient Day
4. Red Twlight With The Old Ones
5. The Return

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #156222 in Music
• Released on: 1992-01-23
• Number of discs: 2

Amazon.com essential recording
This 1988 masterpiece, inspired by Roach's visits to the Australian outback and his work with didgeridoo master David Hudson, set the template for much of Roach's future work. In some sense he has simply refined the album's organic blend of brush-stroke synthesizer colors and ethnic-inspired rhythms ever since, with many glorious results. But this journey into Australian aboriginal mythology--the Dreamtime was an Eden-like period of natural harmony presaged by the arrival of extraterrestrial ancestors--remains a trademark and a wholly original work. Like Bruce Chatwin's seminal book on aboriginal mythos, The Songlines, Return is an outsider's document that feels like the very lay of the land itself; the piece "Songline," with its driving dumbek rhythms, reflects the rocky terrain as ably as "A Circular Ceremony" evokes the vastness and mystery of the desert expanse. A true classic. --James Rotondi

Customer Reviews

Still stands the test of time
Roach's style has changed a lot. A lot of new ambient artists have come along since this release, such as Stars of the Lid, Deepspace [...]
and Vidna Obmana, and yet this stands near the top of the field. His style is more complex and layered now, but elements of this recording are still evident in some of his newer stuff, like mantram, and new life dreaming.

Roach became a bit obsessed with the Australian Outback at one stage in his career, and you can hear that he nailed the feeling of the place quite well. Having lived in Australia most of my life, I can hear what he was trying to do-the sense of starkness, and impenetrability in the deserts here is very tangible. Very impressive Mr. Roach.

Masterful!
Simply one of the best space/newage/ambient works ever pressed, Steve Roach's expanded score lends itself to the ultimate relaxation or chill-party CD. It's an arresting work - the man works miracles with electronics and sheets of sounds. Along with the same decade's "Chronos" by Michael Stearns, and Don Slepian's psycoactive, hypnotic, let's-get-back-to-Nirvana masterpiece, "Sea of Bliss," Roach's two CD epic will take you places few musics can. THIS IS GREAT!

Took by breath away!
Words cannot do this work of art any justice with this review. Spanning two-CDs, Steve Roaches 1988 magnum-opus "Dreamtime Returns" is arguably my favorite release of his to date even though I've since gotten other albums by him as well.

I first heard this album when browsing through a local public library already having his "Dreaming Now Then" compilation. I felt it would be great to try this one out but I never expected it to be this wonderful. Though I can argue about some other songs from his previous and subsequent releases, there is a transcendance that is found on "Dreamtime Returns" that I don't think is as strong on his other albums. DR had me entranced the moment I first started playing it.

"Songline" is almost pure Aboriginal paradise with mostly traditional drums and a spine-tingling didjeridou, a strong contrast to the rest of the album. "Circular Ceremony" is so beautiful that it worked up a tear or two in my eyes. The song has a haunting, minor note melody combined with rain sticks to give a sense of stillness near an approaching thunderstorm.