Pure Moods, Vol. II

For listeners with a sincere interest in the broad variety of music loosely aligned under the New Age banner, Pure Moods II will strike your ears as something less than a high-concept showcase for the genre and more as a mulligan stew of easy-listening favorites. This is not necessarily a bad thing; yet a recording marketed to the general public as a comprehensive, current, state-of-the-art overview of atmospheric music shouldn't include such ill-fitting oddities as George Benson's "Breezin'," a lite-funk relic from 1976, or "Emily" from jazz saxophonist Dave Koz. Happily, the 77-minute, 16-track sampler offers far more items of interest than irritation. It reaches back to 1983 to remind us of an ahead-of-its-time display of Celtic mysticism from Clannad ("Theme from Harry's Game"), and it both opens and closes with superb selections from one of the genre's most admired artists, Loreena McKennitt--very appropriate since, one could argue, discussions on the future of New Age should both begin and end with McKennitt's name. Despite its few warts, Pure Moods II is a good listen overall. --Terry Wood