Silent Heaven, by C.W. Vrtacek

Silent Heaven

by C.W. Vrtacek

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	1.	Poison 01:23
	2.	War 01:07
	3.	Tumbling 03:32
	4.	Inside 01:13
	5.	Revenge 02:15
	6.	Song for Marcel 02:01
	7.	Rain 02:09
	8.	Emily, are you happy? 03:24
	9.	Breathing 01:03
	10.	Silence 00:26
	11.	When 01:44
	12.	Thinking 03:19
	13.	Fly/Wave 06:03
	14.	Picture in an Empty Frame 05:07
	15.	Minus My Friend 01:36
	16.	History of the Heart, Mystery of the Mind 01:37
	17.	Part of Me Here, Part of Me With You, Always 01:22
	18.	Stone Steps 01:19
	19.	Preparing the Bridge (for Heaven) 05:12
	20.	Saying Goodbye to the Beauty and Complexity of Life on Earth 05:44
	21.	When Heaven Comes to Town 26:16

about

In the waning days of the very end of the 1970s, Vrtacek (later also known as Charles 'Chuck' O'Meara) purchased the first commercially available 4 track cassette deck, the Teac 144 and recorded four solo albums between 1980-1988.

Also known as 'The Portastudio, this revolutionary, relatively low-cost machine allowed musicians to inexpensively record music at home, and which helped to launch the home-recording wave (see old, thumb-eared copies of OP magazine). This was several years before he formed Forever Einstein.

Silent Heaven puts his third and fourth solo albums, Learning to Be Silent and When Heaven Comes to Town, onto one special album. Very different from Einstein, the music here is quiet, sober, introspective, sometimes playful, and often somewhat dark.

O'Meara (March 13, 1953–October 20, 2018) died in 2018 of a heart attack at age 65.

"It may be preferable to meditate in a quiet room, but we seldom find ourselves in quiet rooms...so, always the same question: how to find silence in the midst of chaos?"
-C.W. Vrtacek.

credits

released March 12, 1996

All music composed, arranged and performed by C.W. Vrtacek with the following exceptions:

Kim Gellatly - toy xylophone on 'Emily, are you happy'
Michael Gellatly - assistant to Emily
James Woodruff - narration on 'Fly/Wave'
Nick Didkovsky - 'dog with mumps' phone call on 'Silence'

Synthesizer [CZ-101], Acoustic Guitar [Yamaha], Guitar [Fender Stratocaster, Guild Starfire], Piano [Old Clunky], Xylophone, Ukulele, Performer [Metronome, Purring Cat, Radio Shack Telephone Answering Machine] - tracks 1-14.

Sampler [Ensoniq Mirage DSK-8], Ukulele [Baritone], Tape, Toy Piano [Broken] - tracks 15-21.

"Learning To Be Silent" recorded August 1985 to January 1986 at C.W. Vrtacek's home in New Preston, CT on a Tascam 144 four-track cassette machine. Mixed at Nono Studios, Norwalk.
Originally released 1986.

"When Heaven Comes To Town" recorded at C.W. Vrtacek's home in New Preston on a Tascam 3440 four-track open reel machine. Mixed at Sountec Studios, Norwalk. Ambient sounds collected at Philip's Diner, Woodbury and at Grand Central Station, NYC. Titled after a room-sized art installation created by Michael Gellatly.
Originally released 1988.

This CD released in cooperation with ReR Records and Cordelia Records. Thanks to Chris Cutler and Alan Jenkins.

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about

Cuneiform Records Washington, D.C.

Cuneiform Records is a record label releasing adventurous, boundary-bursting music by artists from around the world. They have always championed an eclectic mixture of musical styles and artists and have consistently danced at the dangerous intersection where genres meet. In doing so, they have become one of the most prominent labels of New Music.

Founded in 1984.
Based in Washington D.C. ... more

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