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The Light Of Smiles
''The Light of Smiles'' is the fourth album by American rock musician Gary Wright. It was released in January 1977 on Warner Bros. Records as the follow-up to his commercial breakthrough, '' The Dream Weaver''. The album was produced by Wright and recorded in Los Angeles in 1976. Aside from drums and orchestral strings, the music was created entirely on synthesizers and other keyboard instruments. The lyrics reflect Wright's preoccupation with spirituality, particularly the teachings of Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda. Although the album failed to match the commercial impact of its predecessor, ''The Light of Smiles'' was moderately successful and received a favorable response from some music critics. In the United States, it peaked at number 23 on ''Billboard''s albums chart, while the single "Phantom Writer" reached number 43 on the Hot 100. Background and recording Gary Wright began writing songs for ''The Light of Smiles'' while on tour in 1976, having become a popular ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gary Wright
Gary Malcolm Wright (born April 26, 1943) is an American musician and composer best known for his 1976 hit songs " Dream Weaver" and " Love Is Alive", and for his role in helping establish the synthesizer as a leading instrument in rock and pop music. Wright's breakthrough album, ''The Dream Weaver'' (1975), came after he had spent seven years in London as, alternately, a member of the British blues rock band Spooky Tooth and a solo artist on A&M Records. While in England, he played keyboards on former Beatle George Harrison's triple album ''All Things Must Pass'' (1970), so beginning a friendship that inspired the Indian religious themes and spirituality inherent in Wright's subsequent songwriting. His work since the late 1980s has embraced world music and the new age genre, although none of his post-1976 releases have matched the same level of popularity as ''The Dream Weaver''. A former child actor, Wright performed on Broadway in the hit musical '' Fanny'' before studyin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Charlesworth
Chris Charlesworth is a British-based music journalist and author; and, between 1983 and 2016, managing editor of Omnibus Press. He is particularly noted for his work about, and with, The Who, for whom he has worked as an executive producer. Charlesworth also worked as David Bowie's publicist at RCA Records from 1979 to 1981. Having started his career as a journalist on the ''Craven Herald & Pioneer'' in his home town of Skipton, Charlesworth began writing about music for the '' Bradford Telegraph''. Charlesworth wrote for '' Melody Maker'' from 1970 to 1977, being variously its News Editor and US Editor from 1973 based in New York City. Notable interviews for ''Melody Maker'' include; John Lennon, Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Rod Stewart & The Faces, The Byrds, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, The Beach Boys, Eric Clapton, CSN&Y, The Band, Black Sabbath, Slade, Paul Simon, Alice Cooper, Traffic, Free, Santana, The Eagles, Deep Purple, Yes, Frank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love Is Alive (Gary Wright Song)
"Love Is Alive" is a song by Gary Wright taken from the 1975 album ''The Dream Weaver''. It features Wright on vocals and keyboards and Andy Newmark on drums, with all music except for the drums produced on the keyboards. The album's title cut and "Love Is Alive" both peaked at No. 2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart. "Love Is Alive" spent 27 weeks on the chart, seven weeks longer than "Dream Weaver". ''Billboard'' ranked "Love Is Alive" as the No. 9 song of 1976. In the US, "Love Is Alive" peaked at number two on the Hot 100. oel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004/ref> "Kiss and Say Goodbye" by The Manhattans and "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" by Elton John and Kiki Dee kept it from the number one spot. In Canada, the song reached No. 6. Chart performance Weekly charts Year-end charts Covers and samples *Olivia Newton-John covered the track on her first live album, ''Love Performance'' in 1976. She performed the song on her first 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dream Weaver
"Dream Weaver" is a song by the American singer Gary Wright, released as the first single from his third studio album ''The Dream Weaver'' in December 1975. Origins and instrumentation The track features Wright on vocals and keyboards and Jim Keltner on drums. According to Gary Wright, the song was inspired by ''Autobiography of a Yogi'', which was given to him by George Harrison. Paramahansa Yogananda's poem "God! God! God!" made reference to "the idea of the mind weaving dreams". The expression "Dream Weaver" was popularized by John Lennon in 1970 in his song "God", taken from his solo album ''John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band''. This song depicts Lennon's declaration that he was the dream weaver of the 1960s, breaking away from the influences and dogmas that influenced his life. All instrumentation was created using keyboards except for Keltner's percussion. Gary Wright re-recorded "Dream Weaver" twice, first in 1986 (spelled "Dreamweaver" this time) for the '' Fire and Ice'' mov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autobiography Of A Yogi
''Autobiography of a Yogi'' is an autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda (5 January 1893 – 7 March 1952) first published in 1946. Paramahansa Yogananda was born as Mukunda Lal Ghosh in Gorakhpur, India, into a Bengali Hindu family. ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' introduces the reader to his life and his encounters with spiritual figures of both the Eastern and the Western world. The book begins with his childhood family life and follows-on to his finding his guru, to becoming a monk and establishing his teachings of Kriya Yoga meditation. The book continues in 1920 when Yogananda accepts an invitation to speak at a religious congress in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He then travels across America lecturing and establishing his teachings in Los Angeles, California. In 1935, he returns to India for a yearlong visit. When he returns to America, he continues to establish his teachings, including writing this book. The book is an introduction to the methods of attaining God ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
See Yourself
"See Yourself" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1976 album ''Thirty Three & 1/3''. Harrison began writing the song in 1967, while he was a member of the Beatles, in response to the public outcry surrounding bandmate Paul McCartney's admission that he had taken the hallucinogenic drug LSD. McCartney's announcement created a reaction in the press similar to that caused in 1966 by John Lennon's statement that the Beatles were more popular than Christianity. In its finished form, the song's lyrics advocate self-awareness and consideration for the consequences of one's actions. Musically, the composition contains unusual shifts in time signature from standard 4/4 to 9/8, while the songwords reflect the era of its genesis by recalling themes first espoused in the Beatles tracks " Within You Without You" and " All You Need Is Love". Harrison recorded "See Yourself" at his Friar Park home studio in Henley, Oxfordshire. The recording features extensive use ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thirty Three & 1/3
''Thirty Three & ⅓'' (stylised as ''Thirty Three & 1/ॐ'' on the album cover) is the seventh studio album by English musician George Harrison, released in November 1976. It was Harrison's first album release on his Dark Horse record label, the worldwide distribution for which changed from A&M Records to Warner Bros. as a result of his late delivery of the album's master tapes. Among other misfortunes affecting its creation, Harrison suffered hepatitis midway through recording, and the copyright infringement suit regarding his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord" was decided in favour of the plaintiff, Bright Tunes Music. The album contains the US top 30 singles "This Song" – Harrison's satire on that lawsuit and the notion of plagiarism in pop music – and "Crackerbox Palace". Despite the problems associated with the album, many music critics recognised ''Thirty Three & ⅓'' as a return to form for Harrison after his poorly received work during 1974–75, and considered it hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work. Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group include "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something". Harrison's earliest musical influences included George Formby and Django Reinhardt; Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry were subsequent influences. By 1965, he had begun to lead the Beatles into folk rock through his interest in Bob Dylan and the Byrds, and towards Indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kriya Yoga School
The Kriya Yoga school (Sanskrit: क्रिया योग) is a modern yoga school, described by its practitioners as an ancient yoga system revived in modern times by Lahiri Mahasaya, who claimed to be initiated by a non-physical guru, Mahavatar Babaji, at circa 1861. Kriya Yoga was brought to international awareness by Paramahansa Yogananda's book ''Autobiography of a Yogi'' and through Yogananda's introductions of the practice to the west from 1920. The Kriya yoga system consists of a number of levels of pranayama, mantra, and mudra, intended to rapidly accelerate spiritual development and engender a profound state of tranquility and God-communion. Etymology In ''Kriya Yoga pranayama'', ''kriya'' refers to revolving the life energy "upward and downward, around the six spinal centers."Paramahansa Yogananda, ''Autobiography of a Yogi''The Science of Kriya Yoga According to Yogannda, "Kriya is an ancient science. Lahiri Mahasaya received it from his great guru, Babaji, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential figure to the disciple (or '' shisya'' in Sanskrit, literally ''seeker f knowledge or truth'' or student, with the guru serving as a "counselor, who helps mold values, shares experiential knowledge as much as literal knowledge, an exemplar in life, an inspirational source and who helps in the spiritual evolution of a student". Whatever language it is written in, Judith Simmer-Brown explains that a tantric spiritual text is often codified in an obscure twilight language so that it cannot be understood by anyone without the verbal explanation of a qualified teacher, the guru. A guru is also one's spiritual guide, who helps one to discover the same potentialities that the ''guru'' has already realized. The oldest references to the concep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ARP Instruments
ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the 1970s before declaring bankruptcy in 1981. The company earned a reputation for producing excellent sounding, innovative instruments and was granted several patents for the technology it developed. History Background Alan Pearlman was an engineering student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts in 1948 when he foresaw the coming age of electronic music and synthesizers. He later wrote: :"''The electronic instrument's value is chiefly as a novelty. With greater attention on the part of the engineer to the needs of the musician, the day may not be too remote when the electronic instrument may take its place ... as a versatile, powerful, and expressive instrument.''" Beginnings Following 21 years of experience in electronic engineering ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
