Click to ready my 2009 reivew of Medicine Woman 4 – Prophecy 2012. It goes like this:
It has become a tradition in the world of new age music. Every fifth year or so Medwyn Goodall’s many fans get a new installment in the Medicine Woman series. Since the release of the first album in the series in 1991, it has become one of the most popular in the genre. 450.000 copies of Medicine Woman 1 has been sold so far, and Medicine Woman 2 the gift has been awarded gold disc status. Now the fourth Medicine Woman is ready to do house calls. This time she brings more mystery and magic than ever before. In the center is the ancient Mayan calendar and the enigmatic year of 2012.
Since his debut in 1987, Medwyn Goodall has been one of the leading new age artists. The most striking about his music is his ability to recreate and redefine his style while staying true to the objective: create music that is positive, fresh and uplifting. After more than 80 albums this is still the case: the new Medicine Woman has a lot of powerful magic potions in her bag, ready to heal your stressed-out soul.
In a recent interview with Medwyn Goodall we asked him about the Mayans and the year 2012. He answered: The ultimate conclusion of the Mayans knowledge of time and astrology was their creation of what is known as the Mayan calendar which tells of periods, eons of time each having its influence on humanity. What is immediately noticeable about the calendar is that it stop very precisely on the 21st of December 2012.
Fans will find Medicine Woman 4 to be somewhere between Medicine Woman 3 the rising (2004) and Serve Chilled (2008 ) in sound. The somewhat heavy synth pads of previous Medicine Woman albums are gone, replaced by a lighter, modern synth arrangement. Medwyn uses guitar, flutes and a gentle drum set.
The thing I like best about the Medicine Woman series is the superb sound design. When you put on a new album, you know what it is even though you haven’t heard it before: for the fan it is a musical deja vu. Medwyn uses some of the melodic segments from previous albums while adding plenty of new material. From the first magical sounding synth you know that the medicine woman is here again. On track two you’ll get the first example of the totally renewed sound. The light synth together with the piano is beautiful beyond words.
The Medicine Woman series contain some of Medwyn Goodall’s best tracks, like Temple Journey and Farewell To The Darkness. And fans will be delighted to add track no. four, Solar Waves, to the list. It has an unforgettable melody combined with a light synth arrangement that shows Medwyn’s almost magical abilities to create positive, heartfelt music. This track is one of Medwyn’s finest. It is simply masterful.
As always in the Medicine Woman series the South American influences are many and welcome. I think they give Medwyn’s music both warmth and identity. When you play the album it runs like one track, with only a very short break between the tracks. In this way you get long session with the Medicine Woman. Not bad for a mere £ 9.99. It offers, like the rest of the series, almost endless replay possibilities.
Prophecy 2012 has the good old Medicine Woman atmosphere, pure and simple. This sound should have been patented, put on a bottle and sold to a big pharmaceutical company, since it is truly a healing experience. But I guess that the Medicine Woman is more about herbs and spells, than pills and bills.
Play the album on:
