Lothlorien's Two LPs, ST (1980), and Spaces (1983)

It's a popular name for a band, for obvious reasons (though I must confess I am one of those few people on planet Earth who, as a child, never read the books, and as an adult, never saw one of the movies-- nor even expressed the desire to do so).

It might be obvious by now that this is my favourite subgenre of progressive music: European classical chamber music combined with the modern excitement and energy of jazz and rock.  The former seems almost sterile and dry, like traditional French cuisine with its lack of spices, while the latter forms alone seem to me like junk food, without any finesse or thought.  So the combined effect of the best progressive music is both intellectual and emotional in what it brings to our level of enjoyment, think for example of the best thought-out, best-laid plans of Genesis tracks like The Firth of Fifth.  All of which is to say that I love these two records, similar perhaps to the Marcia Meyer instrumental folk compositions I so briefly posted once.

Both albums are very similar and there is no deterioration such as one often finds in compositional level from the first to the second.  They feature some relatively unique instruments as is obvious from the back scan.  The great flute performance on Namaste from the first:






Title track of the second record:






Notice that Jim Palmer is responsible for most of the composition.  Imagine humanity creating the most perfect music for the emotional and intellectual education of the brain-- this would be it for me.