This 1988 masterpiece, inspired by Roach's visits to the Australian outback and his work with didgeridoo master David Hudson, set the template for much of Roach's future work. In some sense he has simply refined the album's organic blend of brush-stroke synthesizer colors and ethnic-inspired rhythms ever since, with many glorious results. But this journey into Australian aboriginal mythology--the Dreamtime was an Eden-like period of natural harmony presaged by the arrival of extraterrestrial ancestors--remains a trademark and a wholly original work. Like Bruce Chatwin's seminal book on aboriginal mythos, The Songlines, Return is an outsider's document that feels like the very lay of the land itself; the piece "Songline," with its driving dumbek rhythms, reflects the rocky terrain as ably as "A Circular Ceremony" evokes the vastness and mystery of the desert expanse. A true classic. --James Rotondi
