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The 2018 Version of Don Robertson's 1988 Album

I moved to Colorado from the San Francisco bay area in 1984, but I continued to travel back and fourth. There was excitement in the air in the city by the bay. New age music, the genre that a group of us had jointly created, was on its way to becoming a national phenomena. New age areas were being created in all the record stores, and so-called 'new age' radio stations were slated to go on the air. I had spent the previous four years on my album Anthem, which the new age distributors and programs had no interest in for various reasons, so I went to work on an album that would have more public appeal. I completed Castles in the Sun in 1988.

The album was originally slated to be released on the Higher Octave Label, when a monumental event occurred. The first so-called "new age" radio station, called "The Wave," was about to go on the air in Los Angeles. However, much to the shock of the group of original San Francisco musicians who had been anticipating the mainstreaming of new age music, this 'new age' station was not playing new age music, but slow jazz music which they called new age. Higher Octave quickly lost interest in me and my music, so my ex-wife and I released the album on CD on our DBR Music label. A radio promoter placed the album onto over 250 radio stations throughout the US, and thousands of CDs went out the door of our Fort Collins home. It was even a big hit on "The Wave" in Los Angeles.

We sold quite a few CDs. I remember the largest order that we got was from California Record Distributors for over 900 copies in a single order.

There was a problem with the album, at least for me, however. The problem was that I had put three songs that I didn't like on the album to make it, I had hoped, more commercial! These were the only three pieces of music that I had ever "thought up" instead of "hearing." Since I was a small child, I have had the gift of being able to hear music. This is a composer's gift, and this is how all my music has been created... all my music except for these three pieces.

To rectify this situation, in 2008, Mary Ellen and I released a new version of Castles in the Sun (the 2008 Version) removing the three offending pieces of music and replacing them with the music that I had originally recorded for the album, but had released on a compilation CD called "Favorites" instead. I love this new original version of the album and it is now one of my favorite albums to listen to. I never get tired of my own music because it really isn't MY own music at all.... I just hear it. I hope my music provides many blessings for everyone. We are ALL going to need it.