"Celestial Soda Pop" is a song written and composed by

Ray Lynch Raymond "Ray" Lynch (born July 3, 1943) is an American guitarist, lutenist, keyboardist, and composer. He began his musical career in 1967 by performing in The Renaissance Quartet in New York City before leaving in 1974 and giving up his musical ...

for his third album, ''

Deep Breakfast ''Deep Breakfast'' is Ray Lynch's third studio album, released on December 12, 1984. Upon its initial release, the artist sold over 72,000 albums out of his small apartment in San Rafael, California. After signing with Music West Records, the a ...

''. The song has been considered to be the highlight of the album.

Composition

The song was composed in

C♯ minor C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps. The C-sharp natural minor scale is: : Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale ...

and features a repetitive progression performed on a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

Reception

In reviewing Lynch's album ''

No Blue Thing ''No Blue Thing'' is Ray Lynch’s fourth studio album, released on August 15, 1989. It peaked at #1 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart as well as #197 on Billboard's "Top 200 Albums". The album also peaked at #16 on ''Gavin Report''. Prod ...

,'' Keith Tuber of ''

Orange Coast The Orange Coast is the string of cities and neighborhoods fronting the Pacific Coast in Orange County, California. From northwest to southeast, these cities are Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Cleme ...

'' called "Celestial Soda Pop" a "monster New Age Hit". Meanwhile, in reviewing ''Deep Breakfast,'' P.J. Birosik of ''

Yoga Journal ''Yoga Journal'' is a website and digital journal, formerly a print magazine, on yoga as exercise founded in California in 1975 with the goal of combining the essence of traditional yoga with scientific understanding. It has produced live events ...

'' called "Celestial Soda Pop" a "wonderfully memorable little tune". Steve Korte of ''

CD Review ''CD Review'' (formerly known as ''Digital Audio'' and ''Digital Audio and Compact Disc Review'') is a discontinued American monthly magazine that specialized in reviewing albums and audio electronics, especially compact discs. The magazine was fo ...

'' referred to the song as "a standard that you've probably heard dozens of times in your local supermarket or dentist's office". However,

John Schaefer John Schaefer is an American radio host and author. A longtime host at WNYC, Schaefer began hosting the influential radio shows ''New Sounds'' in 1982 and ''Soundcheck'' in 2002, and has produced many different programs for other New York Public ...

, author of '' New Sounds: A Listener's Guide to New Music,'' referred to the piece as a "vacuous title" and claimed that Lynch possesses "limited ability on the synthesizer".

Remixes

In 1998, Ray Lynch produced a

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

remix of "Celestial Soda Pop" for his compilation album, '' Ray Lynch: Best Of, Volume One.'' The song was later remixed by Boreta of

The Glitch Mob The Glitch Mob is an American electronic music trio from Los Angeles, California. It consists of edIT (Edward Ma), Boreta (Justin Boreta) and Ooah (Josh Mayer). Chris Martins of ''LA Weekly'' noted that they "have undoubtedly found the largest a ...

in 2015.

In popular culture

In 1986, "Celestial Soda Pop" was used as a theme song for the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

show ''

Fresh Air ''Fresh Air'' is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States since 1985. It is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show's host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated t ...

.'' The track was also featured in the 1987 documentary film, ''Downwind/Downstream.'' On May 26, 1990, Joel Selvin of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' commented that the use of the song by NPR probably caused ''Deep Breakfast'' to have a "considerable boost" in sales. In 1991, the Stone Mountain Laser Show near

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,71 ...

began using "Celestial Soda Pop" as one of the tracks in the show, set to animated shapes and colors.

References

{{authority control New-age songs 1984 songs 1984 instrumentals