Chillout Classics

Turn on, tune in and chill right out — you are about to understand what it feels like to be cryogenically de-stressed by music that envelops and refreshes the soul, without the need for a full-body immersion in liquid nitrogen. Moby sets the testudineous pace with "Novio," and his therapeutic tempo is upheld by the Art of Noise, with their trippy take on the cult '60s TV theme from Robinson Crusoe. We've also included Goldfrapp's slightly sinister chillaxer, "Lovely Head," and Groove Armada's etherized re-imagining of Patti Page's "Old Cape Cod" with its seductive-yet-tranquilized evocation of "sand dunes and salty air." Flatline your pulse some more, with our Chillout Classic Next Steps.

Gun-toting cops may seem like an unlikely starting-point for timeless chillout but, perversely enough, the high-octane world of Don Johnson's Sonny Crockett inspired a laid-back Miami Vice theme from Jan Hammer. A far more likely source of inspiration, "Little Fluffy Clouds," sits at the core of the Orb's still-entrancing chillout classic, with its harmonica sampled from Ennio Morricone's Once Upon a Time In the West score . . . and the great movie soundtrack maestro himself makes it into the chill zone with "Chi mai." Jean Michel Jarre asserts his mastery in the realms of super-sized synths with "Oxygène Part IV." Chilled-out becomes blissfully comatose, in Deep Cuts.

Chillout music is as old as time itself — or at least as old as the 7th century songsmiths who pioneered the Gregorian chanting style that would produce works like "Gloria." Cinema has also produced its fair share of outstanding chillout tracks, from David Byrne's Last Emperor title theme to Angelo Badalamenti's score for Twin Peaks – Fire Walk with Me . . . and let's not forget the small screen: English composer Geoffrey Burgon created a work of true grace when he was assigned to write the theme to Brideshead Revisited. AIR, meanwhile, bridges the acoustic/digital divide to generate a feeling of weightlessness with Moon Safari's "All I Need."

Here, you'll find no bone-shaking beats, ear-splitting riffs or lung-busting screams — only synths programmed to mimic the movement of clouds and strings that swell like the most benign of oceans. For all of you who prefer to tackle life horizontally, in a hammock perhaps, or fused to the contours of a treasured beanbag, these Chillout Classics collectively form the slow-burning fuse that leads only to the damp-squib of sweet indolence. There will be no fireworks, no pyrotechnics, only a slow trip downstream on this kayak of sonic ecstasy, in the company of Sigur Rós ("Hoppipolla"), This Mortal Coil (a beautiful interpretation of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren"), Brian Eno (that godfather of ambient music, who merits several tunes), and many more expert peddlers of sonic relaxation.