Synth-y new age bliss. Managed to pick myself up a nice case of acute bronchitis in Minneapolis, and am now attempting to simulate happiness using music and codeine cough syrup. Good night, sweet blogosphere.
Track listing:
1. Morning Prayer (Asa No Inori, Rising Sun)
2. Moro-Rism
3. New Wave (Aratanaru Tabiji)
4. Cosmic Energy (Uchu Enerugii)
5. Eternal Spring (Inochi No Izumi, Aqua)
6. Moonlight
7. Shimmering Horizon (Hikari To Kage)
8. Fragrance of Nature (Shizen No Kaori)
9. Innocent People (Mujaki)
10. Oasis
Dawn of the astral
Wow what beautiful artwork. This is a classic electronic album NOT new age artificial sweetener, well IMHO that is.
ReplyDeleteBtw as a sideline I think Innocent People had a hidden meaning as the title surely doesn't fit the dreamy,zen flow of the other track titles. I believe at one point in Kitaro's life his girlfriend/wife's father was connected to the Japanese Yakuza which is essential on par with the Italian mafia but they serve green tea to their victims. Hence the title of the track. Nonetheless thanks for sharing this gem!
Hey, the two (progressive electronic + New Age) aren't mutually exclusive. There's lots of phenomenal New Age music that has absolutely nothing to with the crappy Yanni-style muzak that most people picture when they hear that phrase.
DeleteThat story about the Yakuza (pronounced like "yak'za") was totaly new to me, after having listned to Kitaro for 40+ years...
DeleteRobert Mitchum made a decent movie in 1974, titled 'The Yakuza' (directed by the great Sydney Pollack, and partly shot in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, as well as Malibu...).
Corrections: "totally", and listened" (I was sleepy, went to bed afterward, at 8:30AM...). Wakarimas ka?
DeleteYour correct Yanni and a few other n/a musicians really f'ed up the whole point of the music which was inner reflection, progressive electronic and a world away from pop sensibilities. The new age term became its own worst marketing nightmare once the true meaning of the music became a "nu" hippie sales platform....
ReplyDeleteThanks.Nice one.
ReplyDeleteYanni uugh he reminds me of those horrible 70-80's pop tribute bands that should be shunned forever
ReplyDeleteI found an American version of his 'Ki' album in a record store in 1981. It was an instant love affair that lasts to this day. Around that time, Swedish and Danish state TV (we had 2 channels, and here in the south we could also watch the only Danish channel...) showed the (original) epic, 12 part Japanese/Chinese 1980/81 'The Silk Road', for which Kitaro scored the soundtrack which became 4 original LPs and various re-releases, Best Ofs and a box. The series continued with followups for 10 years, and more albums - that sold millions - and boxes were released. Various, Japanese imports, plus European and American releases with different names made me buy the same album more than once (my Japanese is weak...). A Japanese compilation album could have the same cover as a Geffen or Polydor release, and so on. For instance, his 1983 'Tenjiku' LP was also sold as 'Silk Road IV', and re-released in 1985 by Geffen as 'India' with new layout...I soon had some 20 LPs, a 4-LP'Silk Road' box (with partly different music than on the four, individual LPs) and a dozen CDs when I first saw him LIVE in Copenhagen in the early 90s (he returned in the late 90s)...now I'm happy with my 70+ downloads.
ReplyDeleteBy that time, I'd realised he'd been a member of the great, Fumio Miyashita run electronic psyche/prog rock band Far East Family Band circa 1975-77 (but not in their precursor, the similarly fabulous psyche/rock band Far Out that released a must have album in 1973), with 4 releases (I'd bought an ambient Miyashita LP in 1983, not aware of the connection). Kitaro (b. 1953) also moved to Colorado in the early 90s, and then relocated to Californa.
Rewind: In 1980, American Windham Hill Records (founded in 1976 by William Ackermann and his future wife, mainly as a vehicle for folk and acoustic music by himself, his cousin Alex de Grassiand Robbie Basho). In 1980, an album by George Winston ('Autumn') was released and became a hit of sorts. New artists were introduced, like Shadowfax, Tim Story and Mark Isham of later Hollywood fame. "New Age" music was born, but I don't know who coined the expression...it arrived in a time when crystals and wiccans (originally the same word as witch) were all the rage, and I remember one Am. reviewer in a derogatory manner comparing the music from the 1981 WH sampler with the sound from a washing machine...soon, Big Business (BGM, later Sony) hooked on, and I suddenly found tiny "New Age" stickers ("This sticker is removable!") on everything from Kitaro (who was picked up by former Asylum co-founder/-owner David Geffen's newly started Geffen Records in 1983) to my old faves Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze, much to the chagrin of some of them.
And while we're talking about Tangerine Dream, Peter Baumann of the classic 70s trio setting, moved to Californa and started his Private Music label in 1984 (sold to BMG in 1994, just like William Ackerman did with his half of Windham Hill...). This was New Age in its worst meaning. I liked the first Patrick O'Hearn album and maybe Eddie Jobson's (of Zappa and U.K. fame), but soon they released tons of albums of mainly crap from Yanni ("Vangelis Light"), Suzanne Ciani and Carlos Alomar (and lots of the established jazz/folk musician Leo Kottke), but in 1987 he also released one of the best, modern albums by Ravi Shankar (I had lots of old tapes that I'd bought in India through the years), 'Tana Mana', as well as David Van Tiegen's 2nd release, 'Safety In Numbers'. And in 1988, we saw releases from Am. TV presenter (!) John Tesh, Andy Summers (formerly of The Police), as well as the first of a series of Tangerine Dream albums, 'Optical Race'. More albms by Ravi Shankar and TD followed. All with a "New Age" sticker (Ravi Shankar/Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury was born in 1920...).
/Jörg
PS. One day we have to discuss Japanese percussionist who just turned 75, Stomu Yamshita/Yamash'ta (he sometimes wrote his name Yamash'ta since the "i" isn't pronounced, just like the 2011 ill-fated nuclear power plant in Fukushima/"Fukush'ma", or the above mentioned, Japanese mafia Yakuza/"Yak'za"...). After some 10 odd percussion (and more, like the 1972 'Floating Music') albums at home in 1971-75, he traveled to Germany to learn how to play synthesizers by none other than maestro Klaus Schulze (75 in August), and even formed the temporary project Go with KS, Mike Shrieve, Steve Winwood and Al Di Meola...but that's a completely different story, and old age music...
ReplyDelete/J.
So, today I received news that I've been waiting for since a year or more...Klaus Schulze died 26 April, 74 years young, from long illness (he smoked tons of cigarettes most of his life, apart from that wacky tobaccy, until he had a serious heart attack more than 10 years ago and gave up smoking...). Ruhe in Frieden, Klaus!
DeleteYes, I just found out myself, made a quick lil post for "Irrlicht". RIP
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