Customer Reviews

Elements - Island Anthology

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The thing to understand about JADE WARRIOR is that they SOUND LIKE NO ONE ELSE, PERIOD (And they are definitely NOT 'New-Age' music, although in some instances they are close to cerrtain meditative moods familiar to Eno or Vangelis listeners). They used to be a King Crimsonish rock group before but at this mid-period in their career they came up with their own completely non-comformist, semi-minimalist philosophy of all-instrumental progressive rock music and they stuck by it, in the face of record company indifference and poor record sales. But now, twenty-five years later, the band has acquired cult status, and though it is a little too late for reunions (founding member and main guitarist Tony Duhig died from a heart attack a few years ago), these old records, and especially this 4 record set deserve a much wider audience. After just the first couple of tracks on "Floating World," 'Clouds' and 'Mountain of Fruit and Flowers,' blast like the Devil out of your speakers and blow you away, you'll know what I'm talkin' about! But wait! That's just 5 minutes, you've still got some 2 and a half more hours to go, and each album is different than the previous one, but almost as uniquely bizarre and meditatively captivating (as an added bonus for Traffic fans, Steve Winwood, one of JW's strongest supporters, who was instrumental in getting them their contract on Island, plays keyboards on the entire second record "Waves").

The first record I ever heard from Jade Warrior was back in 1975 and I heard Waves. Being a Gentle Giant fanatic back then, I was not taken by the band until I heard their 74 album, Floating Worlds. That record melted me, but

Then... Wow. Just wow. WOOAAAWWHHH!

I bought Kites. Kites has more of a classical base structure, yet a bit avant gaurd... and WONDERFUL! I agree that is their best effort ever, but NO Jade Warrior is bad! The Way of the Sun got quite a bit of attention on Detroit public Radio and has a special latin flare to it that you do not hear on the other albums. That is the last record with Island Records in 1978.

I will just summurize by stating that these four records had a lot of influence on the so called New Age Movement, though they are not technically new age. Honestly, there is more passion to their music.

Jade Warrior Island recordings actually have a more acoustic feel to them than electronic. They used orchestra, acoustic & electric guitar,piano, choirs, FLUTE, some acoustic and electric effects, percussion, etc. They were the ultimate studio band. I played them through high school and college and still today now and then. They are compositionally original, musically profient and aesthetically pleasing.

Who do I compare them to? They started out sound Jethro Tullish but by 1974, they moved well beyond that space on to new and orientally flavored horizons. The music might make you cry, feel alive and really heal you. The records will move you.

SIDE NOTE: I think the record company is remastering this but I do NOT know that. The mix on this version (UK, Germany) is excellent except Waves could use a remix. However, this is an Un-challenged spin!

This set is a must-have for those who follow the rather enigmatic career of Jade Warrior, or for anyone interested in an innovative blend of light jazz with Far Eastern/Island/South American sounds featuring multilayered flute and tasteful electric and acoustic guitar. This is extraordinarily picturesque and eclectic music, sometimes being ambient, sometimes boistrous, occasionally even raucous, often strongly rhythmic, and always evocative of wonderful atmospheres and otherworldly landscapes. Stevie Winwood even contributes piano and Moog to "Waves." Musically, "Elements" has much to recommend it.

That said, flautist/percussionist Jon Field himself lamented that he was not involved with the remastering process for this particular anthology. He should have been. While "Floating World," "Kites," and "Way of the Sun" were transfered with reasonably good fidelity, the sonic quality of "Waves" leaves much to be desired. Lots of high-end roll-off and an unnaturally cloistered ambience leads me to believe that they used the wrong kind of processing on it during the transfer. This is especially noticeable on quiet acoustic passages. The effect is like using Dolby C to listen to a cassette tape recorded with Dolby B; it pumps and breathes as the musical dynamics shift, and the extreme processing almost totally removes the natural room ambience of the original recording. Also, the original LP version of this release is said to have had some killer dynamics, especially in the bass frequencies, which were actually challenging for most cartridges to track. (This occurred in the places where the whale sings, I'm told.) Jon Field personally manipulated the eq settings to get the best possible sound from the original vinyl. Alas, these have apparently been altered, which is a pity! I've also heard from other Jade Warrior fans that a few minutes were shaved off the end of this particular work so that it would fit the time constaints of a CD. Then again, each CD has over 77 minutes of music crammed onto it, so there's a lot of truly great material to listen to, sonic imperfections or no. Believe me when I say that what's included more than makes up for the defects!

I highly recommend this set. The price is right, and there's a wealth of great sounds on it. Oh, and don't believe the booklet notes that claim Jade Warrior broke up in the 1980s and never recorded again. In fact, they made four more albums: Horizen(1984), At Peace (1989), Breathing the Storm (1992), and Distant Echoes (1993). Furthermore, another work was begun based around the story of Crazy Horse and some ancient Egyptian stuff, but this has yet to be completed.

Hopefully, the individual Island releases will someday be (re)remastered and available, but for now, you really can't go wrong in getting "Elements." Despite its faults, I'm still able to give it 5 stars.

I know these albums by LP-versions only. The reason for not buying this Elements is: "Waves" was "criminally shortened when released as part of the "Elements" anthology by PolyGram in 1995" - hence my four stars only. (Besides I never liked "Way of the Sun".)
Anyway, these four albums are now - September 2006 - reissued separately, so if you search Jade Warrior at Amazon, your going to find them in original cover design: Floating World (1974), Waves (1975), Kites (1976) and Way of the Sun (1978).
My favourite is the dreamy Waves, second I put Floating World, third Kites.
Jade Warroir made rather fantastic world music from the beginning of the 1970ties, a blend of Asiatic, African, jazz, rock (not so much in fact, in spite of some tough riffs) and ambient music. Brian Eno is said to be an early fan of the (then) duo. Since I was only a teenager when I first listened to them, I am not the right one to estimate how they will sound to a modern ear, if they have stood the ravages of time or if they sound dated. My guess is of course that Jade Warrior will bring you back to the post-hippie era more than anything else. My guess is that when a piece of art got artistic necessity by time of issue, this necessity will remain by the piece, the one way or other.
One sign of my veneration 30 years ago may be the fact that I copied the music to cassettes, in order to save the sensitive LPs for the rest of my life. It became clear that the commerical potential of Jade Warrior wasn't the greatest and there was no reason to recon they would remain in the catalogue. (The only other LP I saved the same way was An Electric Storm (1969) by The White Noise.)

Well this anthology includes almost the best stuff, expecially talking about the album "Floating World", here entirely represented: such album represents their change of direction, their turn of career,determined also by the enter of Duihig's brother on guitar. Despite of the presence of pleasant melodies and atmospheres, in between there are surprising powerfull riffs, such as those ones within the track "Monkey Chant" or Red Lotus". The song "Memories of a distant sea" is fine, as its melody is captivating; while "Rainflower" and "Easty" are a Duhig brothers'trademark once more, with a shining personal style and their distinctive guitar sound as well ... it's not a masterpiece, but you find memorable songs and a captivating style too, such as that one regarding tracks like "Songs of the forest or "Arrival of the Emperor...".

A simple but stunning representation of their essential captivating style: it's also very original!!

This is a compilation of the four critical Jade Warrior recordings on Island Records from 1974 to 1978. I had these albums when they came out. The sound is a natural one as opposed to much of the 'Enoish' electrocia. Give it a spin.

4 of the best Jade Warrior albums on a two disc set!!! Can't beat it!!!! One song drifts into another with you never knowing it. Great music to listen to in headphones while you submerge into deep thought. All I can say is, if your just getting into Jade Warrior (like me) or have been for years , this is a definate must!!!

This 2 CD compilation (1995) brings together four definitive works by this English experimental rock outfit. The albums Floating World (1974) and Waves (1975) are on Disc 1, with Kites (1976) and Way of the Sun (1978) on Disc 2. Although out of print, this is still currently the cheapest way to get these four albums and should appeal to those of us on a tight budget.

The core musicians on the four albums include the duo of Jon Field (harp, gong, glockenspiel, vibes, alto/concert and Japanese flutes, conga drums, bell tree, African talking drum, cello, piano, Hammond organ, and acoustic guitar) and Tony Duhig (acoustic and electric guitars, bass guitar, piano, glockenspiel, Hammond organ, and vibes). Supporting the duo are various and sundry musicians ranging from the Orpington Junior Girls Choir to Steve Winwood (keyboards), along with a host of studio musicians. While all of the players are very good, there is not a lot of grandstanding, although it is fun to hear them rock out every so often with the electric instruments.

The music that Jade Warrior released during the 1974-1978 timeframe consists of a nice, spacey mixture of ambient, minimalism, cool jazz, and world music (mostly Chinese), with just a tiny bit of prog rock thrown in for good measure. On the first two albums, the music ranges from quiet and meditative passages played on acoustic instruments such as flutes, acoustic guitars and a suite of percussion instruments to heavy proggy sections complete with thunderous drum parts and distorted electric guitars. Although some of the heavier prog influences had been toned down following Floating World (this is considered the prog album), Waves still has a bit of an edge to it, although it is pretty laid back. Kites is a personal favorite and even mellower, while Way of the Sun is different in that it incorporates South American rhythms and melodies. Indeed, Way of the Sun is the brightest and cheeriest of the four albums and does not feature the heaviness of Floating World and Waves.

The overall package is not bad and features the covers to the four albums along with track listing, personnel, and recording dates. The sound quality is excellent.

All in all, Jade Warrior is an exceptional group that is criminally underappreciated - even by prog rock fans. The co-leaders of the band (Tony Duhig and Jon Field) are very accomplished musicians, yet they utilize space very effectively rather than filling everything up with solos left and right. In fact, they were quoted as saying, "one chord, if it's beautiful, will last us all day". I think that sentiment sums the four albums up nicely. Highly recommended.

A number of people have commented that Jade Warrior really doesn't sound like anyone else and I have to agree. That was almost undoubtedly something intentional by Tony Duhig and Jon Field when they originally composed and recorded these Island treasures in the seventies. That's one very big difference between music then and music NOW. Way back in the olden days days an artist wanted their works to be recognized as unique.

That's not to say there are no noticeable influences because I'm certain there are even if those influences weren't mainstream top 40. That's probably also why I don't recognize those influences and it all sounds fresh to me. It also sounds unique to me which is understandable considering the intent of Jade Warrior on these albums was to blend musical styles that no one thought would be at all compatible. Very few artists attempted that and most who did failed dismally compared to Jade Warrior.

These four titles on two CDs will take the listener through styles ranging from atmospheric to tribal to Celtic to funky and psychedelic touching almost everything but country/western and it all fits without sounding forced.

I'm very curious in checking out their upcoming release "NOW" and hoping AMAZON will be making it available.

If you are unfamiliar with the band, this is the place to start. The sound on this release is astounding. Full dynamics without any annoying compression.You will find yourself immersed in a much better place inside your head , until the set stops.