Last Train to Lhasa [Limited Edition, Original recording reissued]

Banco De Gaia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 14, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Limited Edition, Original recording reissued
• Label: Six Degrees
• ASIN: B000065T21
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,193 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best heard on a long drive, October 1, 2002

By 

John Ryan (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Train to Lhasa (Audio CD)

I bought this CD on a whim because the name of the capital of Tibet in the album's title attracted me; I had no idea what Banco de Gaia was. And I owned the album for a couple of years before I learned that Banco de Gaia isn't a 12-member multi-ethnic band of cool people as I'd surmised but just one lone Englishman who happens to have a lot of talent.

It's best heard, in my experience, on a long drive. If you're hitting the road for a couple of hours or a couple of days, pack up the car, sit behind the wheel and turn on the CD player as you wheel onto the street. The slow chugging and shrill whistle of a steam engine that begin the CD will get the miles humming by under your feet as you journey through this album.

I must admit that Last Train to Lhasa makes me want to put the pedal to the metal. My two-year-old son also happens to like it -- in fact it's a favorite. I would hate this to turn off potential listeners. I like to think it's something we can both get emotional and intellectual pleasure out of, together -- pretty rare between an adult and a toddler.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An organic, musical, electronic delight, July 19, 2002

By 

Brian Dolan (Somerville, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Train to Lhasa (Audio CD)

It is such a joy to have this album back in print.

In 1995, Last Train To Lhasa struck me as an amazing fusion of true musicality and electronic sensibility. Sonically, it has an engrossing balance between real and synthesized sounds. The album as a whole (I'm referring mostly to disc 1 of the cd) is cohesive and covers a range of emotion and mood that is and was unusual for a piece of so-called 'electronica'.

Listening to a new copy seven years later, my original long dead, I enjoy it as much as ever. It's a bit less fresh, maybe, or a touch more repetitive than it needs to be, but a wonderful listen all the same. I'm reminded of places & times that I've listened to it before, which probably colors my opinion, but also speaks to its effecitveness. In 1995, I found that this was able open many a rocker's ear to electronic music.

With the exception of Kincajou, which more or less deconstructs a dance track, this album tends to be on the slower side of the tempo spectrum -- you'll be disappointed if you're looking for a dance album. But it's certainly worth your time to check out the samples (even though it's unlikely that they do the album justice), and if you enjoy anything on the slower side of the spectrum, or aren't generally a fan of electronic music I can't recommend this enough.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This album is a journey, May 30, 2002

By 

Kevork V. Dikramanjian "kevorkd" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Train to Lhasa (Audio CD)

If you like an album which will take you on a journey, you have to listen to this one and decide yourself. It is like a landscape changing, as if you are in a train and going through the lands.
Give it a shot, you won't regreat.

/cheers