Customer Reviews

Released

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It isn't easy to define the music of Jade Warrior. At times they sound like Jethro Tull, but they often venture into jazz-fusion, & then again into an ethnic influence involving primitive percussion sounds, & just to totally confuse matters they sometimes drift into an oriental love ballard. The sheer diversity of their music & the fact that they arose from 1970,[& being well ahead of their time], made them somewhat unique & they remain so even to this day.
Those familiar with an early style called acid rock will enjoy the way-out electric guitar style of the late Tony Duhig especially on the track "Minnamoto's Dream". The Jethro Tull likeness can be heard from the beginning on "Three-Horned Dragon King" the opening track, & again on "Eyes on You",-but there the similarity with other bands ends-,while the beautiful "Bride of Summer" & "Yellow Eyes" have a tranquil far eastern air. The light rock song "Reason to Believe" provides a not so serious interlude before the 14 minute long "Barazinbar" which has an exotic African sounding rhythm that becomes totally hypnotic until it dissipates into a free jazz-like jam, & to round the album off with a bizzare twist "Minnamoto's Dream" reoccurs with a slightly different ending.
It would be fair to say that about half of this album rocks, in the style of the early seventies, and I mean IT ROCKS, the rest of the music is a unique blend of jazz & ethnic influences as well as some oriental themes & a touch of psychadelic. This amazingly diverse & musically rich combination was produced largely by the band's three main members during their early years, Jon Field's flute & percussion,& Glyn Havard's vocal's & bass, together with Tony Duhig's guitar made Jade Warrior a group apart from most other bands at a time when many musical barriers were being broken.
I recommend "Released" as an introduction to Jade Warrior & to anyone wanting to hear a fine example of the band's earlier work.

This is a different Jade Warrior than the 1st album..It falls right in the King Crimson, progressive area, than any of their other albums. This time round there are extra musicians-sax, more rock type drumming, but don't let this turn you off..this is a great album-born of the progressive era but without the excess baggage found on many 70's prog LP's..Jade Warrior, founded from the ashes of pop-psych group July whose 1 LP on Major Minor Records fetches up to $350 in collector circles, were one of the first groups to flirt with different textures now associated with new age-ambient music..but back then it wasn't called that, it was just different sounding-like no one else, just Jade Warrior..Every album by this group is different, but all of their records are great..I highly recommend this to anyone who is sick of today's bumper crop of Britney's, Jonas Bros., Fall-Out Boy,etc...This is real music and one of the better progressive (boy do I hate that word)LP's of the time..it is truly unique.Only Jade Warrior could sound like Jade Warrior..if you like this, dig in further to their catalog. .

Released is worth the purchase for "Barazinbar" alone- a 15-minute, heavy, latin-inspired, rock jam with SPLENDID guitar playing and a rhythm section memorable in the kind of way only the early 70's can provide.

The flute jam near the end is so incredible and adventurous that it's IMPOSSIBLE to believe this band has remained so quiet for as long as they have. The guitar playing completely steals the show however. Not a single weak moment through its entire running time. Even the saxophone solo is growing on me now. Great stuff.

While hearing THIS incredible song, you might think about Santana and his Caravanserai album. The flutes will probably remind you of Jethro Tull, but make no mistake about it- these guys are JUST as talented as Santana and Jethro Tull. To create music *this* good you definitely need to have some amazing talent.

It's really hard to believe Released was supposedly rushed. It certainly doesn't sound like it.

Caravanserai just happens to be my favorite Santana album (or in the top three) and this Jade Warrior album happens to be a masterpiece. A MUST buy!

This is the second album from the original line-up of the progressive group Jade Warrior. Those who also own or have heard their first (Jade Warrior) and third (Last Autumn's Dream) Vertigo albums generally agree that this one is easily the weakest of the three. This was 1971/2, and the band were still defining and refining their sound. On this record, the core group of Jon Field (flute & percussion), Tony Duhig (guitars) and Glyn Havard (bass, vocals, & lyrics) are joined by drummer Alan Price and guitarist David Duhig, Tony's younger brother. There's even a guest sax player whose name escapes me at the moment. The group were starting to play actual live gigs and therefore needed a full compliment of musicians to pull off their odd mix of African/Asian-influenced rhythms combined with jazz and strongly Jimi Hendrix/Jethro Tull-inspired blues rock. The emphasis on this particular release is on more straightforward songs w/vocals, which stands in stark contrast to the virtual tone-poem quality that typified much of the first album. Additionally, there are a couple of jazzy instrumental pieces on this that seem as though they're just filling up space. Though they're not bad in and of themselves, in terms of atmosphere the tracks on this collection are slightly lacking the wonderful mix of simplicity and majesty of "Dragonfly Day," "Masai Morning," or "The Traveller" from album #1.

Glyn Havard himself even said that, unlike albums one and three, which were planned and rehearsed well in advance, "Released" was very rushed. The band were apparently scrambling about for material. The jazzy 15-minute track "Barazinbar" was the result of a frantic living room jam, and "Yellow Eyes" was essentially an acoustic filler song that Havard had written some time previously. It seems hard to believe, then, that this album actually broke into the bottom of the charts in the U.S. when it was out, which led to a brief stateside tour with Dave Mason.

On a lighter note, Havard pointed out that the track "Minamoto's Dream" is, in fact, "Prenormal Day at Brighton" from the first album ... played backwards! The story is that the group were listening to a reel-to-reel tape of the 1st album, and drummer Alan Price had twisted the tape when he threaded up the reel, so it all came out reversed. The band laughed, but then when "Prenormal Day" came on they thought "What a great riff!"...

All of Jade Warrior's Vertigo albums inevitably contain at least a couple "hippie" songs that seem to go off in a totally different direction from the majority of the material, and in this case the unnecessary "We Have Reason to Believe" ...fills that position. I personally find tracks of this type somewhat annoying and out of place as they only add an uneveness to the listening experience. In fact, such differences in direction within the group eventually resulted in a split.

All in all, if you're a fan of Jade Warrior and already have their 1st and 3rd Vertigo albums, you'll probably want this despite its weaknesses. The first three tracks and "Minamoto's Dream" are pretty good. If you've only just discovered this band, though, I'd strongly recommend "Jade Warrior" or especially "Last Autumn's Dream" as better starting places.

I first got this in album form when it came out in 1972. The album cover itself was just totally unique (and is not well represented in the small cd format! The original shows an oriental warrior trapped inside some sort of cell or wall, firing an arrow to the outside- thus "Released"), and that piqued my interest. Little did I know what boundless listening pleasures were waiting there! JW totally took my head off! Especially with the intensely fine "Three Horned Dragon King", in which JW perfectly blend their far-eastern and hard rock influences. When you think JW, there are always 4 elements to consider: 1)They are Englishmen with a considerable interest and talent for far-eastern music, 2)you are going to hear alot of hand-drums, 3) you're going to hear alot of flute, and 4) you're going to hear alot of Tony Duhig's great guitar style. Tony likes to play alot of smooth, sliding stuff (without incorporating a metal or glass slide on his finger). Personally, I love the way they melded all these elements together, and out of the 100s of albums I own this will always rate somewhere in that top 10.

Here's what you need to understand: this is a very unique, orginal band, doing their own thing! Nobody, and I mean nobody sounds like JW! So if you're looking for something that's just RnR, forget it. This is a very esoteric blend, that is for special tastes, and especially those who believe that rock music can be art.

A great addition on the first 3 Vertigo albums was Glyn Havard's voice and great lyrics (even on the rockers!), which fit the music perfectly.

Besides rocking out to the first cut (use head phones!), you get the beautifully gentle Bride of Summer with Duhigs incredible slow distorted dual lead guitar ending...he does not layer both parts in perfect tandem, but adds an additional note here, an embellishment there. Just lovely. Water Curtain Cave is just an esoteric masterpiece of jazz and oriental music..to me it has a very urban feeling. Great far eastern jazz theme on flute and sax at the beginning, great slow improv sections where first flute, then guitar (wow!)are playing alone, and then the original theme comes roaring back at the end. This is a great, mellow, Sunday afternoon type jam. It is perhaps my favorite piece in that sort of genre, and I frequently include it when I burn my own "mellow listening" cds.

Equally suberb is the ending piece, Yellow Eyes, all acoustic guitar, flute, and voice , and that's it. The rest of the stuff here is all good. Minnamoto's Dream starts slow and simple, and spirals into madness as it keeps progressing through more complex and faster paced passages, until it reaches a swirling frenetic end.

I find Eyes on You and long instrumental track (can't recall the name, Barazanzibar, or something similar) less interesting, and the instrumental piece seems overblown and just sort of a free for all jam to me, but to each his own. We Have Reason to Believe is sorta questionable, JW trying to fit into a traditional blues rock chord progression. Amusing lyrics, though.

All in all, this is an extremely fine album, certainly rating a solid 94 or above out of 100. Don't be duped by the "the sound quality isn't good" or "they rushed this album"...maybe they did, but talented artists often produce incredible work under pressure and JW did here. People who don't like this album probably don't really like artsy, esoteric stuff - or they haven't bothered to listen (or they listened when they were totally fried or burnt out!).

Listen to the samples, and if you have other JW or other esoteric stuff like Santana by all means buy. Equally good is Last Autumns Dream although it has a few 3-4 marginal tracks. The first self titled JW album is also great, but a little less developed, more like the original band getting together for a back porch jam. They get a little harsh on the hand drums on that one, and not all of the lyrics are great, but it has a sort of amusing, entertaining charm and you can see that all of the elements are there that would lead them to the great classics: Released, Last Autumn's Dream, and beyond.

"Released", is my least favorite Jade recording on Vertigo. I believe it was their second record. The song arrangements have an almost a feel like the music in the movie, "Shaft". This kind of undercurrents running through Rock music was very prevalent at the time (1972 - 3). There was some pressure to increase record sales on this release.
The most note-worthy track is the song, "Yellow Eyes". It is a Musical & lyrical masterpiece in its own way. The song's simplicity, mood & eloquence are just beautiful!
There are a few other gems Released
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too. But in my mind, this is the weakest of the Vertigo releases.

An agreeably off-center, early 70's rock excursion, though a lack of identity still seems to permeate the work and leave impressions of greater entities like Tull and Santana.

I don't agree with the first reviewer at all. This is essential Jade Warrior. Three Horned Dragon King is a great rock song with probably tony duhig's best single Rock Guitar performance. Use headphones! They finally get the mix of electric guitar's and hand drums just right! Excellent lyrics about facing temptations! Bride of Summer has an excellent slow dual distorted guitar section. But the real classic is Water Curtain Cave - an urban sort of oriental tinged jazz instrumental, with a soft middle section and a roaring return the main theme at the end! This is another great neglected rock masterpiece!

Kudos to Repertoire for their magnificent remastering of this rare Jade Warrior album. Their remasters of Procol Harum's catalog & Renaissance's "Ashes Are Burning" were beyond outstanding and to do such a great job on a completely obscure but legendary cult band like JW says a lot about where their priorities lie. So if you're looking for a great sounding remaster of an almost 40 year old album, this limited to 2500 pressings Repertoire edition is the only one to get.

Apparently this was a very rushed album and the boys didn't have time to get things right. The entire album is very listenable for someone who likes progressive rock and hard-rock bands in the early-Santana-King-Crimson vein but both the first album and especially "Last Autumn's Dream" are superior to this one. It must be said, however, that "Released" contains maybe their hardest rocking riff-propelled song "Three Horned Dragon King" and one of their greatest Crimson-inspired poetic ballads "Bride of Summer." The long jam "Barazinbar" is too repetitive to pass muster as a great jam but it does have its moments. "Three Horned Dragon King" has a great saxophone solo in it first and then a guitar solo which is bizarrely completely buried in the mix although it still propels the song up a few notches in energy from the already high level it's on. It's hard to believe that Tony Duhig would have agreed to his solo being buried in this way since on "Last Autumn's Dream" both his & David Duhig's solos are fully up front and in your face, so it must have been left that way due to lack of studio time to properly mix things.

If you're new to collecting Jade Warrior, here's what you should do: get "Last Autumn's Dream" first because that is their masterpiece from the early days. The early Jade has a unique feel but is closest to King Crimson in sound overall, less gloomy than KC. After that one I would get the 4 mid-70s Island albums ("Floating World," "Kites," "Way of the Sun" & "Waves") which have no vocals but lots of great instrumentals with a unique atmosphere no other band has produced. Then get the first album (self-titled) and only after that get "Released." Once you're done with that, don't forget the brand new 2009 album "Now," an excellent return to form for the surviving members of this band, Glyn Havard and Jon Field, a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. "Now" also has amazing sound-quality so if you're into blasting stuff out of a good stereo that barnstorms over entire neighborhoods, it's almost as perfect as "Three Horned Dragon King" from "Released," released 38 years ago to very little appreciation only to become a cult item still being collected 4 decades later.

This recording is all about Yellow Eyes for me. In this early seventies Vertigo period for the band, their records reflect a search for a sound. In the process, they often capture some "gems tunes" Most of this album is a rushed second release from the band and almost sounds like a film score in the style like the movie soundtrack, Shaft! I respect their virsitility, but just feel that the album falls short on overall appeal and consistency. Then we come upon Yellow Eyes and we are graced with the caliber of sound that the first Jade Warrior album achieves. JUST my opinion. Great spin!