Customer Reviews

Silk Road 2

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Yes, it is a lofty statement to be sure to call this the single greatest New Age album ever produced, but once you hear it, you hopefully would agree. Originally released as a two-CD set (with what is now called Silk Road 1), this groundbreaking audio odyssey (originally written for a documentary on the Silk Road connecting China to Japan), is awe-inspiring, moving, and ultimately transcendant. The final track of this epic tour-de-force, Tienshan, is the single greatest track I have ever heard of any kind of music. I have been motivated throughout my life by this entire album, particularly Tienshan. Big words, but it's a big album. I cannot recommend it highly enough if you like Tangerine Dream, Deuter or even Yanni. Kitaro, however, is in a class by himself. Dim the lights, close your eyes, and journey into the deepest realms of time, space and the human imagination with this monolithically beautiful album.

Songs Include :

"In The Silence"
"Takla Makan Desert"
"Eternal Spring"
"Silver Moon"
"Magical Sand Dance"
"Year 40080"
"Time Travel"
"Reincarnation"
"Dawning"
"Tienshan"

Cann't tell you about recording quality of this edition - I have older one . This is the part 2 CD from " Silk Road " collection . And it stays with the tradition of first album : slow and deep , very relexing mood . If on some of Kitaro albums I have favorite parts and have to put them on "repeat" ," Silk Road " ( 1 and 2 ) I just listen to .

This cd has a production value of zero. This is not the fault of the seller but of the production company. The music that was loaded onto the master cd has the beginning of plays that are cut off and the end of the play chopped off. Do not buy this cd it is a waste of money. This is no reflection on the seller or Kitaro. Only on the producers of the cd.

This second volume (1977?) represents the ' Shadows ' of the ' Silk Road ' series.

(1) ' Peace ' impresses one immediately as an odd-sounding opening ( how different it is from other music and songs with that title name ! ).
(2) ' Taklan Makan Desert ' awakens the audience with some very crisp and sharp percussions that make up a slow and wistful flute air, similar to another piece ' Revelation ' in the 1979 meditative album " Ki ".
(3) ' Eternal Spring ' sounds oddly different here than other Kitaro songs by that title, with its tense and modern pulsating rhythm.
(4) ' Silver Moon ' represents the shadowy parallel of the amiable theme song ' Silk Road '.
(5) ' Magical Sand Dance ' whistles out a grimly entrancing tune marked by some upbeat primitive drummings.
(6) ' Year 40080 ' is a subtly bemusing air.
(7) ' Time Travel ' opens up a darkly haunting ambience.
(8) ' Reincarnation ' runs a tune that is quite uncanny and dull-sounding throughout.
(9) ' Dawning ' haunts the audience further with some recurring chants.
(10) 'Tienshan ' has a bewildering, crowdy harmonic character above all.


Overall, this album is among the least appealing in the Kitaro repertoire, if only darkly enthralling and mystifying, or evoking sobering thoughts and reflections in the listeners.

If you listen to this CD by itself you will get cut off songs which is weird. I just downloaded the CD's into my iTunes and don't get that problem anymore. Back in the mid-80's is when I think it first came out I had the cassette tape and it was great. It's still great. His best work.

I heard a selection from Vol. 1 some months ago on Public Radio, and after inquiring about it, ordered Vol. 1 from Amazon. Beautiful music, utterly relaxing. Couldn't wait to get Vol. 2.

Silk Road (1&2) by Kitaro remains, to me, his best recorded work and with a genius like Kitaro that's saying something.
The liquid tones are transcendental and carry the listener into a peaceful, other-worldly realm, perfect for meditating or just relaxing.
The sound quality on this digital remaster is excellent.
To get the full experience, the listener should have both volumes 1 and 2.

I'm not by any means a big fan of New-Age composer Kitaro. The bulk of his creative work for the 80's and the 90's tends to blend together into a pastiche formula: _bombastic_ being the term used most often to describe the fair-to-middling results. There doesn't seem much point in preferring 'Light of the Spirit' over 'Asia' or 'Ten Years,' for they all sound about the same: and none of it sounds very good. Despite his Asian background, there is little exotic, inspiring or innovative to Kitaro's sound.

But if you tune your ears back a couple decades, you'll find a completely different Kitaro at the studio-helm. The trilogy Silk Road, Silk Road 2, and Full Moon Story in particular bristle with unique quality. Here we have beautiful synth soundscapes melded with natural resonance and strange-but-stirring sound effects...the mark of genius that, alas, has all but vanished from 1980 on. But no matter--at least these original recordings from Kitaro's "hungry period" remain, albeit at augmented price and limited availability.

Silk Road 2 is my favorite of the trilogy, and quite possibly my favorite instrumental album of all time. Originally created for a TV miniseries, there is a mystical quality to the composition: serene and sublime, it evokes imagery of distant lands, different times, forbidden horizons. Silk Road 2 is great for relaxation, meditation, martial-art practice, and Yoga.

Highly recommended.

This is a genuine Kitaro Classic. For those who like New Age and classical combined this is a "MUST HAVE". It shows the real musical genius of Kitaro.