Jade Warrior

^Same

Kites had an ethereal affect and I grew with that album through activities like stargazing or basically setting my JBL Tower in the windows of my retreat house. It endlessly placed me in a daydream while glancing into the forest behind my house and watching the snowfall.

Kites often influenced me to seek spiritual concepts. The music guided my interest in such things which as a spectator I had doubt about what people around me defined as oriental mysticism. Kites created feelings I cannot describe other than the feeling one gets from Gnosis...where we are not able to effectively explain its reaction. At this point in time Tony Duhig and Jon Field took a more ethereal ambient direction with acoustic guitar and string quartet.

Certain sections of pieces throughout Kites are aggressive. Several of the embellishments are played on violin and are harshly aggressive while sounding off Asian modes and I could imagine an aggressive Metal guitarist playing them. Jade Warrior always had an aggressive guitar sound usually played by David Duhig. It felt like a cross between Hendrix and future Metal. ..but on Kites the same style of aggression is played by a string quartet.

When Tony Duhig opened a studio in Glastonbury he was obviously faced with degrading business situations along with financial disaster...

When thinking about the Island years and the non support the band received..for example negligence which revealed itself by many of their albums ending up stacked in radio stations and boxes of their releases sitting in warehouses . Steve Winwood was kind hearted in recommending Jade Warrior to Island records and WXPN began playing their albums on late night radio programs..but unfortunately they couldn't get a break to profit from or gain more solid interest from a Rock promoter who would make an investment and place the Island Jade Warrior on tour with other eclectic bands of those times.

Tony Duhig had pressure to survive as Jade Warrior..however when he submitted music from Horizen for the film Dune the staff personally enjoyed it...yet Toto landed the soundtrack deal instead. If Jade Warrior had been credited for the Dune soundtrack the band could have continued with financial backing. Not like the success Mike Oldfield gained, but possibly enough credibility in the industry to swim above water, ( so to speak), but they lost a connection that originally evolved out of people's interest in their music. Then Tony Duhig had a massive heart attack and that changed everything about the future of Jade Warrior.

Breathing The Storm and Distant Echoes were fine albums..but the spirit of Tony Duhig is absent.

I reviewed most of their albums at the beginning of the pandemic and so have a soft spot for them.  I really enjoy all eras, both instrumental and vocal.

dr wu23 wrote: Great band...have had the first 3 for long time......bought all the others about 15 years ago. Autumns Dream is my favorite . Some reviewers say they were influenced by quieter aspects of King Crimson at  times.

Very true! Members of Jade Warrior used to watch King Crimson perform in the early days.. They were also influenced by early Jethro Tull. The Asian music influence combined with Rock was very original sounding. They sometimes crossed into Jazzy territory..for example "Water Curtain Cave" creates a style reminiscent of Soft Machine. Even though they revealed these influences ...they came across with originality which I found amazing

Supposedly there was a concert filmed when they toured the U.S. in the early 70s. I first read about this on the Jade Warrior and Friends website years ago . I recall the administrator posting details on the show and requesting for anyone knowing it's whereabouts to please contact the website. I believe the band was filmed in North Jersey. I gather that through legitimate sources it was confirmed that their entire performance was professionally filmed by a camera crew...yet nothing ever surfaced..as if to say that a certain individual has it in their possession.

I have everything by the band except for Eclipse and Fifth Element. Those two particular albums I disliked for some reason. That's not to say they are lousy albums as they appeal to many Jade Warrior fans . I like a couple of tracks from Eclipse which I have on the Reflections cd.
Their music was played a lot on WXPN in Philadelphia in the 70s and early 80s on the program Diaspar.

Hi,

Did some relistening as Jade Warrior fit well with my current mood. An instrumental album is my favorite as well. But the following two are both "vocal albums"
5 Fifth Element 7/10
6 Jade Warrior 7/10
7 Eclipse 7/10
8 Waves 7/10

I love this band. This is a great introduction to them.