Search - Jade Warrior :: Now

The Majestic Return of the Warrior

Douglas Vencill | San Diego, CA USA | 07/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Jade Warrior, for unjustifiable reasons, have been and remain one of the Best Kept Secrets in the annals of Progressive Rock, World Music, Jazz Fusion, New Age, & Avant-Garde/Experimental Music. They deserve SO much more in the way of international exposure & accolades from the music community; and we who love their music can only hope that the world finally, eventually takes notice of their utterly unique, hypnotic hybrid of music that, to say the very least, has an other-worldly feel to it. I've sometimes wondered what distant, glowing green planet Jon Field, Glyn Havard, & the late GREAT Tony Duhig came from!



We who've followed their music over the years have been long anticipating the release of this, their newest recording...and speaking for myself, I can state with a definite degree of certainty that long-time fans of the Warrior will NOT BE DISAPPOINTED. I received the CD from their website in the mail yesterday, listened to it through headphones last night, and started an Email to my fellow Warriors. The transcript follows:



"Hey guys...

I am writing to let you know I am listening to the new Jade Warrior CD

called NOW, for the first time, as I type this. I will give you my immediate

impressions of the songs as I hear them.

1. FOOL AND HIS BRIDE: Jazzy! Acoustic bass, tenor sax, sultry vocals from Glyn,

builds to a very cool climax. 7:36

2. JOURNEY: Beautiful! A little faster-paced, very new age sounding, some cool

acoustic guitar, mellotron-sounding keyboards, soprano sax. 5:52

3. LOST BOYS: WAY cool! Shuffling beat, more cool keyboards, treated harmony

vocals, some cool lead guitar. 7:05

4. TALL TREES: Starts with wind chimes, the sound of a LARGE insect buzzing,

then fretless bass, Fender Rhodes, sampled cello, very

interesting time signature--can't get a grip on it yet. VERY psychedelic

sounding! 3:56

5. FLOATING MOON: Crosses over from previous track into this also psychedelic

sounding instrumental with tanpura (the droning instrument heard

in the background of sitar music), layered flutes, very trippy! 2:18

6. 3AM MELTDOWN: Crosses over from previous track, here they move into previous

"avant-garde-heavy metal" territory in the style of "Snake,"

"Joanne," "3-Horned Dragon King," etc. Very other-worldly sounding with some

cool distorted fuzz guitar, soprano sax, trippy keyboards, & very

angry vocals from Glyn. 4:21

7. TRUE LOVE: Starts with odd percussion sounds, fretless bass harmonics, more

sultry, multi-tracked vocals from Glyn, very cool 4/4 drum beat,

slowly builds in intensity, adding some great electric guitar power

chording, ends dramatically! 5:47

8. TALISMAN: Nice-sounding ballad in Glyn's old style, nice 3/4 drum beat,

acoustic guitar, piano, Jon's triple-tracked flutes--the thought comes to

mind that if they were wanting to reach a larger audience, they could do a

cool video for this & maybe put it on VH-1. Accessible-sounding track

without sounding like they sold out. 3:05

9. SCREAMING DREAMS: Opening vocal intro very similar to their "Soldier's Song"

("

Must buy for Jade Warrior fans

James A. Woronow | 12/03/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Very nice! For all those who felt that Jade Warrior was dead this is a resurrection of sorts. This CD is somewhere between Last Autumn's Dreams and Waves. The score is great and reminiscent of their musical albums. Words are sung by a more mature and spiritual voice of Glyn Havard. Jon Field's flutes are soft and buttery.

If I have one critique it would be that this should have been a two CD set; one with lyrics and one without.

Everyone who enjoyed the Jade Warrior of the 70's will be delighted by this effort. Much better than the Dogstar Poets IMHO.

"

Awful in Any Genre

A reader | New Orleans | 06/13/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"If you, like me, are a die-hard Jade Warrior fan, avoid this half-baked album like the nauseating spoilage it is. I knew it would have lyrics. I knew it was a further foray into cool jazz, whatever that is now. What I was not prepared for was the bait and switch musical style. After some attempted bee-bop lyrics, you are taken very briefly to that mystic musical space we all enjoy on the earlier masterworks. Then, suddenly, it is cruelly pulled away as the lyrics return, get stupider and stupider and the band tries to sound punkish through inane growls. Apparently, Jon Field has forgotten everything he ever learned about composition, since the album has no "flow", just a series of kidney-stones to be passed. The crowning insult is the last cut, Everything Must Pass, which offers the amazing revelation, "Everything must pass/nothing ever lasts".



Memo to Field and Co: You can_not_sing. If you simply must have lyrics, at least hire someone who can carry a tune in a bucket. It's a pity cool-jazz maestro John Martyn has died, his voice would have at least made some of this tolerable."