Search - Jade Warrior :: Released

A more Rock Jade Warrior LP

Joseph J. Sciortino | Torrington,CT | 03/22/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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. ."

Excellent "Esoteric" Classic Rock

ProggaWogga | Texas & Florida | 08/21/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."