Search - Kazu Matsui :: Wheels of the Sun

Not worth the effort

C. H Smith | Bowling Green, Kentucky United States | 02/16/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I purchased this CD with some hopes of hearing some exotica, and instead found a product best suited to television ad background music or superficial cultural documentaries. Although Matsui's play on the shakuhachi flute is appealing and David Lindley supplies a few licks here and there that capture interest, very little else does. This is an "international" brand of instrumental New Age fare that attempts to sound vaguely Eastern while never straying too far from Western sensibilities, or ever taking any kind of artistic chances (although I have to admit that the final piece on the set, 'Bakemono Shuffle', is unusual--if you can get past instantly disliking it...). But for the fact that there is obviously a lot of professionalism invested, I might give it a "2." In short, pretty lightweight stuff that one might argue was really not worth the effort making."

Keiko and Kazu

Amzn byer | NY | 03/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"They are misunderstood by these reviewers. They must be rivals or something because this music is beautiful. They are Japanese artists and maybe these are Americanized ears. Listen again."