JADE WARRIOR

By 1971 prog had made it big, to the point where bands were already emerging that showed a heavy influence from the greats of the genre. Jade Warrior was not such a band; from their debut onwards, they would showcase a wonderfully unique sound, taking hard psychedelic rock as the basis and adding a bit of flute, a few jazz elements, and musical ideas sourced from all over the world, making this an early "world music" release - as well as, at points, a early "new age" release with its tranquil, spacey textures.

That said, the album is rather uneven - the least interesting track is probably Psychiatric Sergeant, which is mainly a straight-ahead hard psych song with flute, reminiscent at points of early Jethro Tull. Where the band really shines is where they avoid conventional song structures in favour of creating shimmering, gorgeous walls of sound which the listener can lose themselves in, which they do manage to achieve for most of the album. So, not a perfect album, but definitely a strong debut from a band well worth exploring.