LAMA RABI RABI

Out of all of the three Ghost albums I own, Lama Rabi Rabi is the one that stood out of the crowd by a long shot. This album is one of the best examples of folky neo psychedelia and it's no surprise that a Japanese band made this album, not by their sound, but by the big amount of excellent music coming out of Japan in recent years.

This album has shocked me from the first time I heard it and I still haven't changed my opinion since then. It has a wonderful atmosphere thanks to the various instruments and quality of the sound. It's like a walk in the most beautiful woods, a nice chat with Gaia or even having a nice cup of tea in the exotic forests of Borneo. All of that thanks to the leader of the group Masaki Batoh and his love for Tibetan culture which exploded at the recording of this album. Mixing influences from different kinds of bands (Amon Düüll II, Jefferson Airplane ect.), genres (krautrock, acid folk, psychedelic rock, ect.) and cultures, Ghost made a masterpiece like anything I've heard before with Lama Rabi Rabi.

This album can go to fierce ethnic stampede to acoustic beauty in the same album without sounding out of shape or out of balance. Most of the vocals are sung through a distortion box which is part of the great atmosphere of the album and it's one of the mayor things I enjoy about the album. When he isn't using the distortion box things get very emotional thanks to Batoh's beautiful vocals. He's style of singing is very mellow and he doesn't try to raise his voice too much and it works perfectly that way. His guitar work is another excellent quality about Ghost. A great guitar player without a doubt with beautiful arpeggios and arrangements. The other members can't be left behind. Kurihara has his electric guitar which doesn't sound out of place from the mostly acoustic atmosphere of the album, Furuya with his varied percussion instruments and nice drummer, Ogino with his wonderful piano and soft electronic drone atmospheres, Takizawa and his wind instruments that give the album an extra folky touch to it and last, but not least, the groovy bass playing of Moriya.

The songs on the album are quite varied. From the exotic "Mastillah", to the acoustic "Into the Alley" and from the rocky "Bad Bone" the album shows it's different sides each one with a different story to tell. The album has it's frantic parts like "RabiRabi" which sounds like one letting itself go by our animal instincts inside of us. The song keeps it's mood from start to finish. The thing I see that Ghost excels the most are in the calming acoustic and ethnic songs and this album is chuck full of it. One of this songs is "Abyssinia" with its wonderful sitar and cricket sounds in the background giving us images of nights in the forest of Japan. The best song in the album is without a doubt "Agate Scape". I honestly can't describe the emotions this song makes me feel. The closest thing I can think of is the combination of peace, love, nostalgia and beauty all in one simple 10+ minute song. By the end of the song you'll be pretty much speechless and crying for the song to never stop. The album ends with "Summer's Ashen Fable" which finishes the album beautifully. By the end of the last song the album feels perfectly made. Not one song is out of place, not one song was left outside and everything sounds coherent. It's an accomplished piece of art. A masterpiece where nature and human emotions collide.

This is definitely one of the best album to come out from the 90's and it definitely needs to get the recognition it deserves. A masterpiece in every sense of the word.

This is the soundtrack to nature and its beauty.