FLOATING WORLD

The shift from a psychedelic rock group approach to an all-instrumental one, in which key group members Duhig and Field would act as multi-instrumentalists whilst various guest musicians threw in their contributions, did a world of good to Jade Warrior. Their instrumental works were, of course, always their best ones, and the full diversity of them is on display here. Much of the album adopts an extremely tranquil, proto-ambient mood, though there are occasional bursts of activity - Red Lotus, as has been observed, has a furious guitar riff worthy of Robert Fripp's work from the same year. Haunting, beautiful, this at last is Jade Warrior playing to their strengths and abandoning their weaknesses.