Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Jade Warrior - Floating World CD (album) cover

FLOATING WORLD

Jade Warrior

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.69 | 126 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Trotsky
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
2 stars Recorded in 1974, Floating World sees Jade Warrior take a couple of steps forward in its music-making, and while I'm still not entirely convinced by the final product, the attempts to fuse blues-based Western rock and ethereal ethnic music works slightly better here than it did on Last Autumn's Dream, which was cut a couple of years earlier.

Here atmosphere is the key, with most pieces having a relaxed, but not particularly challenging New Age groove. It moves from Clouds (a theme that appears three times), through the jazzy acoustic guitar vibe of Mountain of Fruit And Flowers and onto Waterfall which starts off as a languid piece drifting by on the back of traditional instruments despite a bold fuzzy electric guitar, before taking an about-turn and becoming a dramatic percussion fest.

My favourite piece is Easty which has some great flute playing over laid-back, percussive backing. and some echoed themes by the lead guitar. Then there's Rainflower (also a mix of electric sounds and tranquil vibes), Memories Of A Distant Sea (some more flute and mystical melancholy leads) and the closing track Quba (which chucks in the odd bit of hilltribe (is it Cambodian or Thai) poetry! In general there's really too much New Age and not enough rock for my liking. Apparently the next album Waves sees Jade Warrior take the final plunge into ambient New Age, with two side-long tracks based on the sounds of the sea!

The exceptions are Red Lotus, a blues-rock extravaganza that harks back to the band's roots, with a cursory failed attempt to infuse it with world music, and Monkey Chant a bizarre, unpleasant and thankfully brief cut.

I have to say that overall, this is still not the kind of music that excites me at all, and convinced me to abandon Jade Warrior for good. ... 49% on the MPV scale

Trotsky | 2/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this JADE WARRIOR review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.