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Kitaro - The Best Of Kitaro Volume 2

Artist:	Kitaro
Title:	The Best Of Kitaro Volume 2
Label:	Domo Records 91008
Length(s):	67 minutes
Year(s) of release:	1999
Month of review:	01/1999

Line up

Varies.

Tracks

1)	Tenku	4.17
2)	The Field	4.52
3)	Koi	6.32
4)	Lady Of Dreams	8.26
5)	Dance Of Sarasvati	6.47
6)	The Bottom Of The Sky	7.22
7)	Gaia	7.26
8)	Heaven And Earth	11.50
9)	A La Nanita Nana	5.18
10)	Echoing Wall	4.38

Try a sample of the album in

Summary

Well you all know this guy (of name at least). After his great Gaia album, a surprise to me at least, another one of those compilations including a track, Echoing Wall, from the forthcoming album, The Soong Sisters.

The music

The album opens with Tenku from the album of the same title. Bell-like sounds, seawater awash on the shores, ascending sounds, a typical Kitaro track one might say. There is certainly an aspect of children song to this track. The next one, The Field, was the first Kitaro track to be nominated for a Grammy Award. A floating dreamy track, but not something special. Koi is the track from Kojiki, featuring violin and as always a very sweet piece of music. After a few minutes however the pan flute accompanies the violin, which is then pushed to the background. At the end the music becomes more sweeping and as bombastic as it is going to get. On Lady Of Dreams we hear we can hear Jon Anderson. Certainly the most untypically Kitaro track, and by far the most symphonic of them all with electric guitar and of course the Voice. The guitarplaying is definitely in Gilmour style, although the melody may be a little too sweet for some. There's a likeness to Don't Cry For Me Argentina in this song. Dance Of Saravasati is a more playful track, and since it is supposed to be a dance, this is not so strange. Percussion also figures on this track, which is a bit too mellow for my tastes. The Bottom Of The Sky is from Cirque Ingenieux. The melody is beautiful, but the arrangements are quite romantic reminding me of music fitting for movies like Titanic and I'm not sure I find this a good thing. Gaia is something else altogether, the most percussive thing he has ever done and as such quite distant from his other work. This song also features quite a lot of acoustic guitar and harp. The highly acclaimed Heaven And Earth is also compiled here, but only through a live track from An Enchanted Evening. The longest track on the album, it opens in the typical Kitaro way, but after four minutes or so, the music takes a different turn becoming more percussion and world music like, while at the end the melodic beginning returns on a more majestic note. A worthwhile track that does indeed promise something for the Heaven And Earth soundtrack (I do not know it myself). A La Nanita Nana is really too much. A simple children song or something meant for a Christmas album. You can probably imagine what it is like. The new track from the forthcoming The Soong Sisters is Echoing Wall and is quite a subdued track. Harp, soprano sax and soft synth sounds make this a sad one, very soundtrackish with orchestral sweeps and quite a lot of tension. Promising, yet a little disjointed, as if Kitaro has tried to put a little too much into one track.

Conclusion

Kitaro has two problems: his music is very self similar and the music he made in the late eighties and early nineties are not regarded as very inspired and more directed towards a mass appeal. His latest studio album Gaia proved that he is still someone to reckon with, but I'm afraid to say that notwithstanding some nice songs, the music of Kitaro has become a little too easy, too sweet, too mellow. He can still write beautiful melodies, but with the repetition and the more accessible production make it harder to keep appreciating the music. Hence, if you want to buy something good of this man, go to Oasis first, then Silk Road II and if you want new stuff or something new entirely try Gaia.