WAVES (1975), heruitgave (E)

The successor to the rather experimental album Floating World by the duo Jade Warrior, consisting of Tony Duhig and Jon Field, was Waves. With guest performances by David Duhig, Graham Morgan (drums), Maggie Thomas (alto recorder), Suzi (vocals) and no one less than Steve Winwood (Moog, piano solos), this album contains only two tracks but these are divided in many parts, representing many musical styles. The opening intro of Waves are sounds that remind me of an airliner: just the harsh sounds of the jet engines becoming louder very slowly, but never to a disturbing level. These sounds make way for Field's flutes on a simple layer of keyboard sounds in an ambient atmosphere. Then some guitars and piano are added. The second quarter begins with piano and percussion, then a fretless bass, flutes and acoustic guitar in a rather smooth and jazzy style. Halfway Duhig's electric guitar joins in and then the musical style comes pretty close to the soft jazz of Lee Ritenour. The third quarter consists of two chords with echoing flutes and melodies played by the electric guitar. Probably the most progressive part is a short experimental interlude. The last quarter is a soft and rather poppy tune, almost a ballad with accessible melodies by guitars and flutes. The addition of twin guitar playing and some electronics remind me of The Enid. The second track features bird sounds leading towards an ambient meditative piece, mainly around Duhig's acoustic guitars and Field's flutes. After about five minutes you'll hear an echoing electric guitar embedded in all kinds of twinkling percussion before the guitar starts to play a sort of riff. Thus introducing a rather funky piece with drums and forceful soloing by another electric guitar, alternated by two flutes played by Field and a long saxophone-like sounding Moog solo by Winwood. It's pure funk when the bass joins in. Some may think: this is a nice variation, others - like me -  are inclined to say this piece is totally non-fitting. Halfway it's the more gentle flowing music by Jade Warrior again concentrated around acoustic guitars and several flutes. The first part is concentrated around two chords, the second is more varied with excellent acoustic guitar by Duhig. The last section is built around sounds of whales plus electronics and flutes. The lovely voice of Suzi is hard to distinguish. The track ends with the sole sounds made by different whales.

In conclusion I can say that Waves is an interesting album from the mid-seventies. In this era lots of styles were developing, ranging from pop to folk, from electronic music to the exploration of non-western music from continents like Asia and Africa. Groundbreaking Jade Warrior took their music to the level of being multicultural, playing a key role with all kinds of flutes and recorder playing. Purely instrumental Jade Warrior helped to define a style we now refer to as ambient or chill-out although for chill-out the music on this particular album contains just too many elements from rock related music.