Silk Road, Volume 1
Tracklist
- Silk Road (Shichu No Michi)
- Bell Tower (Shoro)
- Heavenly Father (Tenchi Sohzo Shin)
- The Great River (Harukanaru Taiga)
- The Great Wall Of China (Chohjo)
- Flying Celestial Nymphs (Hiten)
- Silk Road Fantasy (Silk Road Genso)
- Shimmering Light (Hikari To Kage)
- Westbound (Nishi Ni Mukkatte)
- Time (Toki No Nagare)
- Bodhisattva (Bosatsu)
- Everlasting Road (Towa No Michi)
About
Silk Road Volume 1, released by Kitaro in 1980, is a highly influential new age/electronic album that served as the soundtrack to a Japanese television mini-series. It is widely available for purchase and streaming. Album Information and Reviews.
The album is praised for setting a standard in electronic and spiritual music by utilizing synthesizers to evoke "sacred-quest imagery" with "contemplative serenity". Kitaro composed the score using a variety of synthesizers, including the Minimoog, miniKORG 700, and Maxikorg DV800. The album's success brought Kitaro international attention and sold millions of copies.
Originally the soundtrack to a Japanese television mini-series, Silk Road set the standard for electronic/spiritual albums in the mid-1980s. Kitaro's placement of synthesizer center-stage and densely layering complementary textures made Silk Road new age's innovative and influential equivalent of Sgt. Pepper's. Fluid synthesizer leads, sweeping washes, and sequenced rhythms evoke sacred-quest imagery that is imbued with a contemplative serenity. Soaring synthesizer lines suggest yearning for spiritual experience, while deep, rolling bass tones emulate a cosmic Om. The themes are continued in Silk Road II; both recordings are tastefully reserved--especially compared with the bombastic electronic orchestrations that mar many of Kitaro's later efforts.
This is probably Kitaro's most well know piece and it is one of his best (all his music is so consistently great) Silk Road was my first introduction to Kitaro so it holds a special place. "Flying Celestial Nymphs" is probably my favorite all time Kitaro song. An astonishing song that touches the spirit and soul. To correct what the reviewer from PA said there is NOT a skip or defect on this CD What they are referring to is the end of track 5 "The Great Wall of China" the songs ends very abruptly at seemingly the peak of the song and then it goes immediately into the next track "Flying Celestial Nymphs" This is part of the original concept of Kitaro, it is supposed to end that way and it is how Silk Road was originally first released on album. For some reason the Gramavision CD release which is widely available in the US choose to fade out the ending of the song before the intended ending. This was against Kitaro's wishes. The version of "Great Wall of China" on this release is actually 5-6 seconds longer than the one on the Gramavision release because it now has the full song. So this is definitely the version of Silk Road you want to get. I hope not too many people were dissuaded from getting this because of that review. This is one of the best. Music of life and peace.
Releases information
- ℗ 1980 Canyon Records
- released May, 1980