Kites (album)

Kites is the sixth studio album by British progressive/experimental rock band Jade Warrior released in 1976 by Island Records. Kites, more layered and complex than Waves, the duo's previous outing, took nine months to record.

Style

Kites presented the band "at their most musically abstract and progressive", featuring a larger number of guest musicians than any previous album. Each side here is a long concept piece: side A – Jon Field's side (partly inspired by abstract artist Paul Klee's painting "The Kingdom of the Air", otherwise meaning to convey the sounds of a kite drifting through skies), on side B, driven by Tony Duhig, the wandering Zen boat monk Teh Ch'eng in 9th century China provided a conceptual focus.

Reception

Casey Elston of AllMusic described the result as "dense and dramatic" and a "rare example of intense ambient sound".

Track listing

Personnel

• Tony Duhig – guitars, percussion, keyboards, production
• Jon Field – flutes, guitar, percussion, production

Studio guests

• Roger Bryson – piano
• Fred Frith – violin
• Pete Gibson – brass, horn
• Coleridge Goode – bass guitar
• Debbie Hall – violin
• Jeff Westley – electric piano
• Graham Morgan – drums
• Joe O'Donnell – violin
• Clodagh Simonds – vocals
• Gowan Turnbull – saxophone
• Geoff Westley – piano
• Willie – drums, percussion
• Elmo – Mexican foot drums

Production

• Tom Newman – audio engineer, engineer
• David Platt – liner notes
• Mark Powell – reissue producer
• Paschal Byrne – digital remastering, remastering
• George Chkiantz – audio engineer, engineer
• Hugh Gilmour – package design

References