Jade Warrior - Released 1971

If Jade Warrior's second album has any overwhelming flaw, it is that its predecessor traveled so far off the conventional beaten tracks of early-'70s prog that anything less than absolute reinvention could only be regarded as a rerun of past glories. To write off Released as little more than a slapdash shadow of Jade Warrior, however, is to overlook the leaps and bounds that the band did make. The opening "Eyes On You" journeys in on a positively spiky guitar and horn duel, while Glyn Havard's vocals have taken on tones that are far-removed from the Jethro Tull-shaped nuances with which they were once most readily compared. Staggering, too, are the almost bluesy guitar work-outs that leap unexpectedly in and out of the mix, overwhelming all but the most ferocious elements elsewhere in the arsenal -- judging only by the crescendo that closes it, "Three Horned Dragon King" could not have been better named. Similarly, "Water Curtain Cave" is as much a melting of souls as it is a gentle song, while other numbers tackle light jazz and classical prog without once vacating the band's accustomed framework of brilliance. Again, there is little here that Jade Warrior itself did not predict, but the unerring delivery of those predictions is a marvel in itself. AMG.

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Jade Warrior - Last Autumn's Dream 1972

Jade Warrior never scored a hit single and it seems bizarre to think that anyone ever dreamed it could. Buried away on side two of its third album, however, "The Demon Trucker" not only has unexpected smash written all over it, but the words were large enough that the band's U.K. label Vertigo clearly felt the same way. One must sincerely regret there never came a day when a nation's pop kids were ordered to "throw their hands up to the ceiling, get out on the floor and stamp your feet with feeling." Or maybe they were, but only when Slade told them to. Coming from a band better-known for weird flute solos and complicated time signatures, the demand was possibly less compulsive. It's still a great song, though, one of the finest rock & rolling dance numbers of the age and, if the remainder of Last Autumn's Dream doesn't quite match those same pounding, resounding peaks, that's only because the band was busy elsewhere, piecing together some of the best-realized songs (as opposed to moods, scapes, and symphonies) of its career. By that token, then, Last Autumn's Dream takes a lot more getting used to than longtime fans might have expected; the funkily pretty "May Queen," the proto-Eno-esque "Borne on the Solar Wind," and the freaked guitar rage of "The Snake" all emerge out of nowhere to slice away at preconceptions, while even the "typical" numbers have atypical moments. For anybody just discovering Jade Warrior, Last Autumn's Dream is certainly the last of its truly essential albums; subsequent releases for the Island label have their moments, but they grow scarcer as time elapses. For anyone schooled in the delights of the first two LPs alone, however, there are things in here you might never forgive, like "The Demon Trucker." AMG.

listen here or here

Jade Warrior - Last Autumn's Dream 1974

Jade Warrior never scored a hit single and it seems bizarre to think that anyone ever dreamed it could. Buried away on side two of its third album, however, "The Demon Trucker" not only has unexpected smash written all over it, but the words were large enough that the band's U.K. label Vertigo clearly felt the same way. One must sincerely regret there never came a day when a nation's pop kids were ordered to "throw their hands up to the ceiling, get out on the floor and stamp your feet with feeling." Or maybe they were, but only when Slade told them to. Coming from a band better-known for weird flute solos and complicated time signatures, the demand was possibly less compulsive. It's still a great song, though, one of the finest rock & rolling dance numbers of the age and, if the remainder of Last Autumn's Dreamdoesn't quite match those same pounding, resounding peaks, that's only because the band was busy elsewhere, piecing together some of the best-realized songs (as opposed to moods, scapes, and symphonies) of its career. By that token, then, Last Autumn's Dream takes a lot more getting used to than longtime fans might have expected; the funkily pretty "May Queen," the proto-Eno-esque "Borne on the Solar Wind," and the freaked guitar rage of "The Snake" all emerge out of nowhere to slice away at preconceptions, while even the "typical" numbers have atypical moments. For anybody just discovering Jade Warrior, Last Autumn's Dream is certainly the last of its truly essential albums; subsequent releases for the Island label have their moments, but they grow scarcer as time elapses. For anyone schooled in the delights of the first two LPs alone, however, there are things in here you might never forgive, like "The Demon Trucker." AMG.

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Jade Warrior - Jade Warrior 1971

Jade Warrior's first album following Tony Duhig and Jon Field's emergence out of the psychedelic July captures them abandoning the best of that band's whimsical moodiness in favor of a symphonic spirituality epitomized from the outset by the soaring guitars that ecstatically slice through the opening "Traveller." Reminiscent, in places, of a less-precious successor to Quintessence and the Incredible String Band in that moods and esotericism do sometimes get the better of the band's more conventional music impulses, Jade Warrior is nevertheless a remarkable album, all the more so since its makers could readily have given the likes of Jethro Tull and the Moody Blues some serious competition in the mellifluous prog stakes. Glyn Havard's vocals themselves can sound extraordinarily Ian Anderson-ish in places, with Field's wielding of the flute and some distinctly edgy tempos only furthering that impression. Elsewhere, however, the same tools combine to induce emotions that range from trance to terror, an accomplishment that means highlights of the album are difficult to single out. Although the ten tracks are clearly delineated, the song titles are little more than passing impressions of the music's own sensations, rendering Jade Warrior one of those rare albums that is best experienced as a seamless whole. AMG.

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