Floating World (Jade Warrior Album)
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''Floating World'' is the fourth studio album by the British experimental rock band Jade Warrior released in 1974 by
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
. The band's experiments with the sounds which would later be labelled as world and
ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...
music came parallel to that of
Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...
, who described ''Floating World'' as an 'important album'.


History

After the end of the 1972 American tour, the band's Vertigo contract was cancelled and Jade Warrior dissolved.
Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...
then urged
Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...
of
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
to give the band a hearing, and the latter proposed that Jon Field and Tony Duhig reform the band and sign a contract for three albums (later expanded to four) "as an ornament" to the label. Since Blackwell was interested in a primarily instrumental sound, the contract offered by Island was not extended to include Glyn Havard. ''Floating World'' was the first of these four releases that Field and Duhig made with miscellaneous guest musicians. On some pieces – particularly the more introspective ("Waterfall", "Rainflower" and "Memories of a Distant Sea"), multi-instrumentalists Duhig and Field provided all the instrumentation. On other tracks, such as "Easty", "Mountain of Fruit and Flowers" and "Red Lotus", guest musicians were brought in for the drums, string bass,
harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...
, lead guitar and female voice ("Quba").


Style and concept

''Floating World'' is a concept album structured around the Japanese philosophy of Ukiyo, the acceptance of life and its surroundings, living only for the moment ("..like a gourd floating along the river current.." to quote the album's liner notes). The sound of it has been described as "based on a unique combination of rock, jazz, classical and world influences, employing the extremities of dynamic range". AllMusic defines it as 'a complex set', noting that while "the compositions may be interlaced, ...the album itself is as diverse as any previous Jade offering". Among its high points, critics mentioned "Monkey Chant", a "collision of the ancient traditional Balinese Kecac pitted against David Duhig's screaming rock guitar solo" has been mentioned, the opening "Clouds", juxtaposing 'an ethereal girls choir, tinkling wind chimes, glowing ambient passages, and incendiary guitar licks' and more aggressive "Red Lotus". According to critic Jo-Ann Green, the "sheer diversity of sounds and moods, the constant clash or gentle intermingling of Eastern and Western styles, and the set's glittering atmospheres (make) Floating World an undeniable masterpiece".


Track listing


Personnel

* Tony Duhig – guitars, percussion * Jon Field – flutes, percussion * David Duhig – lead guitar on "Monkey Chant" *
Graham Deakin Graham Deakin (born circa 1950) is an English rock drummer, who was the main drummer for John Entwistle's touring band, Ox, from 1972 until 1977. Deakin had a short spell with The Flys following his departure from Ox. Deakin, who was born in ...
– drums on "Red Lotus" * Martha Mdenge – vocals on "Quba"


References

{{Authority control 1974 albums Jade Warrior (band) albums Island Records albums