Review Summary: Kitaro goes on a journey through time and space with Mozart and Jon Anderson.
2 of 5 thought this review was well writtenIt is a story forever written in the sands of time:
In the mid-80s, Kitaro, the world's leading New Age musician at the time, ran into Jon Anderson, former Yes-man and renowned cheese enthusiast, at a shady Beijing "business hotel." While staying at the hotel, the two promised to one day write an album together, one that would bring all peoples of the planet Earth together in unity, and in 1992 that dream finally came to fruition; it was appropriately titled
Dream.
Now, there is a reason
Dream has left such a long-lasting influence on modern New Age and classical music, other than, of course, its musical splendor. With
Dream, Kitaro's songs finally had lyrics set to them, and thus his beautiful melodies were given meaning beyond a wordless emotion that only the deepest depths of the human mind can perceive. I'll put it bluntly;
Dream is basically an album about Kitaro's "lady of dreams," a nymph-like, Mozart adoring lady who will eternally lie naked beside him in the afterlife.
Dream is his symphony to that majestic, mythical lady, and Jon Anderson his vehicle to convey his feelings to the lady, because Kitaro was born a mute and can only communicate his thoughts through a Stephen Hawkings-esque voice machine.
With
Dream, Kitaro mostly abandoned his beloved synthesizers for a new set of loose women; an orchestra. With woodwinds, a string section, and a brass section, Kitaro was able to convey his moods to greater heights than his cold, lifeless synths ever could, with his lyrics being theatrically sung by Anderson on three tracks, "Lady of Dreams," "Agreement," and closer "Island of Life." The first two songs are absolutely brilliant, with "Lady" being the cheesiest kind of late 80s/early 90s ballad you can come by, and "Agreement" being an intimidating, flute and sitar driven grooved out piece, these are the best of the best in Kitaro's catalog, as most everything on this album is. "Island of Life," however, reprises the melody from "Lady of Dreams" and takes the lyrics to an even cheesier level, thus overstating the point. With lyrics like "
She sees me/She understands/She helps/With all of my fears/When we stand together for life/Who will hold a child/In her arms," you get the feeling that maybe Anderson should have written the lyrics. But alas, if Kitaro had allowed him to wrestle the lyrics from him, he would not have ended up with his lady of dreams, Nikita, who he now lives with in a remote forest on an island in the Caspian Sea.
Despite pushing it so close to the edge with "Island of Life,"
Dream remains one of Kitaro's greatest musical achievements, one that future generations shall undoubtedly continue to adore for years to come. As long as someone on Earth has a lady of dreams, the message of
Dream will continue to live on in our collective hearts. God bless that business hotel.
Recommended tracks:
"A Drop of Silence"
"Lady of Dreams"
"Agreement"
"Symphony of Dreams"
