The Best of Ten Years (1976-1986)

Performer: Kitaro
Engineer: Kitaro; Tom Flye
Producer: Kitaro
Distributor: IDN Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Kitaro; Hiroshi Araki. Recorded at Kitaro's studio, Yasaka, Japan. Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab). Kitaro has long been one of the linchpins of new age music, and his sizable discography might prove intimidating to newcomers. For that reason, BEST OF TEN YEARS 1976-1986 is a great place for the uninitiated to start. Over two discs and 18 tracks, BEST OF TEN YEARS provides an excellent overview of Kitaro's art, which centers on soothing, symphonic landscapes generated primarily by synthesizer. Many of Kitaro's best and best-known albums--KI, OASIS, and the SILK ROAD series among them--were released in the first decade of his career, and highlights from those albums are included here. Kitaro's devoted international fanbase hold fast to the notion that his music is deeply spiritual, transcendent, and transformative, and a listen through the moving compositions on BEST OF TEN YEARS will suggest those notions aren't far off the mark. One of the leading lights of the late-1970s/early-'80s New Age movement, Kitaro (aka Masanori Takahasi) is well-represented by this two-disc overview of his early solo work, which finds the Japanese keyboardist notably influenced by the synthesizer innovations of Klaus Schulze. Highlights of this instrumental compilation include the lullaby-like "Shimmering Horizon" and "Theme from Silk Road," a gentle piece from Kitaro's renowned SILK ROAD SUITE, along with the ornate, slightly more upbeat "Oasis" and the percussive "God of Thunder." While many Kitaro compilations have followed this 16-track offering, few cover the composer's formative solo material as deftly as THE BEST OF TEN YEARS.

Born Masanori Takahashi, Japanese keyboard wizard Kitaro first came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of the band Far Out, which would quickly change its name to Far East Family Band, one of Japan's first and most legendary psychedelic groups. On his own, Kitaro produces pioneering New Age synthesizer music that is atmospheric and meditative, with simple melodies unfolding at unhurried tempos. His world-famous TV soundtrack SILK ROAD led to soundtracks for other films and even a Broadway show, in addition to numerous successful Kitaro albums proper.

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