Search - Kitaro :: In Person

Wonderful live perfomance by this New Age pioneer

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 11/15/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I, as of this writing, only have three Kitaro albums, Ki, My Best, and this one, In Person. In Person was performed in September, 1980 in Tokyo and it comes to proves that Kitaro was just as capable live as he was in the studio. Many of the songs from The Silk Road and Oasis are unsurprisingliy performed. He had some other guys help him out on keyboards, guitar, violin, and drums, and perhaps the most noteworthy guy is none other than Ryo Okumoto. This guy would later find fame in the 1990s with the American prog rock band Spock's Beard, a band (along with Sweden's Anglagard) responsible for giving the sagging prog rock scene a boost in the '90s. He appeared on all the Spock's Beard albums aside from their debut, The Light. But while his keyboarding on Spock's Beard was much more in the style of Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman or Tony Banks, on this album, he pretty much sticks to Kitaro's style, making it really difficult to determine which keyboards were Kitaro's, and which were Okumoto's, mainly additional musicians were here because Kitaro often overdubbed his instruments in the studio and would be next to impossible to duplicate what he did in the studio live if it weren't the help of additional musicians (much like Jean Michel Jarre needing the help of Dominique Perrier and others when he performed live).



Perhaps the biggest surprise in regards to Kitaro was he still had the sense to use Mellotron in the early 1980s when other electronic and prog rock artists (like Tangerine Dream, The Moody Blues, Genesis) had pretty much given up on the tron by the end of the '70s.



Also to let you know In Person Digital, although a live album, did not feature any audience cheers between cuts, I have no idea if they were edited out, but I am willing to believe so (Tim Blake, ex-Gong member, also recorded an album of electronic music live called Crystal Machine and it too had the audience cheers removed).



Although I am not a fan of New Age, tending to go for the more progressive end of electronic music (like Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze, Jean Michel Jarre), Kitaro at least did an excellent job at New Age and this album is pack with some really pleasant music, and if you enjoy Kitaro make sure you get a copy of this album."

Sublime mind-music from a New Age pioneer

BENJAMIN MILER | 12/17/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Japanese musician Kitaro's first and best live recording. Kitaro's deft use of synthesizers and wind chimes paints the essence of Eastern mysticism beautifully."