[Review] Kitaro: Ten Kai, Astral Trip (1978)

A new voice in the electronic music community rises in the East.

Kronomyth 1.0: It is better to travel well than to arrive.

Music is art and art is intended to elicit a response from its audience. At least, that’s what I used to think. The older I get, however, the less I believe that. I do think that art, in many cases, is intended to elicit praise, admiration, and profit for its creators. And I also believe that, absent of these responses, art would still be created because it is driven by a need to create and express creativity. We are created in the image of God and nowhere is this more evident than in our own need to create, whether it’s through painting or procreation. If a painting or poem goes unseen by anyone but its creator, is it not still art? I mention this because I wouldn’t want anything I write to be conveyed as an attempt at criticism or praise. My impression is just a data point that may support, refute, or skew a broader collection of data points. If you attach any value to it, that’s on you, not me. And, as I’ve mentioned before, this site is not art in kind. It is the pitiable offspring of a geas that compels me to catalog music using words, names and numbers. I keep thinking it will all make sense some day, but for the moment it baffles me as a monumental waste of time. Which brings us to Kitaro’s Ten Kai/Astral Trip. Let me begin by saying that I have no idea if “astral trip” is meant to be an English translation of “Ten Kai” (which apparently translates loosely as an “expansion”) or a supplemental qualifier to suggest a conscious expansion into the astral plane. The fact that I’m not even clear on the album’s title should put my “impression” in its proper place. Kitaro’s first solo passage into sound and space is clearly influenced by Klaus Schulze (who helped foster Kitaro’s interest in synthesizers), Tangerine Dream and Vangelis. Presented as a seamless continuation of sound across both sides, Ten Kai mixes traditional Japanese instruments and other exotic sounds (e.g., sitar) with European space music. It’s not as clinically precise as an Albedo 0.39 nor as classically constructed as Schulze’s works. I’m sure multitracking so many different sounds was a daunting task; the later Kitaro albums sound more streamlined, but they’re not necessarily better. Ten Kai is an auspicious debut from a new musical voice in the cosmos circuit. For Kitaro, synthesizers are an instrument, and his use of the synthesizer within a broader palette of sounds makes for an interesting journey.

Original elpee version

A1. By the Sea Side (6:08)
A2. Soul of the Sea (2:53)
A3. Micro Cosmos (5:03)
A4. Beat (5:06)
A5. Fire (7:32)
B1. Mu (2:54)
B2. Dawn of the Astral (5:32)
B3. Endless Dreamy World (3:21)
B4. Kaisō (4:28)
B5. Astral Trip (7:17)

All songs written and arranged by Kitaro.

The Players

Kitaro (Moog synthesizer, Korg synthesizer, Roland synthesizer, ARP synthesizer, koto, mandolin, acoustic-guitar, drums, percussions, bass) with Lavi (sitar), Ryusuke Seto (shakuhachi, biwa). Produced by Takao Nanri; executive producer: Makoto Hasegawa; engineered by Kitaro & Y. Kawanishi.

The Pictures

Illustration by Kitaro. Art direction by Hiroki Katayama “Neue.”

The Plastic

Released on elpee and cassette in 1978 in Japan (Zen, ZEN-1001) and Germany (Wergo, SM 1021/-10 MC).

1. Re-issued on elpee in 1981 in Taiwan (Taile, TL-008).
2. Re-issued on elpee and cassette in 1983 in Japan (Invitation, VIH 6074/VCF-1578).
3. Re-issued on elpee, cassette and compact disc in 1985 in the US (Geffen, GHS/M5G 24082/-2).
4. Re-issued on compact disc in 1986 in Japan (Invitation, VDR-1297).
5. Re-issued on elpee and cassette in Canada (Polydor, PDS1/PDS4 1 6506).
6. Re-issued on elpee in Japan (JVC, ZEN-1001E).
7. Re-issued on elpee in Taiwan (New Aspect, PR-3001).
8. Re-issued on compact disc in West Germany (Polydor, 810 934-2).
9. Re-issued on cassette in 1992 in Colombia (Philips, 8109344).