Lady of Dreams (Kitarō 喜多郎, 1992)

I confess this is a song I die for. And fon many reasons. First of all, Kitaro found a sweet, effective melody and on this theme he built up a glorious prog song of 8 minutes featuring all I like: excellent sung sections, long and atmospheric instrumental passages, unpredictable changes. Then he put in such a promising plot Jon Anderson's voice and Kitarō was rewarded with one of the best performances ever by Mr. Yes. Pure magic, IMHO.

This is definitely one of the most prog-influenced albums by Kitaro.

So this is heaven for me: pleasant music, original arrangements, dreamy moods and a good deal of different colours. Not exacly a new age song, as I see it. A special mention goes to Jimmy Hahn's electric guitar adding a further charm to such an enchanting track. Domo arigatou, Mr. Kitaro!

Silk Road Theme (Kitarō 喜多郎, 1980)

This is not exactly prog rock, I know that, but there are meny reasons to put it here nonetheless. Firstly, this was a highly inspirational track for many prog bands and artists over there. Secondly, the Japanese Kitarō, soon after the huge success of the first O.S.T. album of the documentary series The Silk Road: The Rise And Fall Of Civilizations featuring this main theme, promoted a third way solution between new age music and progressive rock. He did it alone, with symphonic orchestras and also with rock musicians like Jon Anderson of Yes or MIckey Hart of Grateful Dead.

This was the first of two "Silk Road" O.S.T. albums.

Finally, this is one of the greatest "minimoog songs" I've ever listened to, featuring a sweet, Eastern melody, a brilliant arrangement and a dreamy mood not so far from prog bands such as Camel. In short, each time I come across this song, I reverently stop and I take a deep breath of pure spirit. That's why I'm proud to include Kitarō among the bunch of musicians gracing my little blog.