Silver Cloud

In 1983 the obi on this record said, in large type: "This is Kitaro's burning message to the twenty-first century!!" The small type beside it starts by counting. "Four years on from Oasis." In those four years the Silk Road soundtracks had come out one volume after another and made his name known across Japan. The obi leaves them out of the count. It starts from Oasis.

What the obi meant is on the back. The back of Oasis listed five instruments: Korg, Roland and Yamaha synthesizers, an acoustic guitar, percussion. The back of this one lists sixteen, and the only name above the list is Kitaro's.

Where it sits in the history of music

Kitaro's story up to this point is in Kitaro, where to start. The guide places this record third: it is the peak of his Japanese years, and by now you can hear how his pulse differs from Berlin's.

In between, briefly: The Silk Road made his name in 1980. For the NHK programme that saw in 1981, Yuku Toshi Kuru Toshi, he played a piece called "1 January 1981" from Nagano Prefecture, where he was living. In 1982 he scored the Toei anime Queen Millennia and made his first national tour, playing thirty cities. This record comes next.

Both the place it was made and the label that released it had changed. Oasis was recorded in the Kamakura workroom and released by Canyon. The back of this one reads "Kitaro Nagano Yasaka Atelier." Yasaka was a village in the north-west of Nagano Prefecture, folded into the city of Omachi in 2006. The label is Sound Design Records; the back of Oasis had already named Sound Design as the publisher of his music. The producer's name is the same on both.

One line in that list is worth stopping on. The Yamaha DX7 came out in 1983. That year's new machine is already on the record. Next to it sits the Minimoog, and next to that a sitar, a santoor and a harp. Four years earlier he had filled a record with three makers' synthesizers, a guitar and some percussion. This time he brought everything within reach into the room.

Tracklist

Timings follow the 1984 Japanese CD. The 1983 LP differs by a few seconds here and there.

Three pieces up close

"Earth Born" (6:44). The opener. Its Japanese title, 「地球創成」, means the making of the earth. The record opens with this rather than the title piece. Put on "Rising Sun," the first track of Oasis, and play this one straight after it. Both run just over six and a half minutes, and both set the gait of their records. What four years and an instrument list grown from five to sixteen changed is easiest to hear with the two back to back.

"Flying Cloud" (4:35). Second in line, the title track, and the guide's pick. Its Japanese title is the album's own, 「飛雲」. As the guide says, what comes through here is a person more than a method. When it ends, try humming the melody. If it comes out of you after four and a half minutes of listening, you have heard what this record set out to do.

"Straight a Way to Orion" (7:26). The closer, and the longest track. The Japanese title is simply 「オリオン」. This is the place to compare lengths. The longest piece on Oasis ran just over eight minutes; the longest here comes close to seven and a half, and most of the rest sit around five. Play the two longest pieces back to back and hear how his way of filling a long stretch changed in four years.

The rest of the record

"Noah's Ark" (2:28) is the shortest thing here. It was the theme of a commercial for Sakura colour film, and the obi gives that fact a box of its own. It came out as a single the same year. A piece of under two and a half minutes ended up as the record's calling card.

The other titles are worth reading in both languages, because the English and the Japanese say different things. "Never Let You Go" is 「自由への旅立ち」 in Japanese, setting out for freedom. "Dreams Like Yesterday" is 「夢追い」, chasing a dream. "Panorama" is 「絵巻」, a picture scroll. "Return to Russia" is 「ロシアへの想い」, thoughts of Russia. Go by the English alone and you miss half of it.

How to listen

• After Oasis. Keep to the guide's order. The four years only show when you hear the two records back to back.
• In daylight. As the guide puts it, if Schulze is night, Kitaro is day.
• A side at a time. Side one is about twenty-two minutes, side two about twenty. Don't stop partway through a side.
• With the back of the sleeve in front of you. Count how many of the sixteen instruments you can pick out by ear. Don't worry if you miss some. That is how much one man layered into it.

What happened next

The Japanese CD followed in March 1984. That year he became the first Japanese musician to play in Taiwan and China. In 1985 Geffen reissued six of his earlier albums in the United States, and this was one of them. The following year he signed a worldwide deal with Geffen, and his career shifted to America. Kojiki, the fourth record in the guide, lies at the end of that road.

The one track to send a friend

Send "Flying Cloud". Tell them first that it runs four and a half minutes, then add one line. The back of this record lists sixteen instruments, and the only name above them is Kitaro's. A sitar, a harp and a synthesizer that had just come out that year, all played by one man in a workroom in Nagano.

Cloud drifts across a black sky, and under it a long-haired man bows his head. Four years earlier, that place belonged to someone else's hands.

Where to get it

The Japanese Sound Design LP is the face of this record. Find one with its obi still on and you can see the commercial for yourself. The European Polydor LP from the same year has the same cover. On CD there is the 1984 Japanese edition and the 1985 Geffen.

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