Estrella [4:20] Mercury [5:58] Cosmic Wave [3:41] Harmony Of The Forest [6:22] Fiesta [7:47] Thinking Of You [6:53] Spirit Of Water [4:44] Stream [5:33] Space Ten [6:59] Del Mar [2:11]

product info

THINKING OF YOU won the 2001 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album Recorded at Mochi House and mixed at A & M Studios, Los Angeles, USA Kitaro - various instruments Tito la Rosa - quina, pututo, sampma Masa Ito - classical guitar

review

Thinking of You is one of the most beautiful CDs of all time, certainly in the new age community. It is by Kitaro, whose name means -- fittingly -- "a man of love." These dramatic atmospheres are not subtle. They are overflowing with bravado, romance, serenity, and peace. The most important element that Kitaro injects is love -- for his craft, his listeners, and himself. The powerful emotions surround deep listeners on this journey to ecstasy. This wonderful CD will appeal to fans of Suzanne Ciani, Constance Demby, Vangelis, and Dean Evenson. Jim Brenholts / All Music Guide

review

This is a very wonderful album of Kitaro, I love it. 2003. Jannick / Belgium

review

After the previous album Gaia, which in my opinion was one of the best things albums ever recorded by Kitaro he returns with this album, the title of which fills me with foreboding. The booklet was quite hard to read, which is why the question mark after the ninth title. The album opens drippingly with the tinkling of clear crystal. Then we come into a long drawn sad sounding part with piano like keyboards and some of the typical Kitaro ingredients: the ascending sounds. While the wind blows coldly the trite theme starts. This is much to sugary for my tastes and I think for everyone reading these pages. Some bombasm is incorporated and it does get a little better, but it tends to stay on the wrong side of kitsch I'm afraid. Mercury is very New Agey with pan flute sounds, but also something akin to an organ in it. Very peaceful, with many forestall sounds. Cosmic Wave is Kitaro back to the very old days: lots of things going on, thunderous percussion, and this could easily have come from Oasis for instance. Quite bombastic and with lots of thrills. Harmony Of The Forest is again New Agey with again much pan flute and some Greek influences. Melodically not very enticing. Fiesta is not that quick a song as you might expect. The influences from the Andes are there (again that pan flute), but the melody is at least striking. Again however I feel the music to be too obvious, too commercial for my tastes. This holds even more for the overly sweet Thinking Of You. Spirit Of Water is more in the line of the previous album Gaia, eerie and atmospheric. Stream has some classical guitar and again the melody is weak and does not add anything to what we have heard. I had, and still have, some trouble reading this title. It is something with space. The melody is a bit better here and the track certainly has spacey aspects. The music is more majestic than yup to here, but certainly what have we here: a break. A break into something more powerful. This is actually okay, quite heavily percussive, but also with some more interesting melodies. This is in fact the first track that tells me something and there's something quite urgent in this track. I think this track could very well be used in a soundtrack as the leading theme in fact. It seems that the song was written with exactly this in mind. The short closer Del Mar is also not bad, but to really make an impression. This is very much a let down after the fresh Gaia album. Some of the songs are almost without melody and in the style of Gaia. These are okay. However tracks like Thinking Of You make me feel queasy. Sorry, but this is just too obvious, too sugary and too much tailored to the large New Age market. The only worthwhile track is the penultimate one. Jurriaan Hage