Search - Banco de Gaia :: Last Train to Lhasa

Best heard on a long drive

John Ryan | Hong Kong | 10/02/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I bought this CD on a whim because the name of the capital of Tibet in the album's title attracted me; I had no idea what Banco de Gaia was. And I owned the album for a couple of years before I learned that Banco de Gaia isn't a 12-member multi-ethnic band of cool people as I'd surmised but just one lone Englishman who happens to have a lot of talent.It's best heard, in my experience, on a long drive. If you're hitting the road for a couple of hours or a couple of days, pack up the car, sit behind the wheel and turn on the CD player as you wheel onto the street. The slow chugging and shrill whistle of a steam engine that begin the CD will get the miles humming by under your feet as you journey through this album.I must admit that Last Train to Lhasa makes me want to put the pedal to the metal. My two-year-old son also happens to like it -- in fact it's a favorite. I would hate this to turn off potential listeners. I like to think it's something we can both get emotional and intellectual pleasure out of, together -- pretty rare between an adult and a toddler."

An organic, musical, electronic delight

Brian Dolan | Somerville, MA United States | 07/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is such a joy to have this album back in print.In 1995, Last Train To Lhasa struck me as an amazing fusion of true musicality and electronic sensibility. Sonically, it has an engrossing balance between real and synthesized sounds. The album as a whole (I'm referring mostly to disc 1 of the cd) is cohesive and covers a range of emotion and mood that is and was unusual for a piece of so-called 'electronica'. Listening to a new copy seven years later, my original long dead, I enjoy it as much as ever. It's a bit less fresh, maybe, or a touch more repetitive than it needs to be, but a wonderful listen all the same. I'm reminded of places & times that I've listened to it before, which probably colors my opinion, but also speaks to its effecitveness. In 1995, I found that this was able open many a rocker's ear to electronic music.With the exception of Kincajou, which more or less deconstructs a dance track, this album tends to be on the slower side of the tempo spectrum -- you'll be disappointed if you're looking for a dance album. But it's certainly worth your time to check out the samples (even though it's unlikely that they do the album justice), and if you enjoy anything on the slower side of the spectrum, or aren't generally a fan of electronic music I can't recommend this enough."

This album is a journey

Kevork V. Dikramanjian | Boston, MA | 05/30/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you like an album which will take you on a journey, you have to listen to this one and decide yourself. It is like a landscape changing, as if you are in a train and going through the lands.
Give it a shot, you won't regreat. /cheers"