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 Post subject: Luminous Flight (1984) [78LM 18]
PostPosted: 19 Jan 2021, 23:11 
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Luminous Flight (1984) [78LM 18]

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I'm a HUGE fan of the Virtual Drug series of Laserdiscs, DVD's, VHS and one solitary Blu Ray disc. I love the music, the creativity in them and of course the wonderful refractive 3D effects that literally spill out of your television and all over your floor in pools of glorious, dripping Technicolor. I've written extensively about these types of productions on my blog.

I enjoy searching for more content of this type and I recently stumbled upon a disc called Luminous Flight that totally piqued my curiosity. So I imported a copy in the hopes it would be good, and boy is it!

There is very little information around about Luminous Flight. I stumbled upon a Japanese website that details the production as a series of meditative imagery. This left me a little uncertain thinking the disc was perhaps a slideshow of supposedly meditative paintings with a voiceover telling me to eat more chia seeds, embrace Scientology and self flagilate myself with a bowl of hot poisonous magma while stuffing acai berries up my bum to the sound of ambient background music. My fears were eased when I finally spun the disc.

You do get 'meditative imagery' if you want to call it that, but it's not all photos of Zen and Buddah and cornfields billowing in a gentle Autumnal breeze. What you get here is some superb psychedelic video footage that the production team has been given total and utter free reign on to utterly drown in the very latest video effects and editing.

There's lovely live video of clouds and nature, running water, the flickers of light that kiss the waves of the ocean from sunlight. Then there are bizare mirrored images shot direct from the screen to create a scanline effect that are then twisted and melted in to fresco paint effects that literally billow across the screen effortlessly. It's all quite wonderful and very relaxing. It reminded me a lot of the Virtual Drug discs but also some old 1970's and 80's music videos. The heavenly laser light sequence around 41 minutes in led me to believe I'd actually died and was on my way to the pearly gates. I had to get up and pet my dog to ensure she was real and that I was still alive!

Each scene is split in to segments of around 15 minutes though the soundtrack flows continuously. Music is by Osamu Kitajima who has an extensive history in psychedlic music. It's a very natural and acoustic sounding work. Not quite ambient or drone music. You get some classic acoustic guitar, harps, piano, traditional Japanese instruments, percussion and synthesiser pads, swells and baselines. You get a digital audio track here that works wonders with a Dolby decoder. The audio is a little quiet, and like many music Laserdiscs, I find benefits from cranking the volume a little. But the soundtrack really sings and is a delight to listen to. The harps and guitars in particular sound utterly breathtaking and quite literally soar across the soundstage at times. The audio really is very well done. Buy the disc for the audio experience alone. I'm going to listen to it again with headphones on, I bet you 7p it will sound absolutely biblical.

I think Luminous Flight is the kind of production that would have benefitted HUGELY from a MUSE release. It's a perfect candidate. There's some serious talent on board this production and it shows. Luminous Flight is all over in a brief 51 minutes, but I can safely say I enjoyed every one of them.

Luminous Flight may not be for everyone, but I think it's a smashing little disc. It's available cheaply, though not plentifully. It looks great and sounds even better. If you'd told me beforehand that this disc was made in 1984 I'd have laughed myself to an early grave. This is a lovely little curiosity. It's not for everyone, but in my opinion I'm very pleased with it and am very glad I took a chance on it.

I'll watch, or rather listen (the audio is lovely as music to study too but I want the imagery too as it's so nice), to this one again. Delighted with this disc. Recommended if it's your thing. :thumbup:
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 Post subject: Re: Luminous Flight (1984) [78LM 18]
PostPosted: 20 Jan 2021, 01:49 
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Just to update this, it's definitely worth checking out musician Dr. Osamu Kitajima's website. There's a lot of great information here about a clearly very talented man.

http://www.eastquest.com

I happened to find some very interesting information about Luminous Flight too. It appears it was released in the USA and Europe on CD, Cassette and/or vinyl under the title 'The Source' on the CBS label. However it was released across multiple territories spanning 1985 and 1986, whereas Luminous Flight was released earlier in 1984.

There is an article from Rolling Stone magazine that reviews the album and the tracks listed are the very same tracks from Luminous Flight!

Rolling Stone said the following about the album (I've put the Luminous Flight tracks in bold text:

"Osamu's first CBS release "The Source" is the ultimate blend of East and West, electronic and traditional.

The themes are memorable, cohesively uniting the three richly textured pieces. Ever shifting styles, tempos and powerful musical statements are continually heard, and Osamu never loses the flow or continuity of the whole work.

From the 25 - minute opening piece "Heavensent" to the 12 - and 13 - minute "Through Cosmic Doors" and "Eye to I," we're talking major masterpiece on this one."

I have to say I agree with them. It really is spectacular stuff.

Oh and here is the album on Discogs. Looks like The Source was released in several countries on many formats. I'm gonna get a copy!

https://www.discogs.com/Osamu-Kitajima- ... ster/97739
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