Get it.

Its not no-fi or lo-fi. Its an experimental album but most songs are conventional enough in structure and the sound quality is fine. Bottom line: Most of it is fun, some is brilliant and its only one track for goodness sake! Dreebo is right - its not at all like Syd Barret or Roky Erickson. And that's just fine.

A Trip

In a good way this album does trancend the marks of 'good clean quality production' and instead delivers a warm hazy ambience. Many of the moods on this album are reminiscent of Morricone, and will probably peek the interest of today's fans of Godspeed You Black Emperor. Overall the hallmark of this album is subtlety so patience is key. If you're a fan of experimental music, and krautrock, I doubt you'll find this a wasted download.

This is crap

I like lo-fi; this is no-fi. It makes no sense and has no discernible purpose; most of it sounds like it was recorded on a cassette that went through a washing machine. It meanders on and on. Not noisy enough to be noise rock, no melodies whatsoever, an agonizing experience. I've heard Magical Power Mako compared to Syd Barrett and Roky Erickson. Believe me, he resembles neither. If there are albums that are undeservedly ignored, then chalk this one up as deservedly ignored. A total waste of download time and listening time. Avoid like the plague, or the asian flu perhaps.

Recorded and released in 1981, immediately following the rather disappointing Welcome to Earth, Music from Heaven was Magical Power Mako’s creative breakthrough. The Japanese guitarist’s earlier work, while fitfully intriguing, had felt somewhat derivative of British and German progressive rockers of the same period. Music from Heaven, while it still owes a debt to Brian Eno’s collaborations with the likes of Cluster and Harold Budd, is a much more cohesive and listenable album. Although the album lists 14 different song titles, it actually makes most sense as one extended piece. (Indeed, the Atavistic reissue of 1997 programs the disc as one track over 50 minutes long.) Consisting simply of layers of heavily processed acoustic and electric guitars, the album eddies and swirls in a fashion that functions not only as ambient chill-out music, but as a fascinating sonic environment. (Listening to this album in the dark on headphones is one seriously trippy experience.) Magical Power Mako would modify and extend this musical style over the rest of his career, but Music from Heaven is the album on which he finally finds his musical voice. – Stewart Mason