Jade Warrior

Borne on the Solar Wind gathers in one box the three albums Jade Warrior made for Vertigo between 1971 and 1972, before the label dropped them and the group split. It is the first chapter of a band that set flutes, hand drums and long guitar lines against each other, and that reformed in 1974 for Island after Steve Winwood recommended them. Heard together, the three records show that idea forming in real time.

The trio came together in 1970 around guitarist Tony Duhig and flautist and percussionist Jon Field, both formerly of the psychedelic group July, with Glyn Havard on bass and vocals. The debut was recorded in March 1971 and produced by the band, with all pieces credited to the three of them. For Released, issued later that year, drummer Allan Price joined and Dave Conners added tenor and alto saxophone and flute. Last Autumn's Dream followed in 1972, with Tony's brother David Duhig adding electric guitar in the studio.

The first disc moves between short songs and longer instrumentals. Masai Morning opens on hand percussion and flute, then grows heavier as the drumming builds toward a rock pulse. Dragonfly Day, close to eight minutes, starts from folk textures until a gong opens a spacier section for electric guitar. Released is the most direct of the three, centred on the fifteen minute Barazinbar, a loose instrumental jam whose opening the critic Gary Hill compared to War. The third disc has shorter, more song based material such as A Winter's Tale and Snake, and ends on the instrumental Borne on the Solar Wind, which grows more electric toward its close.

Reviewing the set for Louder, Gary McKenzie placed the band at the front of early British progressive music and noted their Latin American, African and Indian rhythms, calling this "rare for European progressive rock artists of the time." He found Last Autumn's Dream less focused than the first two. In Music Street Journal, Hill wrote that the albums "sound like no one else." Esoteric had already collected the band's Island records as Wind Borne in 2023, and this box fills in the years before.

A 3CD clamshell box on Esoteric Recordings (ECLEC32876), released in 2024, with the three albums in 2022 remasters and an illustrated booklet with an essay. There are no bonus tracks.