Personnel: Kitaro (synthesizer); Jon Anderson, Jonathan Goldman (vocals); Hiroshi Araki, Jimmy Hahn (guitar); Kristin Stordahl Kanda (flute); Shigeru Okazawa (electric bass); Steve Bailey (bass); Syoji Fijii (drums); T.Y. Burhos (tabla); Ken Park (percussion); Deborah Anderson (background vocals); Coral Symphony Strings.

Two giants in contemporary music have joined forces to create one of the most awe-inspiring albums of the '90s. Kitaro has taken his signature style into a new dimension of orchestral drama with three tracks featuring the breathtaking vocals of Jon Anderson, from Yes. Anderson, a longtime Kitaro fan, showed up on Kitaro's Japanese mountaintop and hung out for a month. Their ensuing "marriage" of vocals and music is the result. Kitaro composed the music while Anderson wrote the lyrics. The songs revolve around the eternal theme of love, as in the transcendental romanticism of "Lady of Dreams" and the ecstasy of spiritual liberation in "Agreement"....This is a special album full of soaring emotion and spiritual upliftment. ~ Backroads Music/Heartbeats

Kitaro has always shown a flair for the dramatic with his serious synthesizer opuses, but on DREAM, he lets loose with a hitherto unexpressed romanticism, couched in showy orchestral arrangements and ecstatic love ballads. Added to the mix is Jon Anderson, whose vocals and lyrics take center stage on about half of the songs on this highly theatrical album.

Kitaro's showstopper, "Lady of Dreams," marries a memorable accordion-laced cabaret melody with spectacular symphonic flourishes. Steve Bailey's fretless bass drives the tuneful "Agreement," which sounds like a FRAGILE-era Yes. In keeping with the aggressively entertaining songs, even "Dream of Chant"--a drone for vocals, tabla, and harmonium--is less a peaceful meditation than a tense mood piece punctuated by violent percussion. DREAM culminates in the exhilarating "Island of Life," which begins as a sweet synth lullaby, and builds to an ecstatic crescendo of passionate singing and crystalline strings.