| Kites | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Jade Warrior |
| Cover: | Kites jade warrior sleeve.jpg |
| Released: | 1976 |
| Genre: | Experimental rock, progressive rock |
| Length: | 36:27 |
| Label: | Island |
| Producer: | Jon Field, Tony Duhig |
| Prev Title: | Waves |
| Prev Year: | 1975 |
| Next Title: | Way of the Sun |
| Next Year: | 1978 |
Kites is the sixth studio album by British progressive/experimental rock band Jade Warrior released in 1976 by Island Records. Kites, more layered and complex than Waves, the duo's previous outing, took nine months to record.[1]
Kites presented the band "at their most musically abstract and progressive",[2] featuring a larger number of guest musicians than any previous album. Each side here is a long concept piece: side A – Jon Field's side (partly inspired by abstract artist Paul Klee's painting "The Kingdom of the Air", otherwise meaning to convey the sounds of a kite drifting through skies),[1] on side B, driven by Tony Duhig, the wandering Zen boat monk Teh Ch'eng in 9th century China provided a conceptual focus.[3]
Casey Elston of AllMusic described the result as "dense and dramatic" and a "rare example of intense ambient sound".[1]