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.