A beginner's guide to the 1970s Japanese rock underground

Time for a "mega post" as Audion #57 is currently down to the very last 2 copies, I thought I'd post here all the significant articles and reviews written by myself, which is sure to be a useful resource for the future...

Alan Freeman checks-out the 1970's not only rock...

Japanese underground

People kept asking me why I hadn't done an Audion article in response to Julian Cope's book Japrocksampler. My answer was that I hadn't heard everything that he discussed in it. So, inspired by this, I made it my goal to hear everything that Julian so joyously raved about! Now I believe I've had and/or heard everything in his top 50.

Julian's choice of top albums definitely goes to show how his taste differs from mine. Speed Glue & Shinki I always rated as so-so straight-ahead rock, Les Rallizes Dénudés I've not heard anything that I remotely like, whereas Love Live Life + One had its moments, Blues Creation were okay, and about half the others that I didn't know before did nothing for me. There were also some gems however that I wouldn't otherwise have known about. So it wasn't a wasted exercise, but quite an enjoyable investigation that led to yet more discoveries.

It was obviously a coincidence that we mostly agreed on the top albums of the Krautrock scene. Of course this goes to show the differences between Germany and Japan. The German music scene in the 1970's was huge, I mean phenomenally huge, so the sheer number of bands meant that there was lots of quality stuff to pick and choose from, so that even a top 500 would be possible.

The Japan scene in comparison was tiny, so selecting 50 classics is a difficult task. Of Julian's 50 there are 27 that I deem to be good. But are they all rock? Well, not really, as the Taj Mahal Travellers and related projects (East Bionic Symphonia, Takehisa Kosugi, etc.) are more avant-garde, of the improv kind. Julian correlates their work to Ash Ra Tempel, Kluster and such-like in Germany, and I know what he's getting at. But still not rock by any stretch of the imagination! There's also a lot of what is more jazz (various projects involving Masahiko Sato & Co.), pop bands like The Jacks, and Japanese theatre projects like J.A. Caesar that I don't get at all.

So, what would be my top 50? Well similarly I would have to include many things not rock. So, let's call it Alan's Japanese "not only rock" Underground Top 50 (1970-1979). But, unlike Julian, as this is an article, I won't put it into numerical order...
   

The Bach Revolution

On their debut, The Bach Revolution involved three guys on synthesizers: Kazutaka Tazaki, Motaoki Suzukawa, Akiro Kamio. The album's mouthful of a title translates as "Yet In The Depth Of Mundane Affairs". As enigmatic as the music is! It just has 3 long tracks all at the very experimental end of label-mate Tomita's territory, sans much in the way of melody or structure, and is often comparable to early Cluster and/or Vangelis at his most out there. They did make further records, but they paled somewhat against this.

WAGA KOKORO, IMADA YASURAKA NARAZU - LP RCA RVC-2054 (1976)
example

Bi Kyo Ran

One of the legends of 1980's Japanese progressive, we can't list their two studio albums here. But, in keeping with Julian's rules, we can list a an originally unreleased one! Bi Kyo Ran started life as a King Crimson covers band, an influence that remained with them throughout their career. But they went on to be much more than that, fusing in copious amounts of Japanese culture, and ways of arranging music totally at odds with the Western way of doing things. The early live recordings capture them as their own sound was just starting to gel, edgy, vibrant and creative!

FAIRY TALE, EARLY LIVE VOL. 1 - LP Belle Antique BELLE 8704 (1982)
example

Brast Burn

One of two related bands on the obscure Voice label, the other being Karuna Khyal (see below). These played the most out-there on the edge Japanese ritual music in a rock setting. Very much at the weirder end of Faust's Krautrock but twisted, with chanting voices, bizarre rhythms, electronic effects and the likes. It's all over done to hypnotic excess, and wonderfully so. It's one of those albums I've just never grown tired of, it still sizzles the senses!

DEBON - LP Voice VO-1001 (1974)
example

Chronicle

These were a Far East Family Band related group, formed circa 1974 and basically sounded like a more song based version of the band, mixed with elements of Cosmos Factory and Yonin Bayashi, a touch more Pink Floyd, etc. They recorded a live album (which it seems I sold long ago by mistake) and a studio one: IMA WA TOKI NO SUBETTE (released in the USA as LIKE A MESSAGE FROM THE STARS) a mostly majestic prog outing, and one that's stood the test of time much better than Far East Family Band's TENKUJIN.

IMA WA TOKI NO SUBETTE - LP Express TOCT-5859 (1975)
example 

 Cosmos Factory

A major omission in Julian Cope's book is Cosmos Factory, one of the greats of 1970's Japanese prog. Cosmos Factory played a heavy progressive with some stylisms close to Far East Family Band, except they were more heavy than cosmic, hence a little Flower Travellin' Band like too. Their eponymous debut, also known as "An Old Castle Of Transylvania" is characterised by a dense atmosphere, a mix of powerful tracks, ballads and instrumentals on side one, and an 18 minute opus on side two, all with copious amounts of keyboards and sizzling guitars, and the vocals (totally unintelligible to non Japanese ears) have a majestic haunting quality about them. Many people laud that as Cosmos Factory's greatest triumph, but I think they got even better! A JOURNEY WITH... is one of those albums that, in spite of being made up of ten separate tracks, feels like a conceptualised opus - the "journey" of the title! Here their style is totally distinctive, all honed to perfection, with many more experimental sections counterpointing the heavy and majestic songs. Keyboard player Tsutomu Izumi now had an arsenal of tech at his hands, notably some great use of Mellotron. But, for those that love rock to sizzle with high power energy, BLACK HOLE is a scorcher - some of it heavier than the heaviest Flower Travellin' Band - and that's heavy in good way. Just seven tracks on this one, including three circa 8 minute classics, and a few numbers that tend to flow, reaching out to the cosmos!

We'll have to forgive their mistake of going to the US after this and recording the mediocre in comparison METAL REFLECTIONS. But, even that has its moments, and is not as bad as the title suggests!

COSMOS FACTORY - LP Columbia YZ-41-N (1973)

A JOURNEY WITH... - LP Express ETP-72083 (1975)

BLACK HOLE - LP Express ETP-72192 (1976)
example

Dada

First release on the independent Vanity label, Dada was the duo of multi-instrumentalists: Mutsuhiko Izumi and Kenji Konishi, involving guitar, piano and synthesizers, it was inspired by "Gaki Zoshi" (a 12th Century Japanese picture story) apparently, and is dedicated to Eno. Some compare it to Fripp & Eno, but I see more correlation with Cluster, but given a notable oriental flavour, in just four esoteric and oh so restrained numbers.

JYO - LP Vanity Records 0001 (1978)
example

Datetenryu

A band that were never documented during their lifetime Datetenryu are now known for two releases: 1971 which is largely shoddy jam tapes from their early career, and the excellent UNTO which documents material circa 1975/78 playing a hybrid prog-fusion that reminds me of many a Krautrock band, a funky/groovy edge akin to Embryo notably, with flashes of Agitation Free, also the echoed organ lead on some bits reminds me of Group 1850, but there's an Oriental flavour too. Not brilliantly recorded, still the music shines through!

UNTO - CD Belle Antique Belle 97370 (1997)
example 
 

East Bionic Symphonia

Born out of the avant-garde improvising outfit Taj Mahal Travellers, these were a 10 piece ensemble, involving lots of electronics and electronic processed instruments in a live setting. Their sole LP release documented two sections of a concert, all sprawling and atonal arrays often more Stockhausen like than anything, although the British outfit Morphogenesis also got close to this on occasions.

RECORDED LIVE (JULY 13, 1976) - LP LAM LA-3001 (1976)
example

Far Out

Born out of the obscure Fumio Miyashita and Osamu Kitajima band, Far Out (in keeping with their name) had jumped on in leaps and bounds from their soft prog roots, releasing one of the all time classics of Oriental rock. Basically just two side-long tracks, each opens slowly from silence, evolving and gaining melodic focus, developing and transforming, with unusual rhythmic structures, ethnic flavoured guitars and sitar feature, and what songs there are counterpoint and propel the music along, often reaching great highs. Tasty stuff indeed. I guess the Pink Floyd comparison is obligatory, although only suggested in the music, which is largely unique and their own.

NIHONJIN - LP Denon CD-5047 (1973)
example

Far East Family Band

The same band as Far Out, re-branded and expanded, Far East Family Band were the biggest international success of Japanese progressive rock. Yet their music was still pretty out there, extremely creative and original. The international fame was largely due to a friendship with Klaus Schulze, who secured the German Vertigo release of NIPPONJIN (subtitled "Join Our Mental Phase Sound") which featured re-recorded versions, mixed by Klaus, of tracks from Far Out's NIHONJIN and Far East Family Band's debut: THE CAVE DOWN TO EARTH. I guess if you only ever wanted one Japanese space-prog album in your collection, NIPPONJIN would be the quintessential one, featuring every classic genre from free-space to heavy, with lots of Mellotron, synthesizers and out-there songs, and even some vocals in English! THE CAVE DOWN TO EARTH itself is more esoteric, and not so well-balanced, with side 2's three tracks becoming ever more languorous. But, no matter how quintessential NIPPONJIN is, their third album PARALLEL WORLD (recorded at The Manor by Klaus Schulze and Gunter Schickert no less) has to be one of the all time very best space-rock albums ever. Featuring only 4 tracks and at an hour long, it is a sonic delight, heavily synthesized rock full of dynamics and poetic oriental vocals. It's as if they'd infused their unique Oriental twist on Floydian space-rock with the spirit of the Cosmic Jokers, a dash of Gong, and much more. It was virtually impossible to better it!

The last album TENKUJIN, although pleasant, was a bit of a damp squib after that. But since then three members reinvented themselves as pioneers of the new-age, most notably Kitaro.

"THE CAVE" DOWN TO THE EARTH - LP Mu Land CD-7139-M (1975)

NIPPONJIN - LP Vertigo 6370 850 (1975)

PARALLEL WORLD - LP Mu Land LQ-7002-M (1976)
example

Flower Travellin' Band

Strange that I'd never done a piece on this band, certainly one of the most important of Japanese rock bands. They had a history going back to the mid-1960's, rooted in the beat group Yuya Uchida And The Flowers, a kind of Beatles and Rolling Stones Japanese style, who almost seamlessly transformed into Flower Travellin' Band. Julian rates their debut ANYWHERE so highly as to feature its cover image on the front of his book. Okay, it's a funny picture with band members riding naked on motorcycles, but is an odd one - excepting mouth-organ intro and outro it's all cover versions! Nothing wrong with that I guess. In fact the opening Louisiana Blues is just the book-ends for a big jam in the middle! The versions of Black Sabbath and Twenty-First Century Schizoid Man are also good, but it's best forget the rendition of House Of Rising Sun! It's okay, but not at all top rate.

Flower Travellin' Band really came into their own with the almost universally acclaimed SATORI, a heady psychedelic album suite, full of complexities and innovation, from the spacious through to the intensely powerful, full ethnic oriental flavours, and a powerful dynamic rhythm section ideally suited to Joe's crazy vocals. The following two albums also included loads of excellent stuff (just one duff cover on the live double) but never quite got to those highs again. But I deem all these three essential!

But, filling in the transitional gap in their history is the 1969-70 rarities bootleg FROM PUSSYS TO DEATH... collecting mostly freaky jams I'm Dead Part One and I'm Dead Part Two totalling 27 minutes, and unreleased stuff from around the time of the Kuni Kawachi and Friends album (more on that below).

SATORI - LP Atlantic P-8056A (1971)

MADE IN JAPAN - LP Atlantic P-8187A (1972)

MAKE UP - 2LP Atlantic P-5073-4A (1973)

FROM PUSSYS TO DEATH IN 10,000 YEARS OF FREAKOUT - LP Apex Records APEX 002 (1997)
example

Food Brain

Okay, Food Brain's sole album SOCIAL GATHERING is quite radical and experimental, but no one can understand why Julian slated it in his book. A seminal super-group of sorts, Masayoshi Kabe (later of Speed, Glue & Shinki, etc.), Hiro Tsunoda (later of Fried Egg, Strawberry Path, etc.), Shinki Chen (leader of Speed, Glue & Shinki) and Hiro Yanagida (solo, and with Masaki Satoh, etc.).

The album starts with the aptly titled That Will Do, with a

vibed-up honky-tonk piano and Wurlitzer like organ on top of a heady freak-rock groove, setting the tome of what's to come. After a little interlude and quaint waltz (!) is track 4, the wonderfully titled Liver Juice Vending Machine which always reminds me of a mixture of Pink Floyd, Faust and Santana, in fact it leads into a Santana like percussion with talking drum coda. There's more Krautrocky stuff to come a-la Gila, and again more Faust touches from sizzled guitar. The album's major freak-out is Hole In The Sausage - a hybrid of freeform acid rock improv and jazz elements, squawking and scuttling around like demented musical dinosaurs! Well freaky, well wild, and still an island unto itself!

SOCIAL GATHERING - LP Polydor MP-2100 (1970)
example

Ichiyanagi, Ranta, Kosugi

A Taj Mahal Travellers related project, from a unique trio: Toshi Ichiyanagi (a classical avant-garde composer, who has worked in many fields including ensemble works, electroacoustic music, etc.), Michael Ranta (not Japanese at all, best-known to us in Wired, he first ended up in Japan in 1970 when working in Jean-Claude Eloy's ensemble, which is how he met Taj Mahal Travellers members) and Takehisa Kosugi (often referred to as the kingpin of Taj Mahal Travellers, then working more as a soloist).

The sole documentation of their work together is a fascinating live LP, taking familiar elements and fusing them into something entirely new. There is a borderline rock edge to this, largely due to Ranta's percussion, also a mystical ceremonial feel, and the ghost of Wired enters on occasions, but Ichiyanagi - the wild-card here - his element is not so easy to quantify. Whatever, in spite of the unimaginative title, this amounts to one of the all time classics of free improvisation.

IMPROVISATION SEP. 1975 - LP Iskra Records 002 (1975)
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Yuji Imamura & Air

Good jazz-rock albums from Japan are a rarity, so it's nice to know there's at least one as good as this! Yuji Imamura is a well-travelled jazz drummer and I gather his output is quite wide-ranging (although he was also in a band called Tee & Company who released 3 LP's the same year - will have to check them out). It seems though that he was the honcho with a band of younger talent here, all fresh and vibrant, kind of a side-step from the very best Miles Davis infused with loads of new ideas, not least some nice ethnic instruments and lots of electronics, pyrotechnical guitars, etc. A gem!

AIR - LP Three Blind Mice TBM-3006 (1977)
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Karuna Khyal

Seemingly a different incarnation of label mates Brast Burn, this again is a complex album suite full of Shamanistic edges, chanting voices, clanking rhythms, and sizzling/shuddering tonalities. Think: the heavier parts of Faust's Meadow Meal or Mamie Is Blue but without any songs really, churning, aggressive and experimental. Infectious, hypnotic, and challenging!

ALOMONI 1985 - LP Voice VO-1002 (1974)
example 

Kuni Kawachi & His Friends

In 1970 keyboard player Kuni Kawachi got together a group that were also evolving as the Flower Travellin' Band. They made the one album, KIRIKYOGEN an excellent psych-prog excursion that

pre-empts a lot of other Japanese prog stuff, like To Your World which could quite easily have been very early Cosmos Factory. Of course Joe's vocals also conjure up the Flower Travellin' Band to come. A very varied album in fact, and beautifully crafted. Naturally the

cash-in merchants have reissued this under the Flower Travellin' Band name, and with various different titles.

KIRIKYOGEN - LP London SKK-3000 (1970)
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Osamu Kitajima

Osamu started out as a singer songwriter, he worked in an early pre Far Out band, and also recorded an album under the guise of Justin Heathcliff, all of little interest to me. But then he found new freedom in 1974 as a multi-instrumentalist, blending traditional Japanese musics and rock in a most original fashion. His BENZAITEN is quite startling and dramatic, very Japanese, strongly featuring the biwa (a traditional lute like instrument) along with more conventional instruments. The mixture of cultures is not unlike some Jade Warrior but attacked culturally the other way round, a comparison much more obvious on his next album OSAMU (from 1977), after which further releases moved ever more new-age.

BENZAITEN - LP Antilles AN-7016 (1974)
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Takehisa Kosugi

Often quoted as the leader of Taj Mahal Travellers, Takehisa Kosugi has recorded many albums over the years. But what we are interested in is his debut CATCH-WAVE, a 49 minute excursion comprised of two big floaty trips. First is Mano Dharma '74 subtitled: an excerpt from a meta-media solo improvisation - involving violin, voice, two oscillators and an electric fan! This is powerful but cosmic stuff full of strange frequencies and overtones. Wave Code #E-1 is credited as: triple performance by a solo vocalist - but it's more than you'd expect from that! Avant-garde with a kind cosmic "rock" aesthetic, it's unique from start to finish.

CATCH-WAVE - LP CBS SOCM 88 (1975)
whole album

Magical Power Mako

Born Makoto Kurita, Magical Power Mako is a self-styled visionary, a multi-instrumental talent who made some of the most fascinating albums in Japanese rock history. It's remarkable that when he debuted with a solo LP on Polydor he was only in his mid teens. Overflowing with innovative ideas, copious amounts of Japanese culture, crazy eccentric humour, and sizzling rock / prog / psychedelic invention. Cat Side starts with The End Amen with an absurd but poignant monologue about world power struggles, atop an array of cat meows and other sounds, and then we have Cha Cha as the musical trip starts, unfolding surprise after surprise: powerful rock drives, hybrid oriental meets rock concoctions, bizarre collages, dreamy ballads with copious amounts on Mellotron, often venturing off into the cosmos!

Widely acclaimed as the Japanese visionary equivalent of Faust or Battiato, there's a lot of that on the debut, and even more on the second album SUPER RECORD, one that eluded me for decades, it was well worth the wait. The album I know best is his third JUMP as I got that back in the 70's, a heavier less Faust more Guru Guru edged album, but still totally Mako but with more percussion and guitars, some songs and not songs!

I'm probably taking a liberty here including the album MUSIC FROM HEAVEN, as that wasn't released until 1982. But, as far as I know it is recordings from the 1970's. This is the most Faust-like of Mako albums, notably due to fired guitar sounds and mantric rhythms in the manner of Faust's Krautrock it's a near segued opus of tracks that dip and dive in many directions, achieving a suite like whole that rarely lets-up. The other 70's gem is disc one of the HARMONIUM 1972-75 set which documents other excellent recordings from around the time of his debut.

After a hiatus of a decade Mako returned with a string of new releases in the 1990's, some of them excellent, some not so. He is still musically active to this day.

MAGICAL POWER - LP Polydor MR 5044 (1973)

SUPER RECORD - LP Polydor MR 5055 (1975)

JUMP - LP Polydor MR 3077 (1977)

MUSIC FROM HEAVEN - LP Marquee Moon MAGICAL 001 (1982)

HARMONIUM 1972-75 Vol.1 - CD Mom 'n' Dad MoM-004 (1994)
example

Kimio Mizutani

Well-known as the guitarist in several bands: Love Live Life + One, Masahiko Satoh & Sound Breakers, with Hiro Yanagida, and others in this article, Kimio is a key figure of the Japanese 1970's scene.

He only made the one album under his own name though: A PATH THROUGH HAZE, an aptly titled album, here we have an instrumental prog gem, made as if it's in some sort of psychedelic haze, elements of Stomu Yamash'ta notably, and many sections with a Magical Power Mako edge, and on track 4: Tell Me What You Saw we have what sounds like a hybrid of John McLaughlin on DEVOTION and the groovy style of Food Brain, whereas the following One For Janis (Joplin, I guess?) actually sounds more like a Jimi Hendrix styled groove! Throughout it's one of those albums that rewards and rewards again, a classic indeed!

A PATH THROUGH HAZE - LP Polydor MR-5009 (1971)
example

People

And here is Kimio Mizutani again! Quite who was behind this project, it's hard to say. Composer/producer Naoki Tachikawa also produced all three classic Cosmos Factory albums. Which no doubt means that Kimio is related to Hisashi Mizutani of that band, as I suspected.

Co-composer Yusuke Hoguchi was a jazz organist (also in Primitive Community), and a few other musicians involved feature on other albums in this article (Discogs is so useful for this!).

A super-group concept album then! Such an idea could so easily have failed, but this is the 1971 underground, with a cast of talented musicians, all going with the groove and really winging it. So, we're on a trip with sizzling guitars, marvellous organ, percussion galore, fleshed-out with psychedelic effect, huge layered arrangements, and Buddhist ritual chants! Like Kimio's own LP, this is otherworldly, and totally out there - an esoteric trippy classic!

CEREMONY - BUDDHA MEET ROCK - LP Teichiku SL-1368 (1971)
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Pre Hikashu

Hikashu may be known as one of the leading Japanese new-wave pop groups of the 1980's, but give them their due - they did also make one rather good album, their third: UWASA NO JINRUI "The Human Being" (Eastworld EWS-91023) from 1981 which is the closest any Japanese band got to being as innovatively eccentric as The Residents.

But, before Hikashu is what became known as Pre Hikashu, when they were more of an experimental improvising outfit. 1978 SPRING (aka Spring 1978: Live Part 2) documents a free-flowing improvisation in the manner of Taj Mahal Travellers, but from the attitude of a rock band, sometimes gaining heights that hint at Voice label bands Brast Burn and Karuna Khyal, or Faust in more recent times.

1978 SPRING, PART 2 - CD Transonic TRS-20004 (1998)
sorry, couldn't find any examples

Sab

An obscure synthesis, guitarist, multi-instrumentalist (joined by other musicians on 2 of the album's 4 tracks), Sab's CRYSTALLIZATION is another rare Japanese cosmic / ambient outing. Along with Dada, it's one of the finest of the late 1970's.

CRYSTALLIZATION - LP Vanity Records 0002 (1978)
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Masahiko Satoh & Sound Breakers

Another of those bizarre super-session conceptual outings, this is one of many that involve jazz legend Masahiko Satoh, well-known for his experimental free-jazz albums. For years we only ever knew of this as AMALGAMATION, as no other identifiable English text existed on the cover! It's also known as "Kokotsu No Showa Genroku" whatever that means. Again we have the guitar genius of Kimio Mizutani, and some international jazz talent, all for an album with the accent firmly on "weird". I suppose it's no surprise that Satoh had worked with Wolfgang Dauner, who similarly had experimented with such diverse elements. Unclassifiable and challenging, start to end!

AMALGAMATION - LP Liberty LTP-9018 (1971)
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Taj Mahal Travellers

Ah, the marvellous Taj Mahal Travellers! These were an improvising troupe, established in 1969 by "six meta-music creators & one electronic engineer" - to quote popular history on the band. Many compare them to other improv outfits of the era like AMM Music or Musica Elettronica Viva, yet these were actually quite different, not least in their instrumentation - featuring traditional Japanese instruments along with Western ones, notably Takehisa Kosugi's violin, and copious amounts of processing: reverb, echo, etc., things rarely used by AMM or MEV. Really, Kluster, Eruption and Wired are better comparisons, which is why I guess that Julian thought them "rock" enough to feature in his book. They were certainly cosmic, and only ever documented live. All three releases are classics.

LIVE STOCKHOLM JULY, 1971 - 2CD Drone Syndicate DS-01/2 (1999)

JULY 15, 1972 - LP Sony SOL M-1 (1972)

AUGUST 1974 - 2LP Columbia OP-7147~8-N (1975)
example

Tolerance

A very obscure avant new-wave duo. Their debut ANONYM came out in 1979 on the Vanity label (one of three such classics) an understated and strange excursion, featuring electronics, piano, guitar and percussion, plus occasional female voice muttering unintelligibly in Japanese. A fascinating and unclassifiable record. I guess this would have become an unknown obscurity instead of a sought out collectable, hadn't it been the source of a Nurse With Wound album title, and on the NWW list!

ANONYM - LP Vanity 9994 (1979)
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Tsutsui/Ichihara/Satoh

I first learned of this as an album by Dema, something similar to "Amalgamation" involving the same people I was told. The billing actually goes to: Yasutaka Tsutsui (sci-fi writer) / Kohsuke Ichihara (of Love Live Life + One) / Masahiko Satoh (who I talked about above). Again we have Kimio Mizutani, well-known drummer Akira Ishikawa, and a cast of jazz talent. It's an excellent unclassifiable avant-rock meets free-jazz, riddled with tons of experimentation, Japanese style!

DEMA "RUMOUR" - LP CBS-Sony SOLL-28 (1973)
whole album

Yasutaka Tsutsui/Yosuke Yamashita

Yosuke Yamashita is best known as a modern jazz pianist (records on the Enja label) not in my taste bracket at all. So it is surprising that he'd do a weird borderline experimental ambient meets rock project based on a Yasutaka Tsutsui novel! An enigmatic affair, you'll hear all sorts of things at play in this, not least some stunning special effects, a riff a-la Mike Oldfield, and diversions towards early Magical Power Mako. A huge cast of musicians are involved!

IE "HOME" - LP Frasco FS-7007 (1975)
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Stomu Yamash'ta

Actually: Tsutomu Yamashita, he's one of the best-known talents from Japan. An extraordinary percussionist, he graduated from the Kyoto Academy of Music, and worked in the contemporary avant-garde with the likes of Takemitsu, Henze, et al., and recorded an album of his interpretations of such works (excellent as that is, I can only fit 50 in a top 50). He also collaborated with Masahiko Satoh on the album METEMPSYCHOSIS, an album that's interesting but arguably too bizarre for its own good, featuring the New Herd jazz orchestra.

With RED BUDDHA Stomu recorded one of the finest of percussion albums, just two side-long tracks featuring a wide array of drums and oriental tuned percussion, all multi-tracked to startling effect. I recall seeing Stomu at around this time, on a children's TV programme doing a concerto for kitchen utensils! Stomu's first step away from the pure avant-garde was his live band Yamash'ta & The Horizon, a super-group quartet, with Takehisa Kosugi (Taj Mahal Travellers), Masahiko Satoh (see elsewhere in this article!), and Hideakira Sakurai (best-known as the composer of "Lone Wolf & Cub" film soundtracks), although pretty weird and bordering on

free-jazz, this is the first step to his own sound.

Seeking a wider audience Stomu now moved to the UK for a while, bringing some of his Japanese troupe with him and enlisting some of the best British jazz and rock talent. The variety of band names made for a confusing discography. Come To The Edge (1/1972) involved Morris Pert, Peter Robinson and others, they were also involved in Red Buddha Theatre (10-11/1972) the core of which continued without Yamash'ta as Sun Treader. After this Stomu got together a new band with his wife Hisako Yamash'ta on violin: East Wind (1973+) featuring at "Canterbury" super-trio of Hugh Hopper: bass, Gary Boyle: guitars, and Brian Gascoigne: keyboards. These three projects recorded three classic albums issued on Island Records, all perfectly fusing oriental elements into prog/rock/jazz/fusion hybrids that have become timeless gems.

Stomu did further albums with East Wind, who changed line-up quite a bit involving more Japanese musicians. Although these later albums are patchy a Swedish radio gig bootleg from 1974 is worth seeking out. Then there's the international Go project, etc., etc....

RED BUDDHA - LP King Records SLC(J) 358 (1971)

SUNRISE FROM WEST SEA "LIVE" - LP London SLC(J)-259 (1971)

FLOATING MUSIC - LP Island HELP 12 (1972)

THE MAN FROM THE EAST - LP Island ILPS 9228 (1973)

FREEDOM IS FRIGHTENING - LP Island ILPS 9242 (1973)
example

Hiro Yanagida

The "solo" debut by Hiro Yanagida: MILK TIME (gorilla picture below) is one of those albums we deem "seminal" in that it is key to a lot of things that followed. It is shortly before Food Brain, and features Kimio Mizutani (didn't he get around a lot?), Keiju Ishikawa (later of Far Out and Chronicle), Hiro Tsunoda (Food Brain's drummer), Nozomu Nakatani (Strawberry Path), etc. That patent "Wurlitzer" type organ sound heard in Food Brain is here, but we have a more prog feel here, and a slightly fried/phased psychedelic edge. It's a powerful trip that covers a lot of ground.

After Food Brain Hiro returned to solo work recording a half-good second LP later in 1971, and featured on a few other LP's mentioned in this article. Not sure if I've heard his third HIROCOSMOS.

MILK TIME - LP Liberty LPC-8037 (1970)
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Toshiaki Yokota

Another wide-ranging experimental fusion project was the Primitive Community, headed by flute player Toshiaki Yokota. Most of the troupe were rock musicians, including Kimio Mizutani on his patent fuzz guitar, but there were a lot of wild cards at work, a trumpet player, and six percussionists in addition to the drummer. My original notes for this were: Sounds like B.J. Lindh with Food Brain / People - kind of! Well, true - Toshiaki's flute work is often like Swedish legend Bjorn J:Son Lindh, and this does get well freaky and ritualistic at times. There are also so oddball things thrown in like a Hari Krishna chant that totally throws you on first listen and a novel version of The Beatles' Flying - but we like such surprises don't we!

TOSHIAKI YOKOTA & PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY - LP EMI TP-8066 (1970)
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Yonin Bayashi

Another band in the Cosmos Factory field, at least so circa 1973-74. These started life as a pop band and ended up as a pop band. They debuted on LP in 1971 with the soundtrack album HATACHI-NO GENTEN (Starting Again From Year 20), which was really varied, but had some tracks that hinted at greater things to come. Then, in 1974, they issued ISSHOKU-SOKUHATSU (Dangerous Situation) a carefully crafted rock album, notable for its dynamics, power and distinct Japanese-isms in multi-keyboard driven mixture that's largely instrumental. It starts growing from silence and ends so, and in between it covers a lot of ground, some of it the heaviest Jap prog next to Cosmos Factory's BLACK HOLE or the raunchiest Flower Travellin' Band. There's a live album too of similar excellent stuff, but to include that would make this a top 51!

ISSHOKU-SOKUHATSU - LP Tam AX-8801 (1974)
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So, that's the 50, an extraordinary and diverse collection of classic albums. You'll need a hefty bank balance if you want to seek out the originals! I only listed original issue catalogue numbers here, but many of these have been reissued several times, most of them on CD, some in Europe, the UK or USA too.

When I started the article I did have a number of other items that I substituted. Some I dropped early on after several shuffles and re-counts. There were however three that I recalled being great (and in Julian's 50) that I decided to drop. But, having written the reviews...

Geinoh Yamashirogumi

The 1976 debut by Japanese percussion and vocal group is so obscure. But is really only a half great one. Side 1's opus "Osorezan" opens with a huge primal scream and an oriental tapestry that grows to a psychedelic rock groove freak-out, topped with sizzling guitar and a bi "zen" chanting choir, then a primal scream closes the crescendo before a calm coda. I could do with a whole album of that. Disappointingly side 2's "Doh No Kembai" is devoid of rock, and is just too much like listening to a Bali ritual ceremony without the visuals!

OSOREZAN (DOH NO KEMBAI) - LP Invitation VIH-6010 (1976)
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Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalos

1972 album listed in J.Cope's Japrocksampler top list, starts in a heavy Food Brain meets Flower Travellin' Band like fashion, but after 6 minutes we move into what sounds like an authentic Ugandan tribal ritual, hmmm - under 2 minutes of that - then we switch back the groove! Other tracks continue in that type of fashion, all very disjointed. I made my own "16 minute freak-out mix".

UGANDA - LP Toshiba TP-9520Z (1972)
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Seishokki

A curio, that I like, but it's not really worthy of top 50 status if you ask me. Unreleased until 2005, it's surprising that anyone released it at all! It opens rather low-fi Mako territory, but sounds like it's recorded in someone's living room! Come to think of it, some of this sounds like our old early 1980's ZBB sessions, or some of the craziest of Volcano The Bear jams. Track 9 is a live recording.

ORGANS OF BLUE ECLIPSE 1975-77 - LP Siwa SA-5001 (2005)
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And this didn't quite make it...

Mandrake

Unknown of until quite recently, these were another band in the vein of Bi Kyo Ran. Two CD's of unreleased sessions and live material exist. Neither are great quality, but they are rather good, also reminding me of such bands as Cosmos Factory and Flower Travellin' Band, and many an English prog act, not only King Crimson!

UNRELEASED MATERIALS VOL. 1 - CD Belle Antique BELLE 97343 (1997)
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adapted from Audion #57, pages 3-7 (Autumn 2012)
written by Alan Freeman