JAPANESE ROCK FOR FUCKS SAKE

2009-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

HIATUS

Blues Creation - Demon & Eleven Children, 1971 (320kbps)

2009-10-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

" Demon & Eleven Children begins in a most spectacular fashion that only adds to the legend with the track Atomic Bombs Away. The song opens with a doomsday atomic bomb blast that completely decimates anything and everything. Nothing could survive the fall-out of such a catastrophe, right? Wrong! We immediately hear a noodling blues lick break through the chaos, then a couple of bass notes, before the guitar changes to an incredibly simple, yet totally heavy riff that would make Deep Purple jealous. The rhythm section joins in, and we are treated to a groove every bit as heavy as the previous years’ War Pigs by Black Sabbath. What a way to kick things off! As the vocals kick in, we get out first dose of what will be an album full of English sang/slurred almost phonetically.

The flip side begins with another slow, bluesy number One Summers Day. I’ve always been curious if this song features the same vocalist, as the lyrics are more clearly sung and are down-right pretty. The pace picks up again with some for the rest of the record, and culminates in the blistering title track. This track was surely Blues Creation’s response to Paranoid, and it absolutely whips ass. In the end, I give this record a 7/10. Bolstered by the incredible bookending tracks and it’s relevance in rock history, yet hampered enough by the slower songs to keep it from being a holy grail."
- Text from Freelance Fiend.

Named 17th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50. Instead of transliterating the track list I've provided the English track names as they are written on the album cover.

Blues Creation - 悪魔と11人の子供達

原爆落し [Atomic Bombs Away]
Mississippi Mountain Blues
Just I Was Born
悲しみ [Sorrow]
One Summer Day
脳天杭打ち [Brain Buster]
Sooner or Later
悪魔と11人の子供達 [Demon & Eleven Children]

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Masahiko Satoh and the Soundbreakers - Amalgamation, 1971 (192kbps)

2009-10-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

"The album is Amalgamation by Masahiko Satoh and the Soundbreakers. Satoh is a jazz pianist. This album, which was one of the many "super sessions" which were created during this time period, featured many other musicians such as Kimio Mizutani, who was already known for his guitar work with the group Love Live Life + One.

This album is a bit difficult to describe. It is a mixture of psychedelic music, musique concrete, progressive rock and free jazz. The record is quite unpredictable, and features a lot of unique instrumentation, including some traditional Japanese instruments. Listening to it is a pretty strange trip."
- Text by Thunder Jolt!

Named 7th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

佐藤允彦&サウンド・ブレイカーズ - 恍惚の昭和元禄

Face One
Face Two

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Kaji Hideki - TEA, 1998 (VBR)

2009-10-16T12:01:00.000-07:00

"After Bridge's 1995 breakup, Kaji Hideki traded in his bass for a guitar (or rather, added to his repertoire everything else one needs to make an de facto one-man band) and released an EP, Muscat, the following year. Hideki is very interesting for one reason in particular: he crystallized Japan's indie-pop obsession with Sweden, and never turned back. Instead of drawing primarily from the Sounds of Scotland, 1980, Hideki pulled specifically from the awesomeness that was Swedish pop, 1995. It wasn't hip to be in love with Sweden back then -- certainly not like it is today -- and the fact that Hideki brought that country's music up to a new level of admiration while simultaneously constructing his entirely unique sound is the simple and fair reason to appreciate the forty-one-year-old."
- Text by BiBaBiDi

100th Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan.

カジヒデキ - TEA

Suddenly, Sybilla
My Favourite Tofflor
Peanuts
Green Road
Tea
After The Twin Peaks
Ramlösa
Everything Stuck To Him
Made In Sweden
Like A White
We Were So Much In Love
Rain
Blue Mint Blue (Inst.)
corolla-2 (TV Size Ver.)

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Takehisa Kosugi - Catch-Wave, 1975 (VBR)

2009-10-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Takehisa Kosugi is without doubt one of the most important and influential figures of the Japanese avant-garde still performing into the 21st Century. Over the years he has worked with everyone from John Cage to Sonic Youth as well as being an active member of the Fluxus group and starting his own performance units Group Ongaku and the Taj Mahal Travellers. Catch-Wave, originally released in 1975, features on side A "an excerpt from a meta-media solo improvisation" utilizing heavily-processed violin, voice, radio and oscillators (the latter modified via wind and light) to create a massive drone. Side B is "a triple performance by a solo vocalist" where a vocal phrase is taken and electronically modified until it loses any meaning other than as part of the wave form."
- Text by Second Layer Records

Named 9th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

小杉武久 - Catch-Wave

Mano Dharma '74
Wave Code #e-1

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Akiko Yano - Japanese Girl, 1976 (256kbps)

2009-10-14T12:01:00.000-07:00

Akiko Yano was born in Tokyo and raised in Aomori, Japan. She began playing piano at the young age of three and demonstrated promising talent. When she was only fifteen, Akiko moved to Tokyo on her own and entered into Aoyama Gakuin High School where she pursued her musical career. She later began performing in jazz clubs where her masterful skill at the piano brought her popularity among other musicians. Akiko joined a band with roots in Tin Pan Alley.

Akiko recorded her debut album, Japanese Girl, primarily in Los Angeles with Lowell George and Little Feat. She began collaborating with Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). They continued to play on her next recording projects and invited Akiko to join them on two of their worldwide tours. Akiko expanded her musical collaborations with YMO on her subsequent CD releases. Akiko continued to release CDs joined by JAPAN and Pat Metheny and has performed on albums by Thomas Dolby and other artists. In 1990 Akiko relocated to New York where she collaborated and toured with some of the world's most renowned musicians including The Chieftains, Toninho Horta and Jeff Bova on his project THE HAMMONDS.
- Wikipedia.

26th Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan.

矢野顕子 - JAPANESE GIRL

気球にのって [Kikyu ni notte]
クマ [Kuma]
電話線 [Denwa-sen]
津軽ツアー [Tsugaru tour]
ふなまち唄PartII [Funamachi uta Part II]
大いなる椎の木 [Ooinaru Shii no ki]
へこりぷたぁ [Helicopter]
風太 [Futa]
丘を越えて [Oka wo koete]
ふなまち唄PartI [Funamachi uta Part I]

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Yosui Inoue - Koori no Sekai, 1973 (128kbps)

2009-10-12T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Yōsui Inoue's Kōri no Sekai album marked unprecedented success for the Japanese music industry at the time, becoming the first long-playing record that has retailed more than a million copies in Japan alone. Universal Music Group stated that the vinyl release of Kori no Sekai was sold more than 1.35 million copies. Comprising other formats such as audio cassette and compact disc, the album has sold nearly 1.4 million copies to date.

In the history of the Oricon Albums chart started in 1970, Kōri no Sekai has been the album with the most weeks at number-one. About two weeks after the release, the album topped the Japanese Oricon Weekly LP chart for the first time, and stayed there for 13 consecutive weeks. Since then, it continuously remained on the top-ten of the chart for 113 weeks, and returned to the number-one spot again and again, while Inoue himself subsequently released some albums. Eventually Kōri no Sekai entered the Oricon for 150 weeks, spending 35 weeks in total at the top."
- Wikipedia

12th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time according to Takarajima.

井上陽水 - 氷の世界

あかずの踏切り [Akazu no Fumikiri]
はじまり [Hajimari]
帰れない二人 [Kaerenai Futari]
チエちゃん [Chie Chan]
氷の世界 [Kori no Sekai]
白い一日 [Shiroi Ichinichi]
自己嫌悪 [Jiko Keno]
心もよう [Kokoro Moyou]
待ちぼうけ [Machibouke]
桜三月散歩道 [Sakura Sangatsu Sanpomichi]
Fun
小春おばさん [Koharu Obasan]
おやすみ [Oyasumi]

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Gedo, 1974 (256kbps)

2009-10-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Formed by ex-members of early '70s festival stalwarts the M and Too Much, Gedo was a power trio whose biker fans followed them from bar to bar, making each gig into a show of ritual, full of euphoric moments, in-jokes and surprising outbursts of extreme collective male melancholy. With songs full of lyrics evoking images of hell, despair, pig’s flesh and fool’s paradises, Gedo's early LPs were sparsely-produced by Mickey Curtis, who kept intact the band's furious Born-to-be-Wild rush of proto-Ramones."
- Text by Juilan Cope

Named 24th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time by Rolling Stone Japan, Julian Cope thinks this is the 30th best Japrock album in the book JAPROCKSAMPLER. Instead of transliterating the track list I've provided the English track names as they are written on the album cover. This UK reissue contains two additional tracks of audience cheers simply titeled audience.

外道 - 外道

香り [Scent]
逃げるな [Don't Run away]
外道 [Gedo]
audience
ロックンロールバカ? [Rock 'n' Roll Stupid]
ダンスダンスダンス [Dance Dance Dance]
ビュンビュン [Byoon Byoon]
いつもの所で [At the Usual Place]
腐った命 [Rotten Life]
完了 [Completed]
audience
やさしい裏切りを [Tender Betrayal]
スターと [motorcycles]

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REBECCA - IV ～Maybe tomorrow～, 1985 (192kbps)

2009-10-10T12:01:00.000-07:00

Doesn't seem to be any information about this album available on any English sites. Excellent eighties pop/rock album from a group who had a slew of hits back then. The singer Nokko is still in the game with a pretty small but rabid (aren't they always) fanbase.

43rd Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan.

REBECCA - REBECCA IV ～Maybe tomorrow～

HOT SPICE
PRIVATE HEROINE
Cotton Time
76th Star
光と影の誘惑 [Hikari to Kage no Yuuwaku]
BOTTOM LINE
ガールズブラボー! [GIRLS, BRAVO!]
FRIENDS
London Boy
Maybe Tomorrow

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People - Ceremony ~ Buddha Meet Rock, 1971 (192kbps)

2009-10-09T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Released in answer to Ikuzo Orita’s superb ‘Polydor Super Session’ series of LPs, this riposte/rip-off, written by Buddhist poet/songwriter Naoki Tachikawa and organised by Teichiku Records’ A&R director Hideki Sakamoto, challenged every one of Orita’s projects and beat most of them cold simply by working though Orita’s own blueprint line by line. People even deployed the arsenal of Orita’s own guitar star ex-Outcast hired gun Kimio Mizutani, whose subtle licks inform the entire work. Mizutani shines brightest on side one’s 12-minute drone chant ‘Shomyo Part One’, but the bluesy bell tone of ‘Shomyo Part Two’ is pure and exquisite cosmic monotony, as is that employed on ‘Flower Strewing’, which elevates the track right out of authentic religious bore into a Funkadelic Deadmarch. On the five-minute wa-funk of ‘Gatha’, the apparently egoless Mizutani conjures up a typical Hideki Ishema-style axe scrawl giving the track a sound just like Kuni Kawauchi’s KIRIKYOGEN.

By the middle of side two, the tension has broken and the record starts to sound like Tim Leary’s 7UP collaboration with Ash Ra Tempel, as orgasmic Gille Lettmann/Rosi Muller-style female shrieks overwhelm ‘Prayer’. Director Sakamoto kept it all spacey and minimal, then adding plenty more LUMPY GRAVY-period Frank Zappa and mucho David Axelrod (whence came many of the original concepts) to the stew. As if to prove People’s pragmatism, ‘Epilogue’ concludes with 2-minutes of jamming over Axelrod’s immaculate ‘Holy Thursday’ from SONGS OF INNOCENCE. People’s success is their tenacity in holding on both to the drone and, therefore, to the metaphor, which permeates the entire recording and lays serious meditative usefulness on to the listener."
- Text taken from JAPROCKSAMPLER

Named 16th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

People - Ceremony ~ Buddha Meet Rock

Prologue
声明-Part 1 [Shomyo-Part 1]
讃歌 [Gatha]
切散華 [Flower Strewing]
声明-Part 2 [Shomyo-Part 2]
祈り-Part 1 [Prayer-Part 1]
祈り-Part 2[Prayer-Part 2]
Epilogue

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Hosono Haruomi - Paraiso, 1978 (192kbps)

2009-10-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

"For those who only know Hosono from YMO and his technopop and ambient music, this album will be a surprise. His last solo album pre-YMO, it features his take on "exotica", a faux-oriental style pioneered by Martin Denny. Hosono is a kind of musical alchemist, mixing Okinawan folk melodies with New Orleans funk ("Asadoya Yunta"), Balinese percussion (on a drum machine!), and even that classic of fake Japanese, "Fujiyama Mama". This album features Sakamoto & Takahashi, and that, plus the clever use of synthesizers, makes it a kind of bridge between Hosono's solo music and the technopop to come. On it's own terms it's a great album, melodic, inventive, and fun."
- Text from MUSIC BLOG OF SALTYKA AND HIS FRIENDS

4th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time according to Takarajima.

細野晴臣 - はらいそ

東京ラッシュ [Tokyo Rush]
四面道歌 [Shimendoka]
ジャパニーズ・ルンバ [Japanese Rhumba]
安里屋ユンタ [Asatoya Yunta]
フジヤマ・ママ [Fujiyama Mama]
ファム・ファタール～妖婦 [Femme Fatale]
シャンバラ通信 [Shambhala Signal]
ウォーリー・ビーズ [Worry Beads]
はらいそ [Paraiso]

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Les Rallizes Dénudés - Heavier Than A Death In The Family, 1995 (160kbps)

2009-10-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

"There ain’t no point taking up more than half a side of foolscap over description of this music. You either love or hate its simplicity. It’s that obvious. Besides, my dear translator Yuri AKA Madame Annexus Quam has told me that most of Mizutani’s words are so dumb-dumb moon-in-June kissy-kissy that they’ve gotta be intentional coming from such an out-and-out political and cultural refusenik.

Side One opens with the massively hooky “Strong Out Deeper Than the Night”, a fifteen minute plod-a-thon which slows Booker T’s “Green Onions” down to a “Las Vegas Basement” crawl, and allows Mizutani to first coo and mewl his wildly echoed vocals then answer himself with bursts of napalm fuzz guitar. It’s a seemingly endless trudge-o-thon round the kind of instant chord sequence that every 16-year-old plays then dumps the moment he starts doing it for real. Of course, here in Mizutaniland, it takes up the whole of side one. “The Night Collectors” follows, opening side two like La Dusseldorf playing “Virginia Plain” in a wind tunnel. Again, it’s a massively catchy and super-simple distort-o-fest; this time a mere eight minutes of autobahn joyriding, as Mizutani’s lead guitar envelopes the listener in cascades of sonic Niagara Falls."
- Text taken from Head Heritage

Named 3rd best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50. All tracks recorded 1977, other than "People Can Choose", recorded 1973.

Les Rallizes Dénudés - Heavier Than A Death In The Family

Strong Out Deeper Than the Night
The Night Collectors
Night of the Assassins
Enter the Mirror
People Can Choose
Ice Fire

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Towa Tei - Future Listening!, 1994 (192kbps)

2009-10-06T12:01:00.001-07:00

"Towa Tei mixes the sounds of cheesy 1960s mood music with contemporary club tunes. He is shamelessly pancultural, picking what he pleases from the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia. With one foot in the recent past and one in the immediate future, Future Listening is intelligent dance music that one can actually listen to.

Significantly, Tei is both everywhere and nowhere to be found on the album. He composed or co-composed all but one song, and wrote many of the lyrics. He programmed most of the computers, and played most of the keyboards. But he takes no blazing solos and sings hardly a word — only background vocals, on just two songs. Yet his musical sensibility permeates the music. Like Gustave Flaubert, Tei expresses himself through careful self-effacement."
- Text from Blogcritics

59th Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan.

Towa Tei - Future Listening!

I Want to Relax, Please!
Technova (La em Copacabana)
Batucada
Luv Connection
Meditation!
Raga Musgo
Son of Bambi (Walk Tuff)
Douce Vie (Amai Seikatsu)
Obrigado
Dubnova (Part1&2)

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Speed, Glue & Shinki, 1972 (VBR)

2009-10-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

"This far flung, double yellow Tiger bomber wrapped brown bag in paper was unleashed in Japan on Atlantic Records, Speed, Glue & Shinki’s second album did the impossible by being even more of a wrecked and loose a masterpiece as their previous album, “Eve.” Two separate LPs came tethered together in the oversized obi enclosure of one wraparound brown paper bag sleeve designed by the Taj Mahal Travellers’ self-made instrumentalist Michihiro Kimura. And the album’s lyric and credits sheet were littered with typos, crossed out words and all the reproductive cut marks, tape and detritus no white-out or non-repro blue zone exposure of all fuckups unmasking. And most of the music here on their final and eponymously named effort mirrored this, comprised of one-takes mishandled with searing guitar overdubs, occasional phasing on the drums and a direction mapped out not by some flimsy, preconceived fads but by a truly unselfconscious and of-the-moment reaching, succeeding and staggering just over the finish line in such a sublimely wrecked and burnt manner that it made an art form out of just teetering on the edge of falling apart altogether. It’s a miracle it was ever played and recorded, let alone released, for Speed, Glue & Shinki were loose cannons on the loosest ship of the loosest navy ever and seemed more like three stringless kites that soared so high upon the currents of Rock they never came down. Nothing was ever a big deal for these guys, they were so damn loose."
- Text form Head Heritage

Named 15th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

Speed, Glue & Shinki

Disc One

Sniffin' & Snortin' Pt.1 (Vitamine C)
Run and Hide
Bad Woman
Red Doll
Flat Fret Swing
Sniffin' & Snortin' Pt. 2 (Vitamine C)
Don't Say No
Calm Down

Disc Two

Doodle Song
Search for Love
Chuppy
Wanna Take You Home
Sun_Planets_Life_Moon
Song for an Angel

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Ippu-do - LUNATIC MENU, (192kbps)

2009-10-04T12:01:00.000-07:00

"The 11-track compilation Lunatic Menu was released (in Japan and the U.K.) in 1982. Encapsulating Ippu-Do's first three Japanese albums — only one of which, 1981's Radio Fantasy, had been released outside of their native country — the set is a fine introduction to the Tokyo-based trio's rich and complex brand of synth pop. (Tracks from the first two albums, Normal and Real, both from 1980, are remixed and, in some cases, re-recorded.) Opening with the piano instrumental "Morning Menu," the disc quickly takes on an electronic sheen with the hit single "Sumire, September Love," which blends synths, electric violin, rubbery bass, and both acoustic and electronic percussion in a way that recalls a bouncier version of the U.K. group Japan. (Ippu-Do leader Masami Tsuchiya became a temporary member of Japan around this time, playing guitar on their live album Oil on Canvas.) Songs flirt with reggae rhythms, toss the occasional English phrase in with the predominately Japanese lyrics, and at times sound like everyone from Thomas Dolby to XTC to Laurie Anderson to Ippu-Do's compatriots the Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Critics at the time mostly only heard the Yellow Magic Orchestra comparisons, unfairly lumping the two groups together mostly by virtue of their shared homeland. Ippu-Do are far poppier and more Western-oriented than YMO, however, as evidenced by the almost bubblegummy "I Love You" (the soaring chorus of which, perhaps intentionally, sounds uncannily like Little Peggy March's "I Will Follow Him" crossed with the Ronettes' "Be My Baby") and a weirdly Bowie-like (circa Lodger) cover of the Zombies' "Time of the Season." The only one of Ippu-Do's original albums to be reissued on CD, Lunatic Menu is a gem of early-'80s Japanese pop"
- Text taken from MUSIC BLOG OF SALTYKA AND HIS FRIENDS

Named 58th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time by Rolling Stone Japan. Instead of transliterating the track list I've provided the English track names as they are written on the album cover.

一風堂 - LUNATIC MENU

モーニング・メニュー [Morning Menu]
すみれSeptember Love [Sumire September Love]
ミステリアス・ナイト [Mysterious Night]
I LOVE YOU
電気人形 [Electric Doll]
ジャーマン・ロード [German Road]
RADIO COSMOS
ふたりのシーズン [Time of the Season]
ブラウン管の告白 [Moonlight Love]
ラジオ・ファンタジー [Radio Fantasy]
LUNATIC GUITAR

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Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffalo - Uganda, 1972 (256kbps)

2009-10-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Akira Ishikawa had a mission. He wanted to find the eternal now of rhythm. After a mind-blowing trip to Africa in 1970, the Japanese percussionist had a goal — true Afro-delic Acid Rock. He hooked up with composer Muroaka Takeru and this album was born in 1971. Awash in minimalist percussion — at times sounding like a field recording of a commune or some street performers — the album devolves into primitive heavy acid rock and throbbing seriousness. Ishikawa's intense personal vision and mission is no record-collector curiosity. This beauty deserves our attention.

Long known to collectors of bizarre Japanese psychedelic/heavy rock (see Cope, Julian), Uganda became something of a mystery and a holy grail. The album screams, too. It stumbles into that same primal early rock, excuse me, RAWK place that bands like Leaf Hound, The Edgar Broughton Band, and Australia's Buffalo ended up. In fact, this record comes off like a recording of the jam sessions that led to the riffs and beats of the James Gang's "Funk #49" but without all that familiarity from FM radio. Famed guitarist Mizutani Kimio trades monster licks with rambling percussion, an impressive drum kit (Ishikawa) and lots of moaning and throb.

The opening cut "Wanyamana Mapambazuko" will attract the most attention. It's utter heaviness will recall the stomping feet of Flower Travelling Band's Satori or even the Groundhogs' monstrous Split. The layers of percussion unsettle and make the walls wiggle. They evoke the sound of long dead gods in old amplifiers and fingers rubbing on hide."
- Text from Blogcritics

Named 27th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

石川晶&カウント・バッファロー - ウガンダ

動物達と夜明け [Wanyama Na Mapambazuko]
求愛 [Na Tu Penda Sana]
戦い [Vita]
ピグミー [Pigmy]

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RC Succession - COVERS, 1988 (VBR)

2009-10-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

"There is a story behind these covers of Summertime Blues and Love Me Tender. In 1988, RC Succession recorded an album called COVERS, which was intended for release by Toshiba-EMI on the anniversary of the Hiroshima atomic bomb and included Japanese versions of American protest songs such as Blowing In The Wind and Eve Of Destruction. So why Summertime Blues and Love Me Tender? In their Japanese versions, both are transformed into protests against nuclear power plants. This didn't please Toshiba-EMI at all - Toshiba being involved in the construction of nuclear reactors - so the record was pulled just before it was due to come out. Released on Kitty Records instead, the album went straight to number one in the Oricon charts."
- Text from Hong Kong Pop

41st Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan. Instead of translitering the tracks I've provided the name of the original song.

RCサクセション - COVERS

明日なき世界 [Eve Of Destruction]
風に吹かれて [Blowin' In The Wind]
バラバラ [Balla Balla]
シークレット・エージェント・マン [Secret Agent Man]
ラヴ・ミー・テンダー [Love Me Tender]
黒くぬれ! [Paint It Black]
サマータイム・ブルース [Summertime Blues]
マネー [Money]
サン・トワ・マミー [Sans Toi M'amie]
悪い星の下に [Born Under A Bad Sign]
イマジン [Imagine]

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Geinoh Yamashirogumi - Osorezan, 1976 (VBR)

2009-10-01T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Commencing with the greatest scream of any rock'n'roll record ever, this transcendental debut by Geinoh Yamashirogumi inhabits its own space like no other. Recorded in Tokyo, at Victor Records' enormous Studio Number One, the LP is comprised of two side-long pieces of ritual chanting and theatre music in the J.A. Caesar tradition.

Osorezan was performed by seventy singers accompanied by a highly authoritative and psychedelic band (including two ex-Spiders). There was in Japan no previous precedent for such transcendental music, and Osoerzan's unfathomable beauty should be compared to a highly extended Doors-influenced theatre piece. Unfortunately, as the Osorezan title track is one of rock'n'roll's highest ever achievements, its greatness eclipsed all of the ensemble's future releases"
- Text from Julian Cope's JAPROCKSAMPLER

Named 8th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

芸能山城組 - 恐山

恐山 [Osorezan]
銅之剣舞 [Doh no Kembai]

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X JAPAN - BLUE BLOOD, 1989 (VBR)

2009-09-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

ME-TAL!!

15th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan.

X JAPAN - BLUE BLOOD

Prologue(~World Anthem)
Blue Blood
Week End
Easy Fight Rambling
X
Endless Rain
紅 [Kurenai]
Xclamation
Orgasm
Celebration
Rose of Pain
Unfinished

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Flower Travellin' Band - Made in Japan, 1974 (192kbps)

2009-09-29T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Made In Japan" is, hands down, the darkest album FTB ever made. Once the listener gets past a rather odd opening track (a happy sounding radio ad, advertising one of the band's gigs in Canada,) they're instantaneously plunged into a well of doom that makes contemporary Sabbath albums sound perky by comparison. Yes, other FTB albums had their share of darkness, but nowhere was it so complete, so oppressive, so relentless.

It bears noting that Ishima's guitar can buzz and twitch in ways that Western guitarists never touched. Whereas Tony Iommi took the blues and morphed it into a kind of occult boogie, and Jimmy Page covered it in testosterone and bravado, Ishima takes the blues and turns it in on itself, all serpentine and mysterious, with an intensity that is still startling now. It's no surprise that he later moved to the sitarla, a custom instrument that splits the difference between guitar and sitar. Where "Satori" earned his status as a solo guitar God, his work on "Made In Japan" shows he could shine in the service of a song as well."
- Text taken from Jrawk

Named 18th best japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

Flower Travellin' Band - Made in Japan

Introduction
Unaware
Aw Give Me Air
Kamikaze
Hiroshima
Spasms
Heaven and Hell
That's All

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Flipper's Guitar - CAMERA TALK, 1990 (192kbps)

2009-09-28T12:01:00.000-07:00

Flipper's Guitar were a Tokyo-based Japanese pop duo formed by Keigo Oyamada (who later made a name of himself as Cornelius) and Kenji Ozawa. Some say Camera Talk is the finest example of shibuya-kei out there, I'm content "just" calling it a damn fine pop album from the '90s.

It it also the 35th Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time according to Rolling Stone Japan

Flipper's Guitar - CAMERA TALK

Young, Alive, In Love
Camera! Camera! Camera!
Cool Spy on a Hot Car
Summer Beauty 1990
Haircut 100
Colour Field
Big Bad Bingo
Wild Wild Summer
Knife Edge Caress
Southbound Excursion
3 a.m. op
Camera Full Of Kisses

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Far East Family Band - Parallel World, 1976 (256kbps)

2009-09-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Released in 1976, this album was their fourth release and is a world away from the previous three (the others are more prog-rock than space-rock, but still well worth a listen). Recorded in England (Manor Studios - the birthplace of "Tubular Bells", no less) by a German producer, the acclaimed Krautrock producer and musician Klaus Schulze. "Parallel World" is a prime example of mid- 70's space-prog that occasionally tips over into cliche and self-indulgence and, for me at least, is all the better for it.

Julian Cope said: " Virtually without vocals, "Parallel World" occupied the kind of vast and eternal kosmiche space that only the greatest Krautrock albums had thus far commanded. Whatever crazy titles Miyashita would at a later date decide to impose on these tracks, Klaus had created one seamless and ever unfolding earth-shaking, occasionally skanking masterpiece"."
- Text from The Spill

Named best 4th japrock album in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

Far East Family Band - Parallel World

Metempsychosis
Entering
Kokoro
Parallel World

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Murahachibu - Live [+1], 1973 (192kbps)

2009-09-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

"They're revered as gods, inarguable deities of Japanese rock...within the Japanese rock scene, that is. Move outside Japan, however, and the mood changes: Julian Cope's Japrocksampler openly states that their music was "monotonous crap," and his sentiment has been echoed in English sites across the internet.

This, I suggest, is a combination of unrealistic expectations and contrarianism. After hearing about the band's reputation, their unpretentious dirt rock may seem a letdown. While the music has clear antecedents, there was no blueprint for who Murahachibu were in Japanese society, something which is obviously overlooked (or under-emphasized) in Western assessments of their music, but which is central to understanding music in general, not just rock 'n' roll.

Ultimately, I fail to see how any fan of sloppy rock 'n' roll can champion, say, "Exile On Main Street," yet disparage Murahachibu's 1973 live recording: yes, they're falling over themselves. Yes, the vocals are barked more than sung. Yes, the guitar riffs are essentially revved up Chuck Berry workouts. Since when did these become criticisms? Like "Exile," "Live" isn't about the tunes, but about momentum, the intangible feeling a band achieves when they lock in, even when...especially when...they whip up a groove that seems like it's going to collapse at any second. Chabo doesn't sing so much as rant, spitting out free form declarations that often seem utterly disconnected to the music rumbling beneath him. His delivery in "んッ!!" initially does what's expected, more or less, following the tune in a vaguely coherent manner, but gradually devolves into detached rambling, like the crazy guy on the corner hitting his stride. "んッ!!" isn't a word, but translates into a James Brown like declaration along the lines of "Unh!!," which fits the tune's shambling, Ike Turner-esque kick perfectly."
- Text by Jrawk

Named 20th (Rolling Stone Japan) and 15th (Takarajima) Greatest Japanese Rock Album of All Time. This remastered CD edition comes with a bonus track, Gomibako no futa.

村八分 - ライブ

あッ！！ [A!!]
夢うつつ [Yume Utsutsu]
どうしようかな [Doushiyoukana]
あくびして [Akubishite]
鼻からちょうちん [Hanakara Chouchin]
水たまり [Mizutamari]
のうみそ半分 [Noumiso Hanbun]
馬の骨 [Umanohone]
ねたのよい [Neta no yoi]
ぐにゃぐにゃ [Gunya Gunya]
のびてぶぎー [Nobite Boogie]
んッ！！ [N!!]
どこへ行く [Doko he iku]
にげろ [Nigero]
どうしようかな [Dousiyoukana]
序曲 [Jokyoku]
ゴミ箱のふた [Gomibako no futa]

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Datetenryu - 1971, 1996 (192kbps)

2009-09-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

"Mainly instrumental, their music is a space trek through endless R&B riffs and classic soul moments, like some ever- unfolding medley. UNTO purports to be what the band members would have chosen had they had the opportunity to release an official debut album at the time, ie: a total barrage of lo-fi progressive garage rock. The 20-minute epic ‘Doromamire (Covered All Over In in Mud)’ is the killer, but really it’s all one insane 47-minute-long rush."
- Text by Julian Cope

Took 32nd place in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler Top 50.

だててんりゅう - 1971

ぶっこわれた僕 [Bukkowareta Boku]
春げしき [Haru Geshiki]
泥まみれ [Doromamire]
Part-4
あぶくの味 [Abuku No Aji]

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Jacks - LIVE 68'7'24, 1973 (192kbps)

2009-09-24T12:01:00.000-07:00

Oh boy, you are in for a treat here! A live record by Jacks, taped in 68 and released as a limited LP in '73, they didn't press more than a few hundred copies of the album. The gloomy mood set on their first album gets even gloomier with the furious performance and shoddy (but still very listenable) sound quality. This is bottomless despair on mp3! Heads-up: I'm really uncertain that the cover provided here is the official one, it is probably a cover used on a bootleg.

Instead of transliterating the track list I've provided the English track names as they are written on the cover of the album the songs originally appeared on.

Jacks - LIVE 68'7'24

マリアンヌ [Marianne]
お前はひな菊 [Daisy]
この道 [My Road]
時計をとめて [Stop The Clock]
いい娘だね [Lovely Girl]
由美子はいない [Gone my Yumiko]
敵は遠くに / Dm 4-50 [Battlefield in My Head / Dm 4-50]
薔薇卍 [Bara-Manji]
どこへ [Where?]
裏切りの季節 [Gloomy Flower]
ラブ・ジェネレーション [Love Generation]
われた鏡の中から [In The Broken Mirror]
からっぽの世界 [Vacant World]

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