While being spoiled with good books (bibels) like The Magic Land, Fuzz Acid & Flowers and Scented Gardens of the mind, Asia remains the only unexplored territory for the psych, progg & hardrock connousieurs, and was quite exciting one day when a good customer of ours, Chris McLean, out of Australia, mentioned he had done some work with the Japanese discography. As it turned out that Chris did not have in mind to do a book for out of this, I proposed to atleast put it on the web, and here you have it ! Please do not hesitate to contact Chris for corrections, additionals etc.

You can contact Chris here.

All the best, Johnny / Record Heaven.

Japanese psychedelic, progressive, experimental & heavy rock
[including jazz rock, electronic and avant garde music]

[updated throughout 2007, added Feb. 08]

To simplify sweepingly, the Japanese psychedelic rock scene beginning in the late 1960’s grew, as it did in many countries, from the influence of beat/r&b/psych-pop from leading UK groups, particularly The Beatles. The result of this influence was what was known as the ‘Group Sounds’ movement – basically involving lots of young folks seeking to emulate their idols by forming their own groups to play the new sounds. As the years passed most of these groups didn’t move with the times very well and were too commercially manipulated, remaining a pale psych-pop imitation of their UK and SF heroes. [It should be said that some Japanese music from this era does have a lot of strange charm due to the ways in which foreign musical influences were remoulded, and a few Group Sounds bands were actually pretty good.] This slowness in changing is comparable to the similar situations in Australia, New Zealand, and many South American and Asian countries at the same time.

However, as 1970 was ticking around some groups began to emerge who were making more credible and ‘progressive’ music. Many of the best Japanese bands from this time were already showing the over-the-top enthusiasm with which the Japanese have become endearingly associated with in other countries. This, combined with the willingness to experiment and incorporate Japanese musical influences, adds up to give Japanese psychedelic and progressive music a special something which aficionados of such music should appreciate. Unfortunately, not many of these albums gained an international release, making the original LP’s from the 60’s and 70’s very rare indeed for the rest of the world. Even in Japan, I presume such albums would now be very hard to find after the countries’ record shops have been scoured by international collectors with money to burn. Also, only a relatively small amount of the vintage stuff has been reissued on CD, though more comes out over time – and those that have been reissued tend to go out of print quickly [and are often not re-licensed], and/or are usually hard to obtain for a reasonable price outside of Japan. So, my advice is, if you see one of these in a shop or on-line and you know you want to buy it, don’t delay thinking you’ll be able to get it any time, because chances are perhaps you won’t! Even a lot of the newer Japanese music of interest seems to come and go pretty quickly, as Japanese experimental music is now very popular [at least in Australia] and prolific, but often with small print runs.

In case it helps to know, the main labels that have been reissuing a lot of the 70’s stuff are P-Vine, Showboat, Belle Antique, Coca/Nippon Columbia, Hagakure, and to a lesser extent PSF [Psychedelic Speed Freaks] and Captain Trip. The Naked Line imprint of Universal Japan has also recently been releasing some welcome mid-price cd reissues.

The 80’s are represented here mainly by a variety of symphonic neo-prog, RIO, experimental/weird synth-pop and post-punk avant-garde music. Originally I was going to leave out lots of neo-prog stuff from the 80’s and beyond, due to a lot of it being pretty unoriginal and unappealing to me, but to consider a wider audience I have put many of them in, although knowing less about them I haven’t gone into as much detail as with some groups or solo artists. I also hadn’t planned to include any of the synth-pop/art-punk-oriented stuff, but after actually hearing some of these bands I decided they were definitely weird enough to stand out and deserve mention. From the 90’s and beyond there has been a huge amount of supposedly ‘experimental’ and/or ‘psychedelic’ and/or ‘avant-garde’ music coming out of Japan, much of which is probably too basic, aimless, noisy and unpleasant to interest many readers of this article – or stuff that’s pure ‘noise music’. For this stuff I’ve tried to only discuss bands from these later periods that have something novel and interesting going on - in other words, the stuff that is still progressive in some way, or at least has a sense of aesthetics and art in the music. For example, Acid Mothers Temple clearly fit into that scheme, but bands like Mainliner, Musica Transonica and High Rise are too straight-forward to my ears and don’t really have a soul. If they were doing the same thing in the 60’s or early 70’s I would have listed them for interest’s sake, but for the 90’s and beyond they’re basically just very loud, over-the-top Blue Cheer-inspired rock bands without the sense of imagination, variety, dynamics and feeling that made Blue Cheer more than just a very loud collection of riffs. When Blue Cheer overloaded their recording equipment, they did it with finesse; when Mainliner et al. do it, it comes across to me as a sloppy horrid mess with no restraint or sense of aesthetic – recording in the red for the sake of it.

There’ll no doubt be a lot of stuff that I’ve missed on the radar, but I’m considering this as a work in progress, as should the reader. Simply put, since the 80’s a huge number of progressive rock and experimental groups have sprung up in Japan. It’s quite a task to keep track of them all!

Some details were gleaned from ‘The Primer – Japanese psychedelia’ by Alan Cummings [appeared in The Wire – issue?], Hans Pokora’s ‘Record Collector’s Dreams’ books [showing record covers and release info, with very limited and sometimes misleading genre assignations], progarchives.com, and a lot from extensive web-crawling; the rest is based on my own limited knowledge and opinions of groups or solo artists I’m more familiar with. Please bear in mind that not being able to read or speak Japanese has made it very difficult to find accurate information on many of these bands or musicians – it’s only since I had nearly completed this that Google started offering to translate Japanese web pages, and even then the process isn’t anywhere near perfect. And, Google can’t translate my many Japanese CD liner notes! To Japanese readers, therefore, this article may seem to be hopelessly inadequate and full of inaccuracies. I have tried to do my best piecing together fragments of information, and listening to whatever I can. I look forward to the publication of a comprehensive book on this subject written in English by someone who is also Japanese-literate and has broad tastes.

In 2007, Julian Cope’s book ‘Japrocksampler’ came out, which is a good source for more detailed information on some of the more major of these artists. However, as you’ll notice, our tastes differ considerably in some areas, although there’s some overlap. Regardless, Japrocksampler is recommended reading for a much more thorough look at the roots of Group Sounds and the Japanese avant-garde, and leading into the ‘new rock’.

Below I’ve listed bands alphabetically in sections divided into groupings of decades. As some bands span the decades, this is based on earliest recordings. For example if a band formed in the 70’s but didn’t record until the 80’s, they’ll be in with the 80’s stuff; if, however, there are live recordings available from the 70’s, then I would put them in with the 70’s stuff. Previously I had a division between everything up to the mid-70’s, and later groupings, but I changed this because the mid-70’s borderline was too confusing and tenuous. I hope this change has made things a bit easier to navigate as this web page keeps growing.

[Pre-]1960’s to 1970’s

Acid Seven/Acid 7 – an obscure raw rock’n’roll group led by activist and distributor of free psychedelic drugs Dr Acid Seven. Their only recorded legacy seems to be half of one side of the rare 1973 2-LP ‘Oz Days Live’ compilation [see below under Various artists], as well as the soundtrack to ‘Dokko Nigenbushi-Kotobikijiyu Rodosha No Machi’, a 1975 documentary about hippies. Besides making music, Dr Acid Seven also organized rock festivals through the 70’s, including the Oz Days festival itself.

Morio Agata – a hippy folk musician and singer/songwriter. According to the biography on his web-site, he “created a thoroughly original musical world which evoked the romantic popular culture of Taisho and Showa era-Japan.” His first album was the privately-produced ‘Chiku on Ban’ [1970], made with Keiichi Suzuki and Haruomi Hosono [see below; ex-Apryl Fool, also in Happy End and Yellow Magic Orchestra]. He first attracted major attention with his single ‘Sekishoku Elegy’ [1972] and shortly after released his second album, ‘Otome no Roman’ [King, 1972]. Following albums include the soundtrack ‘Boku wa Tenshi ja Naiyo’ [King, 1973], ‘Aa Mujou (Les Miserables)’ [King, 1973], ‘Nihon Shonen (Jipangu Boy)’ [Philips, 1976], ‘Kimi no Koto Sukinanda’ [Philips, 1977] and ‘Shonen Youga Eien no Enkoku (Ausland am Eveit Railrod)’ [1978]. ‘Norimono Zukan’ [Vanity, 1980] featured Phew of Aunt Sally [see below]. In 1981 he formed the group Virgin VS and went on to release many more albums. In the late 80’s he started to take on world music influences, and in the early 90’s he formed the group Raizo. He now also makes films.

Ain Soph – a Canterbury-styled progressive group, formed in 1970 as Heaven and Earth Creation; they changed their name to Ain Soph in 1977. They are not to be confused with the Italian ‘avant-rock’ group of the same name. Their first album was ‘A Story of Mysterious Forest’ [King Nexus, 1980]. This is the only one I’ve heard, and I can’t detect much of a ‘Canterbury sound’. It’s very good jazz rock-influenced prog with a symphonic and, at times, spacey edge almost hinting at early 70’s Pink Floyd. It’s been reissued on CD by Spalax. Numerous other albums have followed – ‘Hat and Field’ [King Nexus, 1986], ‘Marine Menagerie’ [Made in Japan, 1991], ‘Ride on a Camel – Special Live’ [Belle Antique, 1991; rec. 1976-78], ‘Five Evolved From Nine’ [Made in Japan, 1993], ‘Mysterious Triangle – Special Live Vol. 2’ [Belle Antique, 1993] and ‘Quicksand – Special Live Vol. 3’ [Belle Antique, 1994].

Kuniharu Akayima – an avant-garde composer and music critic, who founded the Jikken-Koubou Experimental Workshop in 1951, with Toru Takemitsu [see below] and others. In the early 60’s he was in the New Directions Music Ensemble with Yuji Takahashi, Kenji Kobayashi and Toshi Ichiyanagi [see below]. His musique concrete piece ‘Noh-Miso’, composed in 1962 for performances of an experimental puppet theatre group, appears on ‘Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 2’ [Omega Point, 2004], alongside a shorter piece by Yoji Yuasa [see below]. ‘Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 6’ [Omega Point, 200?] consists entirely of tape works by Akayima, with ‘Environmental Mechanical Orchestra’ from 1966, ‘Demonstration’ from 1963 and ‘Music For H Bomb’ from 1971. Akayima died in 1996.

Kumiko Akiyoshi – a beautiful young actress who did at least one solo album, ‘Kumiko Akiyoshi’ [Elec Records, 1972], on which she was backed by Yonin Bayashi [see below]. You can’t hear it most of the time though, as much of the album is mainstream schmaltzy orchestrated ballads and weak jazz-funk lounge music not far from the similar albums by Ike Reiko and Kiyoko Itoh [see below], all of which have recently been hyped as psych classics now that they’ve been reissued on CD. However, this album does have one track with more of a slightly psyched progressive rock feel, and one funky track that’s a bit better than the rest, which together redeem it a little, as do the cute cover photos!

Apryl Fool – a psychedelic rock group, playing more or less in a US west coast style with swelling organ and great gnarly lead guitar in places. They recorded one album, ‘Apryl Fool’ [Columbia, 1969]. There are a variety of styles, from slow blues to weirder psych - some of it’s pretty trippy, with ‘The Lost Mother Land (Parts 1 & 2)’ sounding a little like C.A. Quintet at their most psychedelic, but weirder and arguably better! Keyboardist Hiro Yanagida later went on to Foodbrain and a solo career [see below]; Shigeru Suzuki, drummer Takashi Matsumoto and bassist Haruomi Hosono went on to Happy End [see below]. The album has been reissued on CD by Coca.

Aunt Sally – these guys were a freaky ‘No Wave’ rock band, fronted by vocalist Phew. Their only album released at the time was ‘Aunt Sally’ [Vanity Records, 1978], which was largely ignored due to poor distribution. It has been reissued by Undo. Recently, a CD of live recordings has surfaced, ‘Live 1978-1979’ [P-Vine]. Phew went on to make solo albums [see below].

Bach Revolution – an avant-garde synth trio, consisting of Kazutaka Katai, Motoaki Suzuka and Akiro Kamio. They released at least three albums – ‘Waga Kokoro Imada Yasura Kanarazu’ [RCA/Red Seal, 1976], ‘No Warning’ [RCA/Red Seal, 1979] and ‘Suna No Obune’ [RCA/Red Seal, 1980].

Bi Kyo Ran – an excellent progressive rock group very much influenced by mid-70’s King Crimson, focusing on guitar/bass/drums dynamics. They’ve released numerous albums, including ‘Madoromi Live’ [1977], ‘Bi Kyo Ran’ [Nexus, 1982], ‘Parallax’ [Nexus, 1983], ‘Fairy Tale’ [1987], ‘Who Ma Live Vol. 2’ [Belle Antique, 1988], ‘Go-Un’ [1995], ‘Ran Live Vol. 3’ [1995] and ‘Deep Live’ [1995].

Blind Bird – this band played at lots of festivals in the early 70’s, but didn’t make their own album. I have no idea what they sounded like, but their only known recordings kept good company on the compilation ‘Rock Age Concert’ [Warner/Pioneer, 197?], with Flower Travellin’ Band, Speed Glue & Shinki, Far Out, Too Much, and the unknown [to me] Rock Pilot.

Blood [Bludd?] Sucker – Hans Pokora listed this in one of his ‘Record Collectors Dreams’ books as Bludd Sucker, but looking at the cover he reproduced it looks like he just misread it due to the way it was written – it looks like Blood Sucker to me. They released one album that I know of, ‘Blood Sucker’ [ALM, 1978], reputedly some kind of hard rock.

Blues Creation – a great heavy band who started out with the LP ‘Blues Creation’ [Polydor, 1969], containing hard blues rock with a garage band hangover. It was a good album but didn’t really stand out from the crowd, lacking originality. These guys really shone, however, on their 2^nd album ‘Demon & Eleven Children’ [Denon, 1971], by which time they had become considerably hairier than 2 years previous [both in sound and appearance!]. It’s a wild ride of early heavy progressive rock, in a raw and bluesy early Black Sabbath-influenced mode – and, by extension, comparable to other similar heavies of the era such as Incredible Hog. For this album the only original member left was guitarist Kazuo Takeda. Yoshiyuki Noji [bass], Shinichi Tashiro [drums] and Fumio Nunoya [vocals] from the debut had been replaced with Masashi Saeki, Masayuki Higuchi and Hiromi Osawa, respectively.

Their next album saw them hook up with the already well-known [in Japan] vocalist Carmen Maki - ‘Carmen Maki & Blues Creation’ [Denon, 1972]. For fans of the previous album, this is often a bit of a disappointment, as there are only a few tunes that are heavy or rock much at all, the remainder being fairly generic slow blues and ballads to make room for Maki’s Joplin-wannabe wailings. Well, maybe that’s unfair – Maki does have more restraint and a purer tone of voice than Joplin, and isn’t really a copyist. The heavier tracks are uniformly great, a tighter and more confident [but more compact] evolution from the previous album’s style, though there’s not enough of them to make this a very rewarding album, except for Carmen Maki fans. She also did some albums under her own name, most of which I haven’t heard [see below].

After this the band shortened their name to Creation [not to be confused with the earlier UK mod-pop group], for which see below. All of the above albums have been reissued on CD by Coca/Nippon Columbia. There’s a live album that has been issued on CD by Black Rose, but I don’t know if it was released back then or not; I think it dates from shortly after their 2^nd album, with Carmen Maki on some tracks. Although the bass is sometimes a little out of tune, the band really let it rip on this album, with lots of frenzied heavy jamming. There’s also a classic heavy song, ‘Nightmare’, that doesn’t appear on their studio albums. Blues Creation also had a great live recording on the rare ‘Genya-Sai’ album [see below].

Brain Police (Zunou Keisatsu) – an obscure folky Communist group formed in 1970 by vocalist/writer Panta [real name Haruo Nakamura], previously of Peanut Butter, MOJO & Spartacus Bunt. From what I’ve heard [from one of the earlier albums], they basically played fairly raw and rudimentary guitar and vocals-based songs with percussion and an angry political bent, kind of punk folk. The appeal is probably limited for those who don’t understand the lyrics, which are all sung/shouted in Japanese and tend to dominate proceedings. Apparently a lot of their material advocates violent reolution. They had several live tracks on the rare ‘Genya-Sai’ album [see below]. They released 6 albums [all live, I think], but I’ve found it tricky to locate any listings in English. They broke up at the end of 1975, but reformed briefly in 1990. All that time Panta remained active with a solo career. After Brain Police, guitarist Hiroshi Narazaki [a.k.a. Hiroshi Nar, previously in Datetenryu – see below] played bass with Les Rallizes Denudes, and later collaborated occasionally with Acid Mothers Temple [see below]. Drummer Toshi Ishizuka also collaborated with Kan Mikami and Kazuki Tomokawa [see below]. Lead guitarist Eiichi Sayu was briefly a member, before joining Dew and then Far Out [see below]. Not to be confused with the late-60’s US group Brain Police.

Brast Burn – an obscure underground avant-garde psychedelic outfit who made one album, ‘Debon’ [Voice, 1976]. It featured 2 lengthy tracks of largely repetitive, mantric, stoned folk grooves with percussion, keyboards, guitar, bass and plenty of sound effects and trippy mixing. Some of it’s like some Magical Power Mako; a lot of it is reminiscent of numerous of the more interesting progressive psych-folk and ‘krautrock’ bands [such as Amon Düül I & II, Lula Cortes e ze Ramalho]. The album attracted the attention of Nurse With Wound due to its weirdness, and is name-dropped on the famous ‘NWW list’. It was reissued on CD in a limited edition by Paradigm Discs in 1998. Brast Burn is said to have been just one person, Michirou Sakurai – who was a friend of the person responsible for the Karuna Khyal album [see below] on the same label, often rumoured to have been done by the same person.

Brush – bassist Masayoshi Takanaka formed this group and recorded a sole album in a limited private pressing, ‘Brush’ [TPR, 1971] a.k.a. ‘Escape’. Although starting out with psychedelic electronics, overall the rest of the album is fairly mellow West Coast-influenced psych rock, occasionally rocking it up a bit. It’s arguably slightly progressive-leaning at times. The album has recently been reissued on LP by Shadoks. Takanaka went on to Flied Egg after this.

J.A. Caesar [a.k.a. J.A. Seazer] – this guy was a graphic design student, who adopted the name J.A. [Julius Arnold] Caesar, often also found spelled Seazer and even Ceazar [just to confuse internet searches even further!], and was known by the late 60’s as one of the few ‘true hippies’ on the local scene. He apparently won a competition for hair length! He gravitated to Shuji Terayama’s Tenjo Sajiki underground experimental theatre company [see below] and despite lack of any previously evident musical talent quickly became the musical director, composing and performing the music for most of Tenjo Sajiki’s films and plays. Alongside this, he also staged his own musical ‘recitals’. His music often featured elements of Japanese percussion, ‘sekkyobushi narrative music’, progressive and psychedelic rock, raw heavy rock, and other influences as diverse as Carl Orff and Pierre Henry.

‘Sho O Suteyo, Machi E Deyo’ [Tenjo Sajiki, 1970], which I had previously listed as ‘Matihedeyou Syowosuteyo’ as it has been referred to elsewhere, is the earliest album I know of, but I don’t know if it was actually credited to J.A. Caesar or to Tenjo Sajiki. It had some well-known musicians involved such as Hiro Yanagida [see below], Hideki Ishima from Flower Travellin’ Band [see below] and Eiichi Sayu from Far Out [see below]; it was reissued on LP by P-Vine.

The first album I’m sure of being released under his own name [or pseudonym] is ‘Jasoumon’ (‘Heresy’) [Victor, 1972], sometimes listed as ‘Jashumon’, or ‘Tenjousajiki – Jasoumon’. It’s one of their best, an album to induce ‘shamanic meltdown’ according to Julian Cope. Many of its themes would be repeated on later albums such as ‘Kokkyo Junreika’, but here they have an earthier, deeper quality. It was reissued on CD with a book by P-Vine years back but is now out of print and very tricky to find. The following album was ‘Recital - Kokkyo Junreika’ [Victor, 1973], sometimes listed as ‘Kokkyo Junreika’ by J.A. Caesar Recital. This has great psychedelic ‘cartoon’ cover art [which looks really ahead of its time, for an early 70’s LP cover], and ranges from heavy progressive rock-outs, to sedate almost Magma-like grooves, to deep spacey stuff. It was reissued on CD by Belle Antique in 1995, and again in 2006; there is also an LP reissue by P-Vine.

‘Baramon – A Gay Sexual Liberation Record’ (‘The Rose Gate’) [Victor, 1973 or 1972] was said by Julian Cope to be “glam-inspired”, but musically, I can’t hear it at all. Music mostly takes a back seat on this album, which has lots of monologues with background music [and a Hitler speech in the opening track], but there are also some ballads, children’s tunes and some great raw, heavy psych rock. Whilst J.A. Caesar was credited as the main performer of the music, The Happenings Four [see below] and others are also credited. It has been reissued on CD by Tenjo Sajiki Records [2004]. ‘Den-en Ni Shisu’ (‘Death in the Country’) [RCA Sony, 1974] is also often listed as a Tenjo Sajiki release, and is the soundtrack to Tenjo Sajiki’s 1974 film of the same name. It was reissued on CD fairly recently by Showboat. It’s a lot more conventional than the other J.A. Caesar albums I’ve heard, in a kind of ‘folky’ song-based vein with hardly anything of progressive or psychedelic interest. It’s still okay, but not at all one of the better ones in my estimation. Caesar also released an EP at this tme, which I know nothing about, ‘Cache Cache Pastoral’ [Carrere, 1974].

 ‘Shintokumaru’ (‘Poison Body Circle’) [Victor, 1978] is another live recording that I think is one of Caesar’s best, in terms of both sound quality and musical evolution, now having heard it at last. The Carl Orff and Magma influence is more present here than ever, with proceedings largely alternating between moody and delicate traditional Japanese music, dialogue and loud prog rock. It’s in the loud prog that the Orff/Magma feel lies, driven by Shinji Takemura’s muscular bass – though at times they can sound a bit like early 70’s Gong and Amon Düül II. It has been reissued on LP by P-Vine, and more recently on CD at last from Belle Antique [2006].

‘Sealbreaking’ [Ain’t Group Sounds] was issued on CD as by J.A. Seazer. The packaging contains no information except track titles, and is pretty lo-fi. I’ve also seen an alternate cover, and I have no idea if it had been originally issued earlier, legitimately or not. I have to guess that it’s either crudely recorded from a film soundtrack, or consists of demo or bootleg live recordings. According to Julian Cope it’s live in Shibuya, Tokyo, 1980. Musically though, it’s great, with lots of heavy rock outs and progressive rock typical of their best early 70’s style. The opening track even sounds like a raw, heavy Magma for several minutes.

 ‘Saraba Hakobune’ (‘Farewell to the Ark’) [Sound Marketing Systems Records, 1984] was the soundtrack to Shuji Terayama’s last film, and has been reissued on CD by Showboat. It’s apparently in a more meditative psychedelic mood, perhaps akin to ‘Pilgrimage Of Blood’. ‘Okami Shonen’ (‘Pilgrimage Of Blood’) [P-Vine, 2002] is a soundtrack to a film by Hiromichi Tannai, and is a very diverse offering, essentially a compilation, with tracks recorded in 2001, 1981, 1979, 1977 and 1972. The music is hard to describe, with a uniquely Japanese feel, and is mostly sedate, moody and unusual, sometimes with subtle electronics and gorgeous mixing, and always sounding distinctly Japanese. One track reminds me of the German group Cozmic Corridors; some of it wouldn’t sound out of place in a mid-70’s Dario Argento film [no funky Goblin grooves though]! I’ve seen the title spelled incorrectly as ‘Ookami Syonen’ [a mistake previously continued here].

Tenjo Sajiki’s ‘Aho Bune’ aka ‘Ahousen’ [see below] can be considered a J.A. Caesar album, as might some of the Tokyo Kid Brothers albums [see below], which Caesar was sometimes involved in. Given that the text on these albums is mostly in Japanese print, and that they are collaborations between more than one entity, it can be hard to tell how to list these albums correctly or even to find agreement regarding the spelling – and as mentioned above, this makes internet searches considerably difficult.

Some other J.A. Caesar albums I know nothing further about are ‘Nuhikun’ (‘Directions to Servants’) [cassette, 1979], ‘Kusa Meikyu’ (‘Grass Labyrinth’) [1983], ‘The Lemmings’ [cassette, 1984; reissued Banyru Inryoku, 2000], ‘King Lear’ [1991] and ‘Tenshi Souzou Sunawachi Hikari’ [1998].

J.A. Caesar is still active in composing and performing music for stage productions and soundtracks; he inherited Tenjo Sajiki following the death of Terayama. Also recently, Caesar composed the music for the TV anime ‘Shoujo Kakumei Utena’.

Shinki Chen – after Foodbrain [see below], guitarist Chen collaborated again with Hiro Yanagida and others, including bassist George Yanagi [ex-Powerhouse] to record a great solo album, ‘Shinki Chen & His Friends’ [Polydor, 1971]. Musically, it hints at the bluesy heavy acid rock of his next band, Speed, Glue & Shinki [the bassist of that group also played on one track here], with some experimental bits here and there reminiscent of his tenure with Foodbrain; it is considered a classic album by many fans of the genre [including myself], though others think it’s boring and aimless. It’s been reissued on CD by Hagakure.

Chronicle – an offshoot of Far Out [see below]. When that group was in the process of crumbling, before Fumio Miyashita picked up the pieces and started Far East Family Band [see below], bassist/vocalist Kei Ishikawa and last in a succession of drummers Osamu Takeda left, moved to California, and formed Cronicle with two other fellow Japanese. They played electronic space rock in a similar vein to Far East Family Band, although with their own sound, and more song-based. They also shared the uneasy blending of soppy/cheesy commercially oriented balladry and really cool spacey stuff. The liner notes to their 3^rd album claims that Ishikawa and Takeda had both been in Far Out and FEFB, but based on what Julian Cope has laid out in ‘Japrocksampler’ they left Far Out before FEFB was formed, as mentioned above.

Chronicle released at least three albums – ‘Live at Whisky A Go-Go’ [Express, 1975], ‘Imawa Tokino Subete’ [1975] and ‘Like a Message From the Stars’ [All Ears Records, 1977].

Condition Green – a hard rock group from Okinawa with a wild live reputation. Their first album ‘Life of Change’ [See Saw, 1978] contained great heavy rock alongside more percussive and flowing stuff, hinting at a mix of Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and Santana. There are slight psychedelic and progressive touches to the whole thing. The next album ‘Mixed Up’ [label?, 1978] was slightly more mainstream, but still a great heavy rock album overall. Some people have compared it to Ted Nugent and Grand Funk, but those comparisons don’t really hold true for me now that I’ve heard it. I haven’t figured out what it does remind me of, but regardless, any lover of 70’s hard rock will probably like it. It’s been reissued on CD by Pony Can. Also existing is the very rare ‘’83 Live’ [Disques Jean Jean, 1983], which only came out in a limited number of promotional copies before the official release was cancelled. It features long, jammy psychedelic tracks and is reputedly even better than the debut.

Cosmos Factory – a progressive group formed in Nogoya, 1970. They moved to Tokyo the next year, acquired a manager [who was also a well-known rock critic] and got to work. The band are now perhaps best known for their first album, ‘Cosmos Factory’ (a.k.a. ‘An Old Castle of Transylvania’) [Columbia, 1973], which has long been the easiest to obtain on CD. In the Ultima Thule shop catalogue it’s compared to Far East Family Band; I find this very misleading, as the only similarities I can hear are in their worst moments, ie. when they get into their cod-emotive sappy balladic crooning. Other than those bits, which take up a lot of space, it’s a pretty good to great album, with heavier bits as well as spacey and slightly ominous progressive rock reminiscent of a blend of The Nice, Arzachel and early Pulsar, with cool use of the Moog. Anyway, this album brought them a lot of recognition and they began playing support for big western bands of the era such as Humble Pie and The Moody Blues, both then well past their prime and probably overshadowed by their unique support act!

The next album, ‘A Journey With The Cosmos Factory’ [Toshiba EMI/Express, 1975], was well-received. In some ways it was a better album, entering some more experimental electronic rock realms and with more creative use of synths, but in other ways it was still a little patchy. Here they sound a bit like Far East Family Band at times. ‘Blackhole’ [Toshiba EMI/Express, 1976] contained some of their best ever stuff, amongst which were some tracks that owed more to ‘Red’-era King Crimson than the Cosmos Factory of past albums. These tracks still had a spacey feel though, and sound surprisingly like the recent US group Yeti from their first album ‘Things To Come’ [2000]. The harder tracks have caused this album to show up in some lists of metal/hard rock albums, though most of the album doesn’t rock hard at all, and there’s still a lot of soft ballads and electronic rock. Around this time, the band also began making music for film soundtracks and TV themes. Their last album, ‘Metal Reflection’ [Toshiba EMI/Express, 1977], has a reputation for being more of a metal/hard rock thing, but it’s actually a lot more varied than that. It’s a pretty good album containing proggy hard rock, proggy metal, spacey prog, cosmic funk, a ballad, and almost omnipresent synthesisers. Some bits are reminiscent of some Magical Power Mako circa ‘Jump’ [see below]. The production is excellent. They also released a number of rare EP’s - ‘Fantastic Mirror’ [Toshiba/Express, 1975], ‘The Infinite Universe Of Our Mind’ (a promo release) [Toshiba/Express, 1975] and ‘Days In The Past’ [Toshiba/Express, 1975]. The first album has been reissued on CD by Coca/Nippon Columbia; the next 3 by Toshiba EMI. They’re possibly out of print now but a fresh line of reissues recently appeared.

Creation – this group [not to be confused with the UK 60’s group] was a continuation of Blues Creation [see above], after their involvement with Carmen Maki [see below]. Bassist Masashi Saeki and vocalist Hiromi Osawa were replaced by Shigeru Matsumoto [bass, percussion,vocals] and Yoshiaki Iijima [guitar], with guitarist and band leader Kazuo Takeda also taking on keyboards. In 1973 the band opened for Mountain on a tour, beginning a friendship between Takeda and Mountain’s Felix Pappalardi that would last for some time. Their first album was ‘Creation’ [EMI, 1975], produced by Yuya Uchida of The Flowers [see below], and Kei Ishizaka. While being less heavy and not quite as good as Blues Creation had been, with a bit more of a mainstream leaning in parts, it was still a very good and varied album in it’s own right, and revisited a bit of a hard psych element to the music here and there. When Felix Pappalardi came to Japan in 1975 to play at a rock festival, Creation guitarist Takeda played with him in Pappalardi’s World Rock Festival Band. Pappalardi was going to produce their next album, but he ended up joining the band briefly as well on bass, keyboards and vocals, resulting in the album ‘Creation & Felix Pappalardi’ [Express/Toshiba EMI, 1976], which was more eclectic and commercial in style, with Pappalardi’s vocal and compositional style being very noticeable, making the album sound kind of like a less heavy, more commercial version of Mountain. Although weaker than the previous album, it still featured a few pretty good songs. In the US it was released with a different cover as ‘Felix Pappalardi & Creation’. ‘Pure Electric Soul’ [EMI, 1977] followed without Pappalardi, again produced by Uchida and Ishizaka. Featuring lots of funk rock and soul ballads, it was a pretty disappointing album overall, although the funky tracks are still good and there are a couple of really good heavy rockers, most impressive being a cover of The Yardbirds’ ‘Happenings Ten Years Time Ago’. This has been claimed by some to be a live album, but it certainly doesn’t sound like it. There is a CD release on Mason with ‘Creation’ and ‘Pure Electric Soul’ together as a 2-CD set, possibly a bootleg, and both have also legitimately been reissued separately. ‘Super Rock in the Highest Voltage’ [Express, 1978] saw Iijima absent, Matsumoto replaced by Masahiko Takeuchi and Mitsuru Kanekuni added on sax. ‘Studio Live in Direct To Disc Recording’ [Express/Toshiba EMI, 1978] saw yet more line-up changes, plus numerous guest musicians. Albums following were ‘The Land of the Rising Sun’ [Toshiba EMI, 1980], ‘Lonely Heart’ [Toshiba EMI, 1981], ‘Just Arrive’ [Toshiba EMI, 1982], ‘Running On’ [1982], ‘Songs For a Friend’ [King, 1983] and ‘Rainy Nite Dreamer’ [King, 1984]. These days guitarist Takeda lives in the United States and is known as Kazuo ‘Flash’ Takeda or ‘Flash’ Kaz Takeda, and plays blues and jazz. He’s released many solo albums, beginning with ‘Misty Morning Flight’ [Toshiba EMI, 1978].

Crosswind – formed by guitarist Ginji Ogawa in 1976. They played jazzy progressive rock and made at least three albums – ‘Crosswind’ [1978], ‘II’ [1979] and ‘Soshite Yume No Kuni E’ [1982]. I’ve only heard the last of these, which is pretty good stuff, though sometimes a bit cheesy, with lots of fiery guitar work and comparisons to Finch, Camel and Ain Soph. Ogawa also performed in Carmen Maki’s band [see below]. After Crosswind broke up in 1984, Ogawa formed several other bands and began a solo career. In 2001 he re-emerged with Ginji Ogawa Band, playing prog apparently comparable to Camel, Yes, Focus, Rush & Jethro Tull.

Miki Curtis – vocalist and flautist from Samurai [see below]. After Samurai, he released a solo album, ‘Mimi’ [Vertigo, 1972], reissued in 1977 on Philips. It’s reputedly totally different to the music of Samurai, instead being mellow psych-pop, with backing from members of Happy End [see below].

Dada – an electronic group who have been described as ‘a Japanese Fripp & Eno’, and have also been compared to Ashra and Pôle. From what I’ve heard so far, the Fripp & Eno comparison only stands up as far as that the band was a synth/guitar duo - Kenji Konishi on synths and Mutsuhiko Izumi on guitar, although sometimes they both play synths. Their debut, ‘Jyo’ [Vanity, 1978], was the first release on the Vanity label. This was followed by ‘Dada’ [Vanity, 1978], the live ‘Joheki’ (cassette) [Belle Antique, 1979] and ‘Dada’ [King-Nexus, 1981; pretty sure this isn’t a repackaging of the ’78 s/t album, as the back cover says it was recorded in late 1980]. This last record is the only early one I’ve heard so far, and is a bit cheesy here and there but nevertheless quite good. Some of it reminds me of late-70’s Vangelis and Tangerine Dream, though one track sounds like Raymond Scott and another is a weird and wacky rhythmic piece. It’s been reissued on CD by King, but is out of print. ‘Castle Wall’ [Belle Antique, 1984] was a collection of previously unreleased material produced by H. Tamaki [see below], reissued on CD in 1994. While some of it is pretty cheesy with icky early 80’s synth tones and melodies predominant, most of ‘Castle Wall’ is pretty top-notch spaced-out stuff, though with a few slight tape flaws here & there. Some of it reminded me a bit of some Pôle, Vangelis, late-70’s Tangerine Dream and Spacecraft, some of it perhaps like Carpe Diem stripped back to just the keyboards & guitar. Konishi later joined P-Model and Shifukudan; Izumi later joined After Dinner [see below] and Kennedy [see below].

Datetenryu – an underground band formed in 1971. They played a kind of underground psychedelic progressive rock. Guitarist Hiroshi Narazaki was also in Brain Police [see above] and Les Rallizes Denudes [see below]. There are numerous CDs available covering recordings from 1971-1982, but I don’t think they released any albums at the time. ‘1971’ [Dragon Freek, 1996] sounds like live demo recordings, and is mostly great raw, and sometimes funky, heavy psychedelic prog that features quite a lot of fierce jamming and strange changesof direction. Some comparisons at various points are Foodbrain, Lagger Blues Machine and Elluffant. At one point they even sound a bit like Ruins or Korekyojin! The last track is much more conventional. ‘Unto’ [Belle Antique, 1997] featured live stuff from 1978 [possibly previously issued as ‘Rock Horizon Vol. 4’], 1975 and a studio track from 1982. The music on this disc is less heavy, substituting more of an almost jazzy prog jamming vibe. It may not appeal to fans of the earliest recordings, but I think it’s still pretty good. Both CD’s are out of print. There was a CD-R release of more archive material, ‘1976’ [2000]. They broke up in 1983, but after a hiatus the band got back together recently, and have released more CD’s on their own label – ‘Nagi’ [Banana Songs, 2000], ‘[Japanese title]’ [Banana Songs, 2003], ‘Red Afternoon Blues’ [Walking Press Records, 2004] and ‘Cool Flying Dragon’ [Banana Songs, 2006].

Dema – a very obscure piece, Dema [‘Rumour’] actually is the name of the album [CBS/Sony, 1972], not the group, but I’ve put it here because that’s how it’s usually referred to amongst Western collectors. It was a collaboration between Masahiko Satoh [see below] and Kohsuke Ichihara, referred to on the inside cover and label as number 2 in the Sound Display Series – no idea what else was in that series. Satoh [who arranged and composed the music] and Ichihara each led a separate group who combined to create the music. These were Kohsuke Ichihara All Stars, consisting of Ichihara on wind instruments, Takao Naoi and Kimio Mizutani [see below] on electric guitar, Masaoki Terakawa on electric bass, Hideo Ichikawa on electric piano and Akira Ishikawa on drums; and Masahiko Satoh & Garan-Doh, consisting of Satoh on piano and synth, Keiki Midorikawa on wood bass and Hozumi Tanaka on drums and percussion. The music is interesting avant-garde jazz rock that is mostly pretty spaced-out and occasionally enters free jazz territory. Most of the album consists of a length piece broken over two sides, with a shorter piece at each end. The inside cover states that the album was adapted from an original story by Yasutaka Tsutsui, and credits Yoshio Gyoda for “commentary”, but as it is an entirely instrumental album I have no idea what this actually means. The gatefold cover features memorable artwork with a baby floating in space, overlaid with a lattice of geometric diagrams. It’s also quadrophonic, by the way!

Dew – a raw heavy blues rock band formed by ex-Blues Creation singer Fumio Nunoya. They didn’t release an album of their own, but they had a couple of live tracks on the rare ‘Genya-Sai’ album [see below under Various artists], which are good but nothing great. Guitarist Eiichi Sayu [ex-Brain Police] was briefly a member before joining Far Out [see below].

DK Mushroom & Son – this was a group featuring Filipino Joey Smith from Speed, Glue & Shinki [see below] and Juan De La Cruz Band with two Japanese musicians, playing drums, bass, guitar and Moog. They recorded an album’s worth of material in 1972 that wasn’t released at the time. It was supposed to be released some time recently as ‘Hit’ [Victor, 200?], according to Julian Cope, but I’ve been unable to find any trace of its existence except for his say-so, and oddly there’s no further mention of it in his recent book ‘Japrocksampler’. It reputedly features “slow, squelchy farts over Stoogean teen riffs”, according to Cope! Smith joined the new lineup of Juan De La Cruz in the Philippines after this.

East – this band were based in the US, and reputedly played ‘eastern influenced psych’. They recorded three discs that I know of – ‘East’ [Capitol, 1972], ‘Beautiful Morning’ (an EP) [1972] and ‘Coronado Moonbeams’ (an EP) [1973]. Their album is available on CD.

The East Bionic Symphonia – not really a proper band, but a temporary musical presentation staged for the graduation of Kazuo Imai and fellow students from the art school workshops of Takehisa Kosugi [see below]. These concerts of collective free-improvisation were called East Bionic Symphonia. They made a live recording, ‘Recorded Live’ [ALM, 1976], featuring 10 members playing all manner of instruments and objects over 2 lengthy jams. This sounds very much like a largely mellow Taj Mahal Travellers [see below]. After this, the group seems to have dissolved, with Imai playing with the Kosugi-less Taj Mahal Travellers and later with a variety of other avant-garde musicians. Another EBS member, Chie Mukai, went on to form her own ‘folk-psych’ group Ché-Shizu [see below].

Epos – a studio project by Masahiko Satoh [see below], with a drummer and a trio of percussionists. They made one quadrophonic album, ‘Eternity? (4Ch Niyoru Dagakki To Okesutora No Tameno Konpojishon)’ [Polydor, 1972]. The subtitle translates to ‘Composition For Percussion and Orchestra in Quadrophonic’, and the music is “an alienated and epic avant-garde wash of empty space music” according to Julian Cope.

Far East Family Band – a space rock group formed out of the ashes of Far Out [see below], with synth players Masanori Takahashi [a.k.a. Kitaro], Fumio Miyashita [also played guitar] and Akira Ito, all later to achieve some fame as solo artists [see below]. Their style was very much influenced by early/mid-70’s Pink Floyd and perhaps Eloy, with a gentle [and almost proto-New Agey] oriental touch. In my opinion they’re at their best when doing lengthy hypnotic space treks – their mellow crooning song style does not appeal to me much, and is in a similar vein to that of Far Out [see below]. Their first album was ‘The Cave Down To The Earth’ [Mu Land, 1974], which featured lots of mellow, spacious material and a fair bit of the crooning mentioned above. Other members on this album were Akira Fukakusa [bass], Hirohito Fukushima [guitar, vocals] and Shizuo Takasaki [drums]. It’s been reissued by TRC, and probably Coca.

By the time of ‘Nipponjin – Join Our Mental Phase Sound’ [Nippon Columbia/Vertigo, 1975] they were assisted in recording in the UK by Klaus Schulze. This was a better album than its predecessor, with some great lengthy space treks [especially ‘Nipponjin’, a reworked version of Far Out’s ‘Nihonjin’], and partly contained reworked material from the first album. It’s been reissued by Buy Or Die, and probably Coca.

Their real masterpiece [also made with Schulze’s assistance, as well as that of Gunther Schickert] was ‘Parallel World’ [Columbia, 1976], a lengthy album with [in my opinion] only 1 partly-dud track, and lots of excellent space rock. The sound is very digitally-processed and cutting-edge for the time, the music ranging from barely audible spacey ambience to full-flight oriental space rock hinting at some Ozric Tentacles. The lengthy track covering side 2 is a totally spaced-out piece of mostly free-form synthesizer and computer music adventures. It’s been reissued by Coca.

Their last album was ‘Tenkujin’ [All Ears Records, 1977], by which time they had become a trio of Miyashita, Fukushima and drummer Yujin Harada [ex-Samurai – see below], and Kitaro, Ito and Takasaki had left. It is reputedly dominated by their earlier balladic style and is low on space music content, having a reputation as a weak album to avoid. However, I’ve heard it now and I was surprised to find it not too bad, and quite good in places, with less vocals than expected. However it is a big dip in quality after the awesome album that came before it. This was reissued some time ago by TRC and Coca. I’ve also seen another one listed, ‘Tom Hatano’ [1977], but I don’t know anything further.

Far Out – a rather legendary psychedelic progressive group formed by Fumio Miyashita [Moog, acoustic guitar, harmonica, vocals; ex-Glories], with Eiichi Sayu [guitar, Hammond; ex-Brain Police, Dew], Kei Ishikawa [bass, electric sitar, vocals; ex-Fujio Dynamite – see Fujio Yamaguchi below] and Manami Arai [drums]. They recorded only one album, ‘Far Out (a.k.a. Nihonjin)’ [Denon, 1973]. (I’ve seen a previous one listed in one place, ‘Mio’ [1972], but it might just be legend or a case of confusion. They also have some stuff on the various artists ‘Rock Age Concert’ – see below) It contains only 2 lengthy tracks ranging through a variety of moods. Starting out with slow echoed percussion and some painful oscillator twitching, the album quickly establishes a serious and exploratory intent, marred only by the occasional chunks of balladic crooning with ‘mournful’ Dave Gilmour-styled guitar licks which don’t quite agree with me [it’s not the music I object to so much as the singing in these parts – though I grow to like it all more each time I hear this great album]. However the album also contains plenty of slow and chunky ominous minor key heavy riffing, exotic guitar-cum-sitar stroking, and hypnotic plodding eastern space rock - think Pink Floyd’s ‘Careful With That Axe…’/‘Set The Controls…’ Japanese style, with a pinch of Flower Travellin’ Band circa ‘Satori’, and Dave Gilmour playing with the Moody Blues for the balladic bits [apparently Miyashita was pretty into the Moody Blues]. Some famous guests also participated in the album sessions - Joe Yamanaka [Flower Travellin’ Band] and Osamu Kitajima [see below].

The album didn’t meet with its deserved success, and one by one members departed until only Miyashita remained, starting from scratch with new musicians as Far East Family Band [see above], pursuing a similar mode but with less rock and more spaciousness; Ishikawa later moved to the US and formed Chronicle [see above]. The Far Out album has been reissued on CD a number of times; the Buy Or Die reissue I own has an album’s worth of bonus tracks that consist of most of the Far East Family Band’s first album, ‘The Cave Down To The Earth’, although not credited as such.

Flied Egg – a popular group who released 2 albums in their short lifespan – ‘Dr. Siegel’s Fried Egg Shooting Machine’ [Vertigo, 1972] and ‘Good Bye’ [Vertigo, 1972]. The debut featured a mix of accessible psych-pop-prog, hard-riffing heavy rock [with some moves directly lifted from early Uriah Heep], and early progressive tendencies. The last album was mostly live [from their farewell concert, apparently] and leant more towards their heavy rock side, notably influenced by Grand Funk circa ‘Live Album’ and numerous Black Sabbath-meets-Mountain wannabes, and including a couple of old Strawberry Path songs. The studio material was in a similar vein to the range of styles on their first album. Drummer Hiro Tsunoda had previously been in The Jacks, Foodbrain and Strawberry Path, and was also in Sadistic Mika Band at some point [see below for all]. Bassist Masayoshi Takanaka had previously been in Brush [see above]. George Yanagi [ex-Powerhouse, Shinki Chen solo, Strawberry Path] sang on one track on the last album.

[Yuya Uchida &] The Flowers – formed in the late-60’s to explore psych rock beyond group sounds, this septet played a lot in Tokyo and were very into Big Brother & The Holding Co. Their first recording was a monster jam called ‘I’m Dead’ that would be released on a Toshi Ichiyanagi album [see below]. They eventually released a sole album of their own, ‘Challenge!’ [Columbia, 1969], which was perhaps most challenging in that it showed the whole band standing naked in a field on the front cover! It contained cover versions from the likes of Big Brother & The Holding Co., Hendrix, Cream and Jefferson Airplane, and only one original composition [which is an excellent piece of west coast styled hard psych jamming that hints a little at their monster jam ‘I’m Dead’ (see Toshi Ichiyanagi below) and was apparently recorded at the same session]. Another track, ‘Intruder’, may also be an original but I’m not sure. Despite being largely covers, it’s not a bad psych album, and the instrumental breaks are great, especially the guitar and bass interplay. The album has been reissued on CD by Coca and Synton, as well as on LP. Near the end of their days, they recorded live stuff for the ‘Rock’n’Roll Jam ‘70’ various artists live album [see below], on which their version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘How Many More Times’ reputedly kicked up a real storm, and can be heard on the bootleg ‘From Pussys To Death In 10,000 Years Of Freak-Out’ [Apex, 1995; credited to Flower Travelling Band but full of Flowers music]. Soon after this, Uchida left the group as a member, got rid of everyone bar the drummer and one of the guitarists, formed the remainder of the group into the Flower Travellin’ Band [see below] and became their producer.

Flower Travellin’ Band – a legendary group formed out of the remnants of The Flowers. The lineup was Akira ‘Joe’ Yamanaka [vocals; ex-491], Hideki Ishema [guitar; ex-Beavers, Flowers], Jun Kosuki [bass], and Joji ‘George’ Wada [drums; ex-Flowers].

There’s a Flower Travellin’ Band bootleg CD available called ‘Music Composed Mainly By Humans – Demonstration 1970’ [Ain’t Group Sounds, 2002], which should really be credited to Flowers, Flower Travellin’ Band and Kuni Kawachi. It contains a near half-hour jam, ‘I’m Dead’, comprising freeform improvising and composed acid rock song sections, with great searing fuzz guitar leads, which is the Flowers contribution to the Toshi Ichiyanagi album ‘Opera From The Works Of Tadanori Yokoo’ and the first and best thing they recorded – see below, later bootlegged on ‘From Pussys To Death In 10,000 Years Of Freak-Out’ [Apex, 1995]. It also contains shorter tracks, which comprise much of the ‘Kuni Kawachi & Friends’ album dubbed from vinyl [see below], as well as ‘Map’, a rare non-album single that I know nothing more about [a-side? b-side? label? year?]. Anyway, backing Kuni Kawachi on his solo album was the first thing the new band did in the studio.

Their first album proper was ‘Anywhere’ [Philips, 1970], which had surely one of the coolest rock album covers ever – a gatefold photo of the band speeding down the road, naked, on motorcycles! Musically, it was good but only of passing interest to non-FTB fanatics, as it contains nearly all cover versions [such as ‘21^st Century Schizoid Man’, ‘Black Sabbath’ and ‘House of the Rising Sun’], the only ‘original’ compositions being a heavy progressive blues jam track and a very short harmonica piece. Perhaps for hardcore fans and completists only, although some people might want to own a copy just for the cover! That being said, they do give the covers a good treatment and the album is very enjoyable.

Their second album, ‘Satori’ [Atlantic, 1971], was a huge leap forward in strength and originality, and is arguably their monolithic masterpiece. It contains lengthy, and usually very loud, hypnotic psychedelic heavy progressive rock, with pummeling riffs and a great stoned, mystical feel. The next album, ‘Made in Japan’ [Atlantic, 1972], was better distributed internationally and even featured a sound-bite from a radio ad for a rock festival at which they played with numerous big names of the day, including ELP. Musically it was in a similar vein to the preceding album but more song-oriented and varied overall – an excellent album, and one friend even likes this one better than ‘Satori’. Their last album, ‘Make Up’ [Atlantic, 1973] was a double LP, and had Yuya Uchida guesting on vocals. The album featured studio and live material, including a 20-minute version of ‘Hiroshima’ from the previous album [with bass solo] and a live-in-studio version of ‘Satori Part 2’. Of the studio material, some is in a heavy progressive vein [though leaning more towards an oriental King Crimson in parts than their older style], some is in a more commercial softer style. Some of the live material is rather throwaway, including a bluesy rock’n’roll number and a soppy ballad. Overall it’s patchy but with plenty of good to great stuff – it could have been edited down to a single great LP in my opinion.

All of these have been reissued on CD by Coca but they are generally expensive to import [the main reason I haven’t heard the pricey double-CD reissue of ‘Make Up’]. There was also a single-CD version of ‘Make Up’ which left out some of the most desirable live material. A compilation LP exists, ‘The Times’ [Atlantic, 1975], credited to ‘Joe with Flower Travellin Band’. Supposedly there is one more obscure album, ‘Futarino Don’ [1989], but I don’t know what the story is with this. Flower Travellin’ Band also had some stuff on the various artists ‘Rock Age Concert’ [see below].

Foodbrain – this legendary band released only one album, ‘Social Gathering’ aka ‘Bansan’ [Polydor, 1970], the cover of which stands out due to the large elephant approaching the viewer. It contains a great, diverse mix of stuff delivered with over-the-top gusto, from stabbing high speed hard acid rock, to rollicking progressive psych jamming with crazed piano, to loud distorted bass experiments, etc. etc. Not a ballad in sight, very enjoyable from beginning to end. Julian Cope says it’s legendary only because it’s so rare, but I can’t understand why he thinks it sucks, and everyone I’ve played it to liked it a lot. Guitarist Shinki Chen [ex-Golden Cups and Powerhouse – see below] later went on to record a solo album and to form the group Speed, Glue & Shinki with Foodbrain bassist Masayoshi Kabe [a.k.a. M. Glue, also ex-Golden Cups, Room]; keyboardist Hiro Yanagida [ex-Apryl Fool – see above] later went on to play with Love Live Life + One, Masahiko Sato & Sound Brakers and to a solo career [see below]; drummer Hiro Tsunoda [ex-Jacks – see below] went on to Strawberry Path, Flied Egg and Sadistic Mika Band [see below]. The album has been reissued on CD by P-Vine.

Friction – formed in 1978 by two ex-members of 3/3 [Sanbun No San], Reck and Chiko Hige. They’re usually referred to as a ‘No Wave’ band, but not having heard them yet I can’t comment. They released a single first, ‘I Can Tell’/‘Pistol’ [Pass, 1979], then their debut album, ‘Atsureki’ aka ‘Friction’ [Pass, 1980], which was produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto [see below]. Many more albums followed over the years, including ‘Skin Deep’ [Pass?, 1982], ‘Live at “Ex Mattattoio” in Roma’ [Marz, 1985], ‘Replicant Walk’ [Wax, 1988; issued in the US on Enemy, 1994], which featured John Zorn on sax, the live ‘Dumb Numb’ [Wax, 1990], ‘Zone Tripper’ [Video Arts/Bass Trap, 1995; issued in the US on Tzadik, 1999, with different cover art and expanded with remixes], ‘Remixxx + One’ [Video Arts/Bass Trap, 1996], ‘Live 1980’ [Video Arts/Bass Trap, 1996] and ‘Friction Maniacs’ [Pass, 2007; 2-CD]. More recently, reputedly excellent live recordings from 1979 were released as ‘’79 Live’ [Pass, 2005].

Friends – they made one album that I know of, ‘Tetsu Yamauchi, Haruo Chikada (and others)’ [Victor, 1971]. I’m not sure if Friends is the name of the album or the group. I believe it was a one-off studio project, but I have no idea what the music was like. Bassist Tetsu Yamauchi had previously been in Samurai [see below], and after this went on to the British groups Free and The Faces as well as a solo album [see below]. Ken Narita was ex-Beavers, and went on to make a solo album [see below]. The Friends album was reissued on CD by P-Vine, but is now out of print.

Fujio & Osamu – this was Fujio Yamaguchi and Osamu Kitajima [see below], who got together during Yamagauchi’s time out from Murahachibu to record an album, ‘Shinchugoko’ [1972]. It’s been referred to as progressive, but I haven’t heard it. Don’t confuse it with Fumio & Osamu [see below].

Jun Fukamachi – Fukamachi is a keyboardist with jazz roots. His first album was ‘Introducing Jun Fukamachi’ [Toshiba-EMI, 1975], reputedly great jazz rock/fusion. This was followed by ‘Rokuyu’ [Toshiba-EMI, 1975], as Jun Fukumachi & 21^st Century Band. This [the only one I’ve heard] is a great album of synth-heavy progressive fusion. While some of the music is conventional fusion, for better or worse, there are plenty of surprises and bursts of intensity with great guitar work and dense synths, especially on the diverse title track which takes up all of side 2. Some of the style reminds me of Fermáta’s second album. By ‘Spiral Steps’ [Kitty, 1976] he was using many western musicians, such as Randy & Michael Brecker on horns, and Anthony Jackson on bass. ‘Evening Star’ [Kitty, 1977], ‘Live: Triangle Session’ [Kitty, 1977], and ‘The Sea of Dirac’ [Kitty, 1977], followed a similar trend. ‘Second Phase’ [Toshiba-EMI, 1977] and ‘On The Move’ [Alfa, 1978] went back to primarily Japanese musicians, though ‘Live’ [Alfa, 1978], as Jun Fukumachi & The New York All Stars, obviously didn’t. ‘Quark’ [Alfa, 1980] was different for being an album of solo synth music. In the early 80’s he was part of a fusion group called Keep, who did one album – ‘DG-581’ [Trash/Trio, 1981].

Fulukotofumi – this very obscure group recorded at least one album, ‘Fulukotofumi’ [RCA, 1972], reputedly progressive. It’s been listed as ‘Furukotofumi’ which is probably incorrect.

Fumanzoku – this very obscure group recorded at least one album, ‘Fumanzoku’ [Private, 1974], reputedly containing psychedelic rock.

Fumio & Osamu – not to be confused with Fujio & Osamu [see above], this was the duo of Fumio Miyashita [soon to form Far Out – see above] and Osamu Kitajima [see below]. They released one album, ‘New China’ [1970], reputedly full of traditional Japanese music, but it sunk without trace and the two went their separate ways.

Gedo (also seen spelled as Gedou) – a trio formed in 1972, including the charismatically androgynous guitarist/vocalist Hideto Kanoh, previously of the group The M [see below]. Bassist Masayuki Aoki was ex-Too Much [see below], and the trio was completed by drummer Ryoichi Nakano. Gedo had a big biker following and were a popular band at rock festivals. Their first album was ‘Gedo’ [Trio/Showboat, 1973 or 1974], reputedly mostly hard rock with some psychedelic touches. I haven’t heard it, but based on live stuff from this period we’re probably looking at a pretty good mix of old-style rock’n’roll and heavier, high-energy guitar rock, with the occasional lighter moment or a bit of blues rock. The debut has been reissued on CD by P-Vine and Showboat, but both are out of print. I’ve seen mention of an album from 1973 called ‘Nippon Sanka’, but I don’t know if this was actually the first album, or a later release of pre-debut recordings.

Gedo played lots of interesting gigs, including the ‘One Step Music Festival’ in ’74 with Yoko Ono, and the ‘Sunshine Festival’ in a crater in Hawaii for the ‘74/’75 New Year. Their second album was ‘In Sounds Of Hawaii Studios’ [Trio/Showboat, 1975], presumably recorded in Hawaii, followed by ‘Just Gedo’ [Trio/Showboat, 1975], after which they played at the ‘World Rock Festival’ with Jeff Beck, as well as jamming with the New York Dolls and Felix Pappalardi. Their last album for the time being was ‘Jyuttoku Live’ [Showboat, 1976], the band breaking up a year later. They reputedly got a bit poppier in these later years. Between 1978 and 1980 Kanoh released three solo albums, with his session group The East Junkie Family, before Gedo re-formed in 1981 and released the album ‘Power Cut’ [Columbia, 1981], followed by ‘Mooning’ [Columbia, 1982], ‘Live’ [Meldac, 1991] and ‘Die For You’ [Polydor, 1993] [as Hideto Kanoh with Gedo]. In 2001 Gedo re-formed again, Kanoh having kept himself busy with solo projects, soundtracks and guest appearances in the mean time. Hagakure also released some previously unissued live albums, ‘1975 Mihappyo Live’[Hagakure, 2002] and ‘Gedo Live: Kaisan Concert 1976.10.16’ [Hagakure, 2001]. In 2003, to commemorate the band’s 30^th anniversary, some live gigs from the mid-70’s were released on CD. ‘Kyonetsu no Machida Police ‘74’ [Sony, 2003; 2-CD] featured two gigs from ’74, and one live track from ’73 as a bonus. The first disc gets off to a slow start, with over 8 minutes of Japanese dialogue and joking with the audience, followed by half a set of quiet acoustic material. The acoustic stuff isn’t bad, but if you’re hungry for some rock and don’t know what’s going on it could be frustrating. The rest of the set is electric and rockin’, though often a bit lethargic. When they go off though, it’s a killer guitar burn! The second disc is more consistent and rocks out most of the way through. ‘1975 Yaonkyo no Aloha’ [Sony, 2003; 2-CD] is another solid collection of two good live shows, similar to the second disc of the ’74 set. Both 2-CD sets have some occasional censorship bleeping of some sung lyrics and spoken words, so perhaps they were  recorded for radio broadcast originally. Also released were ‘1976 Sayonara Nippon’ [Sony, 2003] and ‘Saigo no Mandala Yaneura Densetsu ‘76’ [Sony, 2003]. There was another Sony release at the time with another 2-CD 1975 live set but I’ve only seen the title in Japanese characters. One release also came with a DVD. There have been other Gedo releases and compilations, but it all starts to get a bit confusing regarding what is what if you can’t read Japanese.

Geinoh Yamashirogumi (Yamashiro Art Group) – originally an experimental/avant garde musical collective formed in the mid-1950’s, intending to ‘destroy accepted values in the world of choral music’. In 1966 Shoji Yamashiro took over as composer, arranger, producer and ‘sound architect’ of the collective. In 1974 they changed their name to Geino Yamashirogumi, though I don’t know what they were called before; by this time they had absorbed many diverse vocal influences, such as from Bali and Bulgaria. The group consists of hundreds of people ‘from all walks of life’, many of them professionals in fields of science. Most of these people work in the vocal performances. They have become known for their ‘skilful fusion of traditional music with high technology’. The collective is also home to 2 organisations, Festival Arts Research Institute and Civilization Sciences Research Institute.

The first album has come to be regarded as a bit of a classic – ‘Osorezan/Do No Kenbai’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1976]. It contains only 2 lengthy tracks of weird experimental music with creative mixing, exotic instrumentation and strange ritual vocals. The first track ‘Osorezan’ (‘Mt. Fear’) is utterly weird, beginning with an anguished scream and moving through various shorter sections from there. Some of it is really eerie and full-on, like a bad trip, other parts feature soft synthesizer tones and tripped-out guitars, some parts hint slightly at New Age world fusion but weird-ass, and there’s even some relaxed and funky jazz-fusion backing in one place. The sounds here and there remind us that we are nearing the 80’s, but it never gets cheesy. This is perhaps one of the most intense pieces of music I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard a lot of intense stuff of all styles. The second track is group vocal work with a ritual/shamanic feel and nice reverb dynamics, incorporating the well-known traditional ‘monkey chant’; the back art work [of the CD; not sure about the LP] shows them sitting in a circle with arms raised in the air, wearing only pants and headbands – I presume this is how they look when performing something like this.

‘Chi no Habiki Higashu Yu-Roppu Wo Utau’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1976], was, as far as I can gather, interpretations of traditional old European folk songs and is worlds away from the first album, though still pleasant in its own right. Numerous other albums followed which I know little or nothing about, such as ‘Yamato Gensho’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1977], ‘Ohgonrin Sanyoh’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1978], ‘Live’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1978 or 1979], ‘Shonentachi Eno Chikyu Sanka’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1979], ‘Africa Gensho’ [Invitation/RCA Victor, 1982] and ‘Reverberation of Earth’ [Invitation, year?]. ‘Rinne Kohkyogaku’ (Reincarnated Orchestra) [Invitation, 1986] is a concept piece about the eternal cycles of birth, death and rebirth. ‘Ecophony Gaia’ [Invitation, 1990] is a 70-minute ‘macrosymphony homage to the Earth’s ecosystem’. In 1988, Geinoh Yamashirogumi made the great music for the soundtrack to the popular anime film, ‘Akira’, one of the few soundtracks that stands up well on its own as an album. There is a regular soundtrack version, including some dialogue and sound effects from the film, and the ‘Akira Symphonic Suite’ version, which is longer and features only the full, original versions of the music from the soundtrack. All of these albums have been reissued on CD by Victor.

Genya-Sai – see below under Various artists.

Golden Cups – an unruly solvent-sniffing garage psych band which at one point contained future Foodbrain and Speed, Glue & Shinki members Shinki Chen & Masayoshi Kabe [then calling himself ‘Louis Louis Kabe’], though I believe Chen left before they released any albums, joining Powerhouse in the interim [see below]. Their debut was ‘Album’ [Capitol, 1968], which featured a great deal of cover versions. This was followed by ‘Album No. 2’ [Capitol, 1968], ‘Album No. 3 - Blues Message’ [Capitol, 1969] and ‘Recital – Recorded Live at Shibuya Concert Hall 1969’ [Capitol, 1969]. ‘Super Live Session’ [Capitol, 1969] was mostly hard garage r&b with an obvious Cream influence and a loose jazziness that is actually pretty sloppy, but compensates in producing a subtle psychedelic haze over the proceedings; it’s reasonably good, with extended jamming, but nothing really original or different. Most tracks are covers, except ‘Zen Blues’ which is basically a derivative slow blues. It’s been reissued on CD by EMI/Capitol Japan. Over the last few albums - ‘All About’ [Capitol, 1970], ‘Live Album – Recorded Live at Shibiya [sic.] Concert Hall’ [Capitol, 1971] and ‘Return of the Golden Cups Volume 8’ [Capitol, 1971] – the band reputedly got a little more progressive and psychedelic.

Goulois Asterix – a very obscure group led by guitarist Hiroshi Kato. They made at least one album, ‘Inochi’ [Tengu/URC, 1970], which has been described as ‘progressive underground’. Going from a small cover scan in Hans Pokora’s ‘3001 Record Collector Dreams’, which shows the numerous personnel listed on the cover but mostly too tiny and blurred to read, Akira Ito [Far East Family Band and solo – see above and below] can be made out, on percussion.

Group Ongaku – an experimental group formed in 1958 by the Fluxus-influenced Takehisa Kosugi [see below], with Shukou Mizuno and some members of Tokyo University’s Musicology Programme. Their name means simply ‘Music Group’. They recorded three pieces in 1960 and 1961 that became their sole album, ‘Music of Group Ongaku’. I don’t think it was ever released at the time, but it has been available on CD [Hear Sound Art, 2000]. The 1960 pieces are noisy and chaotic musique concrete and tape-manipulated acoustic ramblings, and the 1961 piece is more sedate overall. Julian Cope has called it “The Faust Tapes thirteen years ahead of its time”, but there’s no experimental rock, or any other sign of melody, to break it up. Rather than sounding anything like Faust, I’m reminded of any number of musique concrete pieces and numerous avant garde free-improv groups that cropped up in the 60’s and 70’s, in Europe in particular, many of which are mentioned in the Nurse With Wound influences list. In fact, it is in a similar vein to the first Nurse With Wound and AMM albums.

Gypsy Blood – a very obscure group who reputedly played a kind of psychedelic rock, according to Hans Pokora. They released two albums that I know of, ‘Blue Roses For the Gypsy – in Wishbone’ [Private pressing, 1971] and ‘Rokko Oroshi’ (also seen listed as ‘Rokkourishi’) [Vertigo, 1971]. I’ve only heard the second, which is mostly US West Coast-styled ‘rural rock’ and country rock. I’m not a fan of country music, but it’s not bad. Occasionally they touch on slight West Coast psych vibes, and sometimes they sound a bit like early Humble Pie, though not as good and without anything approaching Steve Marriot’s distinctive vocal style. The latter album was reissued on CD by P-Vine in 1998, with 4 bonus tracks, but is now out of print; it’s been reissued again as a mid-price CD [Naked Line/Universal, 2007].

Keiji Haino – a seemingly permanently black-clad guitarist/vocalist/harmonica player who was in a late-60’s Doors covers group before forming Lost Aaraaff [see below]. Around this time he befriended the similarly black-clad Mizutani Takashi of Les Rallizes Denudes [see below]. He released an early solo album, ‘Ama No Gawa’ (‘Milky Way’) [label? 1973], reputedly containing droney electronic music which Alan Cummings described as “an enduring favourite for its evocative, spiritually charged atmosphere”. It’s been reissued on CD by Mom’N’Dad. Haino went on to form Fushitsusha [see below] and release numerous other solo albums in various styles – too much to go into here, and much of it is probably of limited interest to readers of this article.

Happenings Four – a pretty light and commercial dual keyboard-led psych-pop group, who released their debut ‘Touemi Ningen’ [Capitol, 1968], which has been compared to early Procol Harum. The next was obviously Beatles-influenced – ‘Magical Happenings Tour’ [Capitol, 1968]. The cover had a slightly amusing picture of the be-costumed band, with hair up in erect top-knots, laid into a ¥10,000 bill. I’ve only heard a couple of tracks from it, which are far inferior to, and quite unlike, the Beatles [and for the record, I’m not much of a Beatles fan]. ‘Outsider No Sekai’ [Capitol, 1970] was loaded with very straight and dated orchestrated pop music, but often [not always, unfortunately] a subtle weirdness permeates the tracks, and a few tracks are just odd on their own. This juxtaposition of the very straight and the rather weird reminds me Sound of Feeling’s album ‘Spleen’ in approach, but not nearly as out-there, avant-garde or as interesting overall. You could also say that some tracks are a bit like the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band but without the comedy [though one strange track with a squeaky ‘Chipmunks’ voice raises a smile, and musically could practically be a Raymond Scott creation], and there’s also a bit of mid- and far-eastern folk. As Happenings Four + 1 they released another album, ‘The Long Trip’ [Capitol, 1971], which is reputedly much more on the early progressive side of things, with the band in this period compared by Julian Cope to Procol Harum and Greenslade. Keyboardist Kuni Kawachi would also work with Tenjo Sajiki, J.A. Caesar and Flower Travellin’ Band [see above & below].

Happy End – formed in 1969, this band featured Shigeru Suzuki, Takashi Matsumoto and Haruomi Hosono, all ex-Apryl Fool [see above], as well as singer Nobuyasu Okabayashi, who was known as ‘the Japanese Bob Dylan’ and similarly was disliked by some for joining an electric band. They have been described as a Japanese Buffalo Springfield, and reputedly blended US west coast psychedelic rock styles with modern Japanese folk and soft progressive rock. They released a few albums that I know of, the debut being ‘Happy End’ (a.k.a. Yudemen) [URC, 1970]. This is often considered to be their best, and it is quite good in a low-key way, though I failed to notice much that reminded me of Buffalo Springfield, Japanese folk or actual progressive rock. ‘Kaze Machi Roman’ (‘Windy Roman City’) [1971] was another good album, but a little patchy, with a fair bit of dull country pop, though the great funky psychedelic rock makes up for it. ‘Happy End’ [King, 1973] was different to the self-titled debut, just to avoid any confusion. It was produced by Van Dyke Parks, and presuming the copy I heard was complete, it’s more of an EP than a full album. By now the style of the music was much more commercial, though still with a few good moments. ‘Live Happy End’ [1974, but rec. 1972] may have been a posthumous release, as I think the band had broken up by this point. There have also been numerous compilations, and stuff from an 80’s reformation. Hosono went on to a solo career of sorts, and Yellow Magic Orchestra [see below].

Harumi – Harumi was a Japanese guy living in the US, where he recorded his double album ‘Harumi’ [Verve Forecast, 1968]. The first LP contains psych pop, with shorter tracks. It’s of variable interest but some tracks are really good, and perhaps reminiscent of Beatles circa ‘Sergeant Pepper’s’. The second LP contains only a lengthy track per side. One is a huge psychedelic rock jam, with great use of horns and trippy mixing, with Harumi’s parents and sister talking about him in Japanese; and the other is a two-way mystical dialogue over an exotic, introverted bed of trippy music with sitars and lots of beautiful sounds and sound effects. However the ‘dialogue’ isn’t really connected much – you have Harumi coming out with reminiscences of his childhood in Japan, and an American guy who then picks up with his own barely-related contributions of fuzzy wisdom – but it’s almost like Harumi is feeling hard-pressed to come up with anything insightful to say, whilst the other guy is trying too hard to sound like an all-knowing benevolent godhead and coming across as though he’s not really even listening to what Harumi has to say, but waiting for any break in Harumi’s reminiscences to just go back to his own benign airy monologue rather than actually sharing a discussion. Good music, though! The album is recommended even if only for these long tracks, and has beautiful cover artwork. It hasn’t yet been reissued on CD, as far as I know.

Justin Heathcliff – see Osamu Kitajima.

The Helpful Soul – on their first album, the aptly-titled ‘First Album’ [Victor, 1969], this group played pretty good heavy psychedelic blues rock, with lots of raw jamming. Some of the tracks are Cream and Hendrix covers. The album has been reissued on CD as a bootleg by Black Rose. The only other album I’m aware of is ‘Tales Of A Thousand & One Nights’ a.k.a. ‘Senya Ichiya Monogatari’ [Victor, 1969]. I haven’t heard it, but it’s the soundtrack to a film of the same name, presumably an animation going by the cover art, which was done by famous Atom/Astro Boy cartoonist Osamu Tezuka. The music reputedly swings between orchestral stuff and heavy acid rock. The singer/rhythm guitarist Junio Nakahara changed his name to Tstomu Ogawa and formed Too Much [see below].

Hikashu – an avant-garde pop group formed in the late 70’s by vocalist and song-writer Koichi Makigami [ex-Tokyo Kid Brothers – see below]. I lack info for their debut recording, ‘Hikashu’ [1978 or 1980], but I believe ‘Natsu’ [1980] is their second album. It’s an odd, jerky collection of avant-pop songs with some forays into electro-pop and post-punk, a little like Wha-Ha-Ha [see below] but not as whacked out. Their third album, ‘Uwasa No Jinrui’ [‘The Human Being’] [1981], was a bit more interesting and took their style more into the edges of RIO. Both of these have been reissued on CD. Synth players Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita left shortly after this and formed Inoyamaland [see below]; Hikashu continued [sometimes as Hikasu] and have released many other albums I know nothing about except that they explore many different styles.

Hill Andon – an obscure psychedelic folk group who made at least one album, ‘Page One’ [Fish, 1975].

Terumasa Hino – a jazz trumpeter influenced by Miles Davis. His albums include ‘Alone, Alone and Alone’ [1967]; ‘Alone Together’ [1970]; ‘Into the Heaven’ [Columbia, 1970]; ‘Journey to Air’ [Teichiku, 1970]; ‘Love Nature: Terumasa Hino Quartet in New York’ [1971]; ‘Fuji’ [Polydor, 1972]; ‘Taro’s Mood: Recorded Live at the Domicile’ [Enja, 1973]; ‘Hi-Nology’ [1974] was apparently recorded in 1969; ‘Into Eternity’ [Sony, 1974]; ‘Journey Into My Mind’ [CBS, 1974]; ‘Wheel Stone: Live in Nemuro’ [1975]; ‘Speak to Loneliness’ [1975]; ‘May Dance’ [Victor, 1977] featured Tony Williams and John Scofield; ‘City Connection’ [Victor, 1979]; ‘Daydream’ [Victor, 1980]; ‘Double Rainbow’ [CBS/Sony, 1981]; ‘Trans-Blue’ [CBS/Sony, 1985], and more up to the present day. ‘Double Rainbow’ was very successful at the time, and although it owes an obvious debt to 70’s electric Miles Davis, it features an extra creativity that makes it more than just an imitation. At times it sounds like a blend of Miles, Hermeto Pascoal and German group Ibliss.

Haruomi Hosono – starting out as bassist for Apryl Fool, then Happy End [see above], Hosono later helped form Yellow Magic Orchestra [see below] and became well known as a successful and innovative electronic musician and producer. His first solo album was ‘Hosono House’ [King, 1973], but it reputedly contains commercial vocal r&b. He formed a group, Tin Pan Alley, with whom he released a few albums of ‘tropical’ music – ‘Caramel Mama’ [Panam, 1974?], ‘2’ [Panam, 1975?], ‘Izumi Yukimura Super Generation’ [1974?], ‘Norio Maeda and Tin Pan Alley’ [197?] and ‘Yellow Magic Carnival’ [1975]. During the same period he made another solo album in a similar vein to the Tin Pan Alley stuff – ‘Tropical Dandy’ [Panam/Crown, 1975]. This was followed by ‘Taian Yoko’ [Crown, 1976?], as Bon Voyage Co., and ‘Paraiso’ [Alfa, 1978], as Harry Hosono and the Yellow Magic Band. The latter features soon-to-be Yellow Magic Orchestra members on one track, and finally introduces some synth, but reputedly doesn’t sound much like YMO.

‘Pacific’ [CBS, 1978] came out as by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki and Tatsuro Yamashita, all of whom had been in Tin Pan Alley. The music is ‘exotica’ with each musician doing their own tracks, and with YMO’s Ryuichi Sakamoto [see below] on synths as a session muso. Hosono’s first masterpiece is often considered to be ‘Cochin Moon’ [King, 1978], which came out as by Hosono & Yokoo. In actuality, [Tadanori] Yokoo [see Toshi Ichiyanagi below] only did the cover art, and does not contribute to the music. Sakamoto, Hideki Matsutake [YMO, Logic System] and Shuka Nishihara also play on the album. It’s a  very inventive and exotic electronic work that is highly regarded, and for good reason! As tripped-out synth albums go, this is a glittering jewel. Some parts are a kind of proto-trance-techno, others hint at Bruce Haack and Kraftwerk with their playful cheesiness, and it’s thoroughly enjoyable throughout. It has recently been reissued on CD by King.

‘The Aegean Sea’ [CBS, 1979] came out as by Hosono, Takahiko Ishikawa and Masataka Matsutohya; it was similar to ‘Pacific’ conceptually, but sounding a bit different again. By this point Hosono was playing with YMO; it was a few years until he released another solo album, ‘Philharmony’ [Alfa/Yen, 1982]. It reputedly contains electronic ambient music and ‘quirky’ songs. Hosono went on to release many albums, also making music for anime, TV, movies, video games etc. He also started a funky ‘technopop’/hip-hop group, Friends of Earth a.k.a. F.O.E.#1.

Toshi Ichiyanagi – an avant-garde composer and pianist who studied under John Cage (and was also once married to Yoko Ono), and is quite a legend in Japan. Although earlier performances of his works had been recorded, the first album I know of that he appears on is ‘Yabunirami-No Concert’ [Salon de Coco, 1966]. ‘Orchestral Space – At Nissin Theatre – Volume 1’ [Victor, 1968] was a various artists double-LP that featured a piece written four years earlier for orchestra and tape recorder, on one side, as well as works by Joji Yuasa, Toru Takemitsu [see below] and Yuji Takahashi.

He composed, and performed [some of], the music in 1969 for ‘Opera From the Works of Tadanori Yokoo’ [The End, 1970], a double-LP [with picture discs, no less!] that came in a lavish box with reproductions of some of Yokoo’s paintings inside, as well as the cover being a Yokoo painting. It’s a very varied and experimental album, featuring lots of avant-garde collage work and musique concrete that’s hard to describe, odd Japanese theatre and pop, Japanese ballads, and a side-and-a-bit of The Flowers [when they were about to become Flower Travellin’ Band - see above] jamming in a free and freaked style. This rare album has recently been reissued on Bridge as a deluxe 4-CD set [1 LP side per CD – no bonus material – especially irritating because it could all have fitted on one CD], complete with a small Japanese-text hardcover book of interviews and other information, as well as the art inserts included originally, all in a lavish hard box designed by Yokoo. Unfortunately the CD’s have been taken directly from vinyl [not anywhere near mint condition either, by the sound of it] and have not been cleaned up. And, it’s terribly expensive – all of these things adding up to the impression that this is only a worthwhile purchase if you’re a fanatical collector, who can read Japanese and has money to burn. Fortunately I was able to hear it due to knowing someone who fits that description [except for reading Japanese]! In Hans Pokora’s ‘4001 Record Collector Dreams’, this album is listed as by Flowers & Others.

Ichiyanagi later collaborated with Takehisa Kosugi [see below] and percussionist Michael Ranta for ‘Improvisation Sep. 1975’ [Iskra, 1975],which has been reissued on vinyl but is probably out of print. I haven’t heard it, but it’s reputedly a worthy slab of avant-garde jamming. He made several other albums that I know of – ‘Music For Living Process/Cho-Etsu’ [Victor, 1976] with Maki Ishii, ‘Transformation of Piano’ [Denon, 1976] and ‘Cosmos of Toshi Ichiyanagi’ [Camerata, 1988]. ‘Obscure Tape Music of Japan Vol. 5’ [Omega Point, 200?] collects three 60’s works by Ichiyanagi – ‘Music For Tinguely’, ‘Appearance’ [featuring John Cage and David Tudor] and ‘Music For Living Space’.

Masaru Imada – a jazz keyboardist who seems to be quite a famous player in Japan, but I’ve been unable to find anything about him in English, even a discography. He’s released many albums up to the present day, but only some are available on CD and I have been unable to figure out their original release dates. Anyway, the album ‘Green Caterpillar’ [label?, 1975], released as by Masaru Imada Trio +2, is the only one I’ve heard and may be of interest to some readers. Featuring famous guitarist Kazumi Watanabe, it contains four long tracks of instrumental jazz rock, somewhere between mid-60’s Miles Davis, ‘Free Action’-period Wolfgang Dauner and mid-70’s Soft Machine. It was reissued on CD by Three Blind Mice, but is out of print.

Yasuo Inada – I don’t know anything about this person or their music, but ‘Kankaku-Shiko’ [1974] was listed as being progressive rock of some kind.

Akira Ishikawa & Count Buffaloes – Ishikawa is a jazz percussionist with a long career, being active since the mid 50’s. He was bandleader for the Japanese version of ‘Hair’. Ishikawa has often worked with Masahiko Satoh [see below], who also features in the Count Buffaloes band. Their first album was ‘Electrum’ [Victor, 1970], featuring jazz rock composed by Satoh. ‘Bakishinba: Memories of Africa’ [Polydor, 1970] seems to be next, but I might have the date wrong; I don’t know anything about the musical content yet, but it is available on CD. ‘Uganda’ [Toshiba-EMI, 1972] is often referred to as ‘Africa Rock No Yoake’ or just ‘Uganda’, with the band name being Uganda. The album prominently features Kimio Mizutani [see below] on primal fuzz guitar, and is apparently very different from the debut, with an African-inspired percussion basis. It has been reissued on LP by Shadoks, reputedly a bootleg, and is due to be reissued legally on CD by Tiliqua, from the master tapes [that’s what I’m waiting to buy, so I can’t give you my impressions of the album until the next update]. By ‘Get Up’ [RCA, 1975] Satoh was no longer involved, and I don’t know anything about what the music was like at this point or if the band continued.

Hideki Ishima – guitarist who had been in the Beavers, the Flowers, and most famously, Flower Travellin’ Band [see above]. He made at least one solo album, ‘One Day’ [1973], reputedly rock influenced by psych, blues and melodic pop. It has been reissued twice on CD by Sony/Columbia, once in 1999 and again in 2007. Ishima also played on some of ex-Flower Travellin’ Band singer Joe Yamanaka’s solo albums, which are probably of less interest here, reputedly containing glam and reggae-styled stuff.

Akira Ito – a former member of the Far East Family Band [see above], who embarked on a solo career making what has been described as ‘floating electronics’ using analogue synths, and sometimes guitar, bass, drums and choral vocals. ‘Inner Light Of Life’ [1978], ‘Akira Ito’ [1981] and ‘Hiisurutokoro No Tenshi’ [1982; soundtrack] were followed by ‘Mugenko’ [Nippon Columbia, 1982], which includes piano, violin, guitar, bass [from Keiju Ishikawa, who played with Far Out and on Hiro Yanagida’s debut album – see above and below] and synth. Although occasionally a little cheesy, most of the time it’s gorgeous, mellow, floating cosmic music, perhaps like a more organic Kitaro [see below]. This album was reissued a few years later on a Dutch label. Other albums include ‘Mind Music’ [King, 1983], ‘Bosatu’ [King, 1984] and ‘Japanesque’ [King, 1984]. I’ve also seen his name spelled Akira Itoh.

Kiyoko Itoh – a vocalist who made two albums. The first I don’t have any details for, but the second was ‘Woman at 23 Hour Love-In’ (’23 Ji No Onna’) [1970], on which she had some assistance from Kuni Kawachi [see below] and J.A. Caesar [see above]. It’s fairly similar in style to Ike Reiko’s album [see below], but without erotic moaning. It’s pretty straight, dated stuff by today’s standards, or even the standards back then. Many of the tracks are linked by recordings of Japanese street sounds. I believe this album has been reissued on CD. Itoh also appeared on Masahiko Satoh’s ‘Amalgamation’ album [see below].

Itsutsu No Akai Fusen – this pop-folk band’s name translates to ‘Five Red Balloons’. They included Nishiokai Takashi from Melting Glass Box [see below], who composed the songs. They’ve released many albums, including ‘Itsutsu No Akai Fusen’ [URC, 1969], ‘Otogibanashi’ [URC, 1969], ‘Miko Olk Dasshutu Keikaku’ [URC, 1970], ‘In Concert’ [URC, 1970], ‘Folk Album Dai Isshu’ [URC, 1971]; ‘Folk Album Dai Ni Shu’ [URC, 1971]; ‘Solo Album’ [Victor, 1971]; ‘Monument’ [URC, 1972] was a compilation; ‘Boku Wa Areno Ni Hitori Iru’ [URC, 1972]; ‘Game Owari’ [URC, 1972]; ‘In USA’ [Victor, 1972]; ‘Last Album’ [Victor, 1972]. In his book ‘Japrocksampler’, Julian Cope included two albums – ‘Flight 1’ [URC, 1970] and ‘Flight 2’ [URC, 1971] – in his Top 50, due to their inclusion of cosmic folk epics alongside the more usual Godz-y singalongs. However, I can’t find any reference to them outside of that book or on-line references to it, and I’m wondering if they are the same as ‘Folk Album Dai Isshu’ and ‘Folk Album Dai Ni Shu’ mentioned above.

The Jacks – this well-known group had their roots in a folk trio formed in 1966, Nightingale. By 1967 this had stabilized into a 4-piece group called The Jacks. They provided some music for an avant garde theatre troupe before landing a record deal with Takt. They put out 2 singles in 1968, which have more recently been reissued together as an EP – ‘Karappo No Sekai: Takt Days’ [Coca/Nippon Columbia]. I haven’t heard this but the music is reputedly pretty good, in a mournful, meditative and psychedelic mode. One song from this [‘Marianne’, also on the debut album] was much later covered by Painkiller as well as Fushitsusha.

After this came their debut album, ‘Vacant World’ [Toshiba/Express, 1968]. This is often spoken of as a great uniquely Japanese psych album, but to me much of it still sounds like a slightly unhinged Japanese take on early west coast US folk-psych, in particular Quicksilver Messenger Service, or at least Cippolina’s tremolo-heavy guitar style. I find the vocals a bit irritating in places, but most of the music is pretty good, and has grown on me since I first heard it. The highlight is probably the first track, ‘Marianne’, which has a backing bordering on free jazz [no screaming horns, though]. After this album guitarist Haruo Mizuhashi left. With the drummer switching to other instruments, and drummer Hiro Tsunoda joining, the band continued to record one last album, ‘Super Session’ [Toshiba, 1969], which is reputedly not as good as their earlier work. There’s also a posthumous release, ‘Live ’68’ [H.A.F., 1973] which I also haven’t heard. Tsunoda went on to Foodbrain, Strawberry Path, Flied Egg and Sadistic Mika Band [see above and below].

Kamijo – an obscure musician who made at least three albums – ‘Martha’ [private pressing, 1971], ‘TOMO’ [?] and ‘Tomoaki Kamijo KK Band’ [?]. The first of these just says ‘Martha’ in large white letters on a black background, and was listed incorrectly in Hans Pokora’s ‘3001 Record Collector Dreams’ book as being a self-titled album by Martha. This has been described by Shadoks as “an underground-rock album with folky elements and a west coast touch”. I found it to largely consist of lame Bob Dylan wannabe stuff, with only a couple of tracks resembling the Shadoks description, and even then they weren’t that great. It has recently been reissued on LP [Shadoks, 2005].

Jun Kamikubo – an obscure musician who released one record in small quantity, ‘Nothingness’ [Express, 1972]. It’s a patchy album of bluesy post-psych rock with good guitar playing, with occasional great heavy riffing, particularly in the first and last tracks. The rest of the album is ok, but doesn’t live up to the promise of those two tracks. I wouldn’t say it’s the piece of crap that Julian Cope has said, though, and some people think it’s great. The album has been reissued on LP by Shadoks, and more recently on CD by Toshiba-EMI.

Karuna Khyal – an obscure avant garde experimental outfit, which has been thought to be the work of the same people or person behind Brast Burn [see above]. In fact, it seems both were one-man bands and the two men were friends, Karuna Khyal apparently being the work of Yoshihiro Takahashi. Karuna Khyal released one album, ‘Alomoni 1985’ [Voice, 1976], which was musically in a broadly similar vein to Brast Burn’s album, but more repetitive and with less folky references and sometimes hinting at weirder Faust. In some respects it lacks the exotic layered depth of Brast Burn, but is also a bit stranger and in places, more seriously shamanic. It was reissued on CD in a limited edition by Paradigm Discs in 1998.

Kuni Kawachi – keyboardist from Happenings Four [see above]. His album ‘Kuni Kawachi & His Friends’ aka ‘Kirikyogen’ [London, 1970] featured Flower Travellin’ Band [see above] as his backing band, prior to making their own debut album. It’s great oriental rock with proto-progressive and psychedelic leanings that reminds me of several obscure bands of the same period that I can’t quite put my finger on, as well as touches reminiscent of Love Live Life +1, Samurai and Foodbrain. One track, ‘Music Composed Mainly By Humans’, is an early version of the rare FTB single track ‘Map’. This album has been reissued by Black Rose, with the cover art changed to credit it to ‘Kuni Kawachi & Flower Travelling Band’. The CD credited to Flower Travellin’ Band called ‘Music Composed Mainly By Humans – Demonstration 1970’ [Ain’t Group Sounds] actually consists of most of this album, plus some other obscure Flowers and Flower Travellin’ Band stuff.

‘Love Suki Daikirai’ [1972] has lots of straighter psych-pop, but also has some weirder experimental tracks to redeem it. Kimio Mizutani features on guitar but he doesn’t lend much of interest to the album, unfortunately; also featured is bassist Masaoki Terakawa, who played on the Dema album [see above]. It was recently reissued on CD together with ‘Kirikyogen’ as a bonus [Walhalla, 2007]. ‘Utaenaku Naru Mae Ni’ [Polydor, 1972] is another album of Kawachi’s that I haven’t heard; it’s available on CD [Indie, 2007]. The 1970 album referred to as ‘A High-Teen Symphony’ by Kawachi is most likely the Tenjo Sajiki album ‘Throw Away The Books…’ [see below], which Kawachi was involved in and which has ‘A High-Teen Symphony’ as the sub-title.

Kawachi was also in the band Mentanpin, who released an album – ‘Mentanpin’ [Philips, 1975] – though I don’t know what kind of music they did.

Nagira Kenichi – ‘Machi no Kaze’ [1974] reputedly contains melodic west coast-styled psychedelic rock, comparable to early Happy End [see above]. This album has been reissued on CD by Prime Direction.

Osamu Kitajima/Justin Heathcliff – Kitajima is a musician who has taken a varied path over his career, learning piano and classical guitar as a child. In his college years he was guitarist in The Launchers [see below]. He was thanked in the credits on the Far Out album [see above], though it was not mentioned what for. His first solo album was released under a pseudonym – Justin Heathcliff – and contains good psych pop as well as some more folky singer-songwriter type stuff. However, this isn’t mentioned in his discography on his own label web page, so perhaps the association is false. The self-titled album was released on Atlantic in 1971, and the year after he made an album with Fujio Yamaguchi as ‘Fumio & Osamu’ [see above].

His first album under his real name was the stunning ‘Benzaiten’ [Island (Japan)/Antilles (US), 1974 – also seen as 1976], which is mostly instrumental psychedelic/progressive/experimental music incorporating traditional Japanese instruments, such as koto, biwa and shakuhachi. It varies between heavier electric sounds, including exotic jazz rock fusion and psychedelic rock and softer eastern psychedelic folk. Some of it sounds a bit like Brast Burn and Karuna Khyal [see above], with less electronic experimentation involved and more musical skill. The production of the album is excellent, as is the music. Kitajima played almost everything – synth, guitars, percussion, koto and vocal, as well as producing the album. He had assistance from Dennis Belfield [bass], John Harris [bass], Geoffrey Hales [drums, percussion], George Marinelli [guitars], Brian Whitcomb [guitar, synth, keyboards] and Tatsuya Sano [synth]. Kitajima’s mention on the Nurse With Wound influences list is due to this album, which is unfortunately not available yet on CD. Kitajima moved to Los Angeles and went on to release numerous other albums, including ‘California Roll’ [1975], ‘Passages’ [1975], ‘Osamu’ [Island, 1977], ‘Masterless Samurai’ [Head First, 1978], ‘Sweet Chaos’ [1978], ‘Dragon King’ [Arista, 1979], ‘Face To Face’ [Takoma, 1981], ‘The Source’ [CBS/Electric Bird, 1986], ‘In Minds Way’ [Epic, 1987], ‘Behind the Light’ [1991] and ‘Beyond the Circle’ [1996]. These reputedly veer more towards New Age styles, although still diverse. I have only heard ‘Masterless Samurai’ of these, and although it incorporates some of the successful elements of ‘Benzaiten’ that made that album so remarkable, it is diluted by lots of commercial funky fusion. He also makes soundtracks for films and documentaries. Now known as Dr Kitajima, he runs his own New Age label, East Quest Records. Most of his albums are available on CD.

Kitaro – real name Masanori Takahashi, he was previously in the Far East Family Band. After that group broke up, he began a long and successful solo career. In general his music could be said to fall squarely in the New Age category – however, some of his music is quite enjoyable for fans of mellow ambient cosmic synthesizer music, and it sometimes has a distinctly Japanese touch to the sound. His first album was ‘Astral Voyage’ [1978], followed by ‘Oasis’ [1979], one of his better albums. A string of other albums followed, such as ‘Full Moon Story’ [1979], ‘Silk Road Vol. 1 & 2’ [1980], ‘Silk Road Suite’ [1980], ‘In Person Digital’ [1980], ‘Tunhuang/Tonko’ [1981], ‘Ki’ [1981] and many more up to the present day. I believe he has also worked on soundtracks.

Takehisa Kosugi – an important experimental musician who was early on associated with the Fluxus experimental music movement, and in 1958 formed Group Ongaku [see above]. The group lasted on and off until 1969, with Kosugi making music for the Expo ’70 at Osaka before forming Taj Mahal Travellers [see below], for which he is perhaps best known. In the mid-60’s Kosugi also assisted Matsuo Ono [see below] with recording sound effects for the original television cartoon series ‘Atom’ [aka Astro Boy in the west]. After the demise of TMT [or perhaps during it], he resumed a solo career, beginning with ‘Catch Wave’ [CBS, 1975, but recorded 1974]. This was a wonderful album, in a similar vein to Taj Mahal Travellers, but more stripped-back and mesmerizing. It featured 2 lengthy tracks using heavily electronically-treated electric violin and voice. Some people prefer this album to TMT, perhaps due to the presence of less jarring moments!

This was followed by the collaboration ‘Improvisation Sep. 1975’ [Iskra, 1975] (with Toshi Ichiyanagi [see above] and Michael Ranta), featuring ring-modulated violin and bass piano alongside percussion. His ‘Violin Solo 1980 N.Y.C.’ [P-Vine, 1998] is reputedly rather unpleasant listening. Another collaboration album exists, ‘Distant Voices’ (with Steve Lacy and Yuji Takahashi [see below]) [Columbia, 1981], which I know nothing about. There is also ‘Pulsers/Untitled’ [Lovely Music, 1985], a collaboration between David Tudor and Kosugi, which is reputedly pretty good. He made numerous obscure commissioned solo works, including ‘S.E. Wave/E.W. Song’ [1976], ‘Interspersion’ [1979], ‘Cycles’ [1981], ‘Spacings’ [1984], ‘Assemblage’ [1986], ‘Rhapsody’ [1987] and ‘Spectra’ [1989]. I don’t know if any of these have been released separately as albums. There is also the album ‘Violin Improvisations: New York, September 1989’ [Lovely Music, 1990] . As far as I know, he is still performing and innovating.

The Launchers – a Group Sounds band featuring guitarist Osamu Kitajima [see above]. They released two albums, ‘Free Association’ [Toshiba EMI, 1967] and ‘Oasy Okoku’ [Toshiba EMI, 1969]. These are often said to be in a soft-psych/beat vein, but Julian Cope commented that they are “bizarre concept albums”, and by the sounds of that, they may be worth checking out. The second album has been reissued on CD, though I’m not sure about the first. Kitajima went on to an illustrious solo career.

Lost Aaraaff – a free-jazz-rock group formed in the early 70’s by Keiji Haino, later to record solo albums [see above for one of them] and form Fushitsusha [see below]. No albums released at the time that I know of. Some 1971 recordings have been issued as ‘Lost Aaraaff’ [PSF, 1991], containing three apparently Albert Ayler-influenced ‘improvised acid jams’ featuring piano, drums, vocals and what sounds like occasional cello. It’s pretty demented stuff; at times they sound like no-talents attempting free jazz, at other times they get some really interesting things going, though not easy to describe. I find it hard to sit through the more painful stuff to thet to anything good they might have to offer, however. There is also their contribution to the 1971 live ‘Genya Concert’ [see Various artists, below]. This was supposedly their first performance, and apparently the audience hated them so much they were lucky to get out of there in one piece! The track on ‘Genya Concert’, at least, is quite listenable and creative, and with no audible audience fury at that point in the gig.

Love Live Life + One – a great group who recorded only one album that most people are aware of, ‘Love Will Make A Better You’ [King, 1971]. As well as some searing fuzzed-out psych rockers and more orchestrated moments of progressive psych-pop, the highlight of the album is the side-long piece ‘The Question Mark’. This begins as a kind of free-form freakout, developing into manic acidic free-rock jamming [reminds me a little here of the first Amon Duul II and Embryo albums], with proficient and inspired playing from all musicians. Guitarist Kimio Mizutani shortly after went on to play on the People album and record an excellent solo album [see below for both]. Keyboardist Hiro Yanagida [previously with Apryl Fool & Foodbrain – see above] resumed his solo career [see below]. Singer Akira Fuse was otherwise a MOR pop crooner, though he turned in a freaky and excellent performance here. There are reputedly two more Love Live Life albums [without the ‘+ One’, which was Fuse] – ‘10 Chapters of Murder’ aka ‘Satsujin Jissho’ [1974 – also seen listed as 1972], reputedly more jazz-oriented, and ‘Rock in Bacharach’ [1975].

The M – an obscure band whom, for all I know, were quite well-known in Japan. The line-up was Asano Takami [guitar, keyboards, vocals], Tarumi Yoshimichi [bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals], Nishi Tetsuya [drums] and Tarumi Takamichi [vocals, percussion]. Their first album, ‘M’ [MCA, 1972], reputedly contained progressive rock of some kind. I’m yet to hear a copy, but judging by the parts of the track-listing which are in English [thanks to the internet], it seems they did a fair few cover versions, including one by McDonald & Giles. One of their original tracks is reputedly a longer psych rock piece similar in style to Quicksilver Messenger Service and Gypsy. The album has been reissued on CD by Hagakure. There are also two cover-heavy live CD’s available, ‘1971 Live’ [Hagakure] and ‘1972, Live at Shinjuku’, which may not have been released until recently. Guitarist Hideto Kanoh was apparently in the band at one point, and went on to form Gedo [see above], and Tetsuya was briefly drummer for Far Out [see above] before they recorded their album.

Madorami – a pre-Bi Kyo Ran group [see above]. Their album ‘The Hardest Live ‘76’ [label? year?] is apparently mostly King Crimson covers with a few originals.

Magical Power Mako – real name Makoto Kurita