The Crazy Rider 横浜銀蝿 Rolling Special "ぶっちぎり II" 1981***

This one arrived recently together with some other J-Rock LPs, and after the first listen it's my favorite of the bunch. Or maybe the easiest to warm up to, because it's just plain old Rock'n'Roll in its purest form. I bought these albums from a discogs seller, based on some samples of music I could find on youtube. I'll try to present all of them here, which I think should be of interest as there's very little info on these groups available in English. I had to googletranslate everything, so apologies for any mistakes. This band apparently began under the 横浜銀蝿 (Yokohama Ginbae) moniker but added some English words to their name in order to have the longest name ever in the Japanese charts. Something they may well have achieved with the single included here, as any chart entry should read like this: The Crazy Rider 横浜銀蝿 Rolling Special "前サラサラサーファー・ガール おいらテカテカロックン・ローラー". ("You Sara Sara Surfer Girl Ira Tecateka Rock'n'Roller" - henceforth to be abbreviated as "Sara Surfer Girl", and the band as TCR Yokohama Ginbae RS). So these guys formed in late 1979 - I have no info as to where but I will hazard a guess that it was in Yokohama, Japan. They had a short but productive first run (1980-83), releasing 4 albums in this period and made a comeback in 1998 under an even longer name, The Crazy Rider Yokohama Ginbae Rolling Special Returns. This is their 2nd album, released at the same time as their biggest hit single "Tsupari High School Rock'n Roll (School attendance)" which unfortunately isn't included here. The album doesn't offer much variation, but that doesn't matter. This band has a winning formula and sticks by it: 50's-style rockabilly with a bit of a punk edge, similar to what Robert Gordon or The Stray Cats were playing around the same time. Think Chuck Berry meets New York Dolls. The LP title is pronounced Bucchigiri 2, which seems to mean the sound of a car/motorcycle engine rapidly accelerating. Side A starts off with a few seconds of that, leading to "だからいつもの Rock'n'Roll" ("So the usual R'n'R"), a very 50's sounding rockabilly with lots of sax and piano. The following tunes "ヒップフリフリRock'n Roll" ("Hip Furi Furi R'n'R"), "壱から壱まで Rock'n Roll" ("R'n'R from Ichi to Pickup") are louder with harder guitars and occasional harmonica, and "Johnny は Rock がお好き" ("Johnny likes Rock") is reminiscent of The Straycats, featuring female backing singers and nimble guitar and piano solos. "DJ Rock'n Roll" is a 6+ minute long track with 4 Japanese DJs talking while the band keeps playing in the background. Side 2 opens with "Sara Surfer Girl", which starts like a ballad before suddenly transforming into another wild rocker. "お前にお手上げ" ("Give up to you") reminds me of some 50's covers by The Ramones, while "I Love 横浜" ("I Love Yokohama") and "盗まれた魔法のランプ" ("Stolen magic lamp") are two more typical rockabilly songs and closer "気ままな One Way Night" ("Carefree One Way Night") a nostalgic retro ballad.  All in all a fun rockabilly record that any rocker would enjoy once they get used to the unfamiliar sound of Japanese vocals. Visually the band was quite striking, with their uniform Little Richard pompadours, sunglasses, white pants and black leather jackets - one is never sure whether they are serious 50's copyists or an elaborate parody like the Leningrad Cowboys. The album cover is a stylish black monochrome group photo on silver, possibly a pun on their name (Ginbae apparently meaning "silver fly"). Lastly, the band recently reformed once more to celebrate their 40th anniversary and is seemingly at the moment active under the name THE CRAZY RIDER 横浜銀蝿 ROLLING SPECIAL 40th. Check out this cool promo video on youtube:

**** for だからいつもの Rock'n Roll (So the usual R'n'R), ヒップフリフリRock'n Roll (Hip Furi Furi R'n'R), Johnny は Rock がお好き(Johnny likes Rock), お前サラサラサーファー・ガール おいらテカテカロックン・ローラー (You Sara Sara Surfer Girl Ira Tecateka Rock'n Roller), お前にお手上げ (Give up to you)

*** for 壱から壱まで Rock'n Roll (R'n'R from Ichi to Pickup), I Love 横浜 (I Love Yokohama), 盗まれた魔法のランプ (Stolen magic lamp), 気ままな One Way Night (Carefree One Way Night)

** for DJ Rock'n Roll