Mops "Iijanaika" (1971)****

What's with Japanese psychedelic rock and nudity? The album cover of Yuya Uchida & The Flowers' Challenge (1969) featured the band naked on a field of grass, on Flower Travelling Band's Anywhere (1970) they were riding motorcycles butt-naked, and Creation's debut (1975) featured a bunch of naked boys holding their willies, some of them pissing... totally bizarre idea for a cover! I'd like to get this LP, but I think of the embarassment if someone sees me with it "I didn't know you were into that Kostas, wink wink!" Anyway, a first glance at this CD in an Athens record store had me thinking that this must be an unknown Greek band from the 70's because the photo of a band (plus, of course, a naked lady) is super-imposed on that of an ancient Greek temple. Then I noticed the Asian faces, and the name of Mops, a group I'm familiar with from their classic debut Psychedelic Sounds in Japan (1968). Half of Psychedelic Sounds... consists of covers of contemporary American/British hits, but Iijanaika features original compositions, sung primarily in English. The liner notes mention Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath influences; I hear a lot of Cream, Groundhogs, and Led Zeppelin, not so much Sabbath - except possibly from the tremendous title track. Let's call this style "heavy progressive blues rock", HPBR for short. On second thought that's a terrible abbreviation; I don't see it becoming a staple of musical journalism, so just forget it. As for the lyrical content, according to a reviewer on rateyourmusic, "Iijanaika is a concept album, detailing our hero's mistaken desire to leave his holistic rural community for something better, only to realize too late that 'something better' is the deadening conformity of the 9-to-5 routine". Curious about the meaning of the word Iijanaika I stumbled into an interesting Wikipedia entry: apparently the word describes a variety of carnivalesque communal festivities that took part in 19th century Japan. Gifts were exchanged, youth groups organized mass dances which included cross-dressing, elaborate costumes, or not wearing clothes at all (aha! maybe the Japrock nudity obsession has its roots here?) The term ee-ja-nai-ka literally means "Isn't it good?" but can also be interpreted as "Why not?" or "Who cares?". It became the main refrain sung during these activities, and gave its name to the whole movement. The rise of austere militarism and concurrent beginning of Japan's Westernization soon put an end to that whole movement. As I said before, opener "Iijanaika" is a tremendous hard rocker reminiscent of Black Sabbath. "Town Where I Was Born" sports a Sabbath-like riff but the rest of the song is more like 60's psychedelia akin to The Groundhogs or Mountain. "Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night" is an acoustic folk ditty, while "Nobody Cares" is a more soulful and accomplished composition that reminds me of Traffic. "Gekko Kamen" is heavy blues with theatrical half-spoken Japanese vocals, similar to those of some very stylized characters in old samurai movies. In any case, I think of this as a satirical song because it reminds me a lot of someone most of you wouldn't have heard of, but I grew up listening to: Dimitris Poulikakos, a Greek satirical rocker from the 70's with a Jimi Hendrix obsession. "To My Sons" adds a healthy dose of R&B, while the album closes with orchestral pop ballad "Alone". It's sincerely soulful, and not bad as ballads go, but The Mops are best when they are also at their loudest, all screeching guitars and furious drumming, as evidenced on the title track and hard rockers like "Traces of Love" and "No One Knows What They Were". Well, now that I learned about the history of Iijanaika, I'm tempted to look for some Japanese historical novel to read - or maybe I'll just watch Shogun on T.V. I hear there's a new remake out; when I was a child I used to watch fanatically the original series featuring Richard Chamberlain and Toshiro Mifune, which was based on a novel, which was in turn based on the fascinating true story of a 17th century English sailor called William Adams. Giles Milton has written a brilliant biography of him, called Samurai William. You see? this is what you get on presentingmyrecordcollection: not just record reviews, but also stream-of-consciousness lapses into autobiography, politics, travel advice, culinary comments, history lessons, and now book suggestions. There's just no other blog like this one!

**** for Iijanaika, To My Sons, No One Knows What They Were

*** for Town Where I Was Born, Good Morning Good Afternoon Good Night, Nobody Cares, Gekko Kamen, Traces of Love, Alone