I'm in the process of re-listening and re-evaluating my record collection, in no particular order. I'll be sharing the results of my evaluation and thoughts on the music in this blog.
Tuesday 26 May 2015
Various Artists "Sixties Japanese Garage-Psych Sampler" 1987(comp)****
The weirdness factor here is off the charts!
First released on vinyl in 1987, this rare
collection of the Japanese “group sounds” movement apparently achieved
legendary status and only recently became available on Cd. Let us disregard the
questionable aesthetic of the cover and focus on the music: What would you expect
when buying a compilation of Japanese beat groups circa 1966-68? I, for one, was taken by
surprise. Firstly, although the song titles are in English, most of the groups
here sing in Japanese. Secondly, I expected a more pop oriented collection,
when a lot of these numbers rival the wildest garage you’ll encounter in the “Back
from the Grave” series. Even in the more melodic numbers the vocalist often suddenly
freaks out and starts screaming. The guitarwork is amazing throughout, really
wild with a lot of fuzz and reverb. Lots of Japanese Jeff Beck-wannabes turning the volume way up. "I'm
Just a Mops" is a stand-out track which was already familiar to me since it’s
been anthologised before. The Mops were considered the first real psychedelic
band in Japan but this is a real slice of rebellious garage ala
Stones/Standells. The Spiders were the most well known group of the era but the
Japanese-language song included here is not that impressive. On the other hand, The
Outcast were unknowns but their cover of "Long Tall Sally" is
unforgettable: The singer screams his lungs off in what I think is supposed to
be English but sounds more like he’s trying to scare someone away. If the
villagers in The7 samurai had this guy, they wouldn’t need to hire any
mercenaries. The Beavers'"Why, Baby, Why?" with its mixed English/Japanese vocals
is yet another highlight while the Tempters track is a moody Zombies-like number (although the movie version in the youtube clip below is noticeably faster).
**** for Love Is My Life (The Golden Cups), Why, Baby, Why? (The Beavers), I'm Just a Mops (The Mops), Everything's Alright (Outcast)
*** for Tunnel to Heaven (The Dynamites), Long Tall Sally (Outcast), Chu! Chu! Chu! (The Carnabeats), Tell Me More (The Tempters), Burning, Burning (The Bunnys), Anything You Want (The Spiders), Please Please Trina (D'Swooners), Gloria (Fingers)
At the time of writing this review I couldn't find much information about this compilation but you may find this more detailed presentation from the permanentransience blog interesting: http://permanentransience.blogspot.be/2014/12/music-2013-decidedly-selective-survey.html Because this sampler consists of acts that were derivative, to a greater or lesser degree, of contemporary Western garage rock and psychedelia, there are no undiscovered gems among them. All in fun, though, with more raw passion than talent on display. These bands, part of a movement called Group Sounds in Japan, flourished briefly in the mid- to late 1960s and then reverted to a well-merited obscurity, even if a few of those involved went on to other bands or careers in film or television. A few songs are sung in English; others in Japanese but often with a refrain or tagline in English. There are a couple of cover songs, as these groups did plenty of covers during their shows in response to audience demand. Van Morrison’s “Gloria” (1964) is rendered fairly faithfully by a Keio University student group named the Fingers, whose attempt to go pro fell sadly flat. “Long Tall Sally” (1956), by Little Richard, Robert Blackman, and Enotris Johnson, as performed by a band calling itself Outcast (several years before André 3000 and Big Boi were even born), is memorable mainly for its shouty delivery of the lyrics and its wildcat yowl. All of the performers in each band are male, although the singer of the Tempters, Keizo Hagiwara (who went on to an acting career as Kenichi Hagiwara), has an androgynous voice. That band’s selection, “Tell Me More,” is the slowest on the album, a lacuna in the form of a feeble stab at torchy blues. One group not afraid to let loose is the Bunnys (the animal names for bands—Beavers, Spiders—make me think of a humorous Isuzu TV commercial from the early nineties or so). Their surf guitar sound, heavily influenced by the Ventures, is said (in the liner notes) to be tempered with roots music, min’yo, Japanese rural folk tunes. The songs themselves are relatively tame, but “Burning, Burning” explodes in a cry acknowledging bandleader Takeshi “Terry” Terauchi at the bridge and another for good measure at the close. “Hey! Chance,” the band’s other entry, begins with a yell announcing the song title; the rest is an effervescent organ and guitar groove instrumental. The medium-burn psychedelic cooker (with two double-time sections!) “I’m Just a Mops” by the Mops, done entirely in English, seems to take hairstyle as a tribal identifier: wear it proud and loud. Also in English throughout, “Please Please Trina” is by D’Swooners, a Filipino outfit that made a magnesium flash of a career in Hong Kong and then Japan. The band comes across, on the evidence of “Please Please Trina,” as the Doors manqué with a bit of James Brown for vocal emphasis. The opening thirty seconds of the first number, “Love Is My Life,” by the Golden Cups, seem divorced from the rest of the song, like pairing the early Beatles with Near Eastern or Israeli pop. “Tunnel to Heaven,” by Dynamite, with its buzzing, fuzzy bass and primitive vocal harmonies, models itself more on the Troggs or the Kingsmen. The Carnabeats’ lively “Chu! Chu! Chu!” a wild surf rock pastiche with a zippy guitar solo at the break, has an interesting verse portion that bends tonality in a peculiarly Asian way. The cover art takes some liberties, with an ukiyo-e samurai touting “12 Gloovy Gloups!!” in a cartoon bubble, while the liner notes’ back panel fabricates a letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney, dated on Lennon’s assassination day, exclaiming over the discovery of this trove of Japanese rock, supposedly in Yoko Ono’s closet. Someone’s idea of a morbid joke.
At the time of writing this review I couldn't find much information about this compilation but you may find this more detailed presentation from the permanentransience blog interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://permanentransience.blogspot.be/2014/12/music-2013-decidedly-selective-survey.html
Because this sampler consists of acts that were derivative, to a greater or lesser degree, of contemporary Western garage rock and psychedelia, there are no undiscovered gems among them. All in fun, though, with more raw passion than talent on display. These bands, part of a movement called Group Sounds in Japan, flourished briefly in the mid- to late 1960s and then reverted to a well-merited obscurity, even if a few of those involved went on to other bands or careers in film or television. A few songs are sung in English; others in Japanese but often with a refrain or tagline in English. There are a couple of cover songs, as these groups did plenty of covers during their shows in response to audience demand. Van Morrison’s “Gloria” (1964) is rendered fairly faithfully by a Keio University student group named the Fingers, whose attempt to go pro fell sadly flat. “Long Tall Sally” (1956), by Little Richard, Robert Blackman, and Enotris Johnson, as performed by a band calling itself Outcast (several years before André 3000 and Big Boi were even born), is memorable mainly for its shouty delivery of the lyrics and its wildcat yowl. All of the performers in each band are male, although the singer of the Tempters, Keizo Hagiwara (who went on to an acting career as Kenichi Hagiwara), has an androgynous voice. That band’s selection, “Tell Me More,” is the slowest on the album, a lacuna in the form of a feeble stab at torchy blues. One group not afraid to let loose is the Bunnys (the animal names for bands—Beavers, Spiders—make me think of a humorous Isuzu TV commercial from the early nineties or so). Their surf guitar sound, heavily influenced by the Ventures, is said (in the liner notes) to be tempered with roots music, min’yo, Japanese rural folk tunes. The songs themselves are relatively tame, but “Burning, Burning” explodes in a cry acknowledging bandleader Takeshi “Terry” Terauchi at the bridge and another for good measure at the close. “Hey! Chance,” the band’s other entry, begins with a yell announcing the song title; the rest is an effervescent organ and guitar groove instrumental. The medium-burn psychedelic cooker (with two double-time sections!) “I’m Just a Mops” by the Mops, done entirely in English, seems to take hairstyle as a tribal identifier: wear it proud and loud. Also in English throughout, “Please Please Trina” is by D’Swooners, a Filipino outfit that made a magnesium flash of a career in Hong Kong and then Japan. The band comes across, on the evidence of “Please Please Trina,” as the Doors manqué with a bit of James Brown for vocal emphasis. The opening thirty seconds of the first number, “Love Is My Life,” by the Golden Cups, seem divorced from the rest of the song, like pairing the early Beatles with Near Eastern or Israeli pop. “Tunnel to Heaven,” by Dynamite, with its buzzing, fuzzy bass and primitive vocal harmonies, models itself more on the Troggs or the Kingsmen. The Carnabeats’ lively “Chu! Chu! Chu!” a wild surf rock pastiche with a zippy guitar solo at the break, has an interesting verse portion that bends tonality in a peculiarly Asian way. The cover art takes some liberties, with an ukiyo-e samurai touting “12 Gloovy Gloups!!” in a cartoon bubble, while the liner notes’ back panel fabricates a letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney, dated on Lennon’s assassination day, exclaiming over the discovery of this trove of Japanese rock, supposedly in Yoko Ono’s closet. Someone’s idea of a morbid joke.