FAR EAST FAMILY BAND

4.5: The third album by the Japanese band Far East Family Band. Always regarded as the first prog band from japan, it is a band pretty influenced by the experimental era of pink floyd and tangerine dreams. In fact, one of the things that make me get interested is the participation of Klaus Schulze as a mixer and producer, they met him in a trip in europe. Musically, is pretty good it has a classic space rock feeling mostly using the keyboards and synths to set the ambient and background of the music, one thing that I am grateful is that they have a direction in the music composition, because most of the space rock bands tends to only make jamming and thats it. About the vocals, I can only say that they go well and make the songs more enjoyable, although I can tell what they talk about, because they are in japanese. Finally, I really liked this album, this was too close for being a masterpiece but the first song (Metempsychosis) is not as good as the others, so sadly it is not consistent. An excellent addition to any prog collection and a must to have for any space rock fan.

The last hurrah for the Far East Family Band, a Japanese space/symphonic rock prog group active for a short period of a few years in the early to late Seventies, `Tenkujin' from 1977 was their fourth and final disc sung in both Japanese and English, and while the three works that came before it are far superior, it remains a very respectable and lovely LP with much to recommend it. Even though future new-age keyboard icon Kitaro had departed the band by this point, `Tenkujin' still offered plenty of the lengthy flowing keyboard-heavy spacey atmospheres, dreamy Pink Floyd-like guitar reaches and gentle ethnic elements the group was known for.

After an sedate yet experimental sound-collage of twitching electronics to introduce the album, the title-track `Tenkujin' launches straight into reaching glissando-like strains, skittering drumming over quickening programmed beats, chiming guitar shimmers and placid washes of deep-space synths wrapping around a plaintive lead vocal. The mellow `Timeless Phase' rather shamelessly borrows the chords and melodies of Pink Floyd's `Brain Damage', but there's also a pleasantly plodding quality that reminds of the similar Floydian laid-back moments of German band Jane throughout.

The second side's `Nagare' marries Sensations' Fix-like bleeding and whirring synth caresses over aching Camel-esque phasing guitar wisps, sweetly murmuring bass and a steady beat that turns frantic and racing in the final moments. `From Far East' is a softly bouncing and pleasing chill-out tune that grooves gently with swallowing bass and brisk drumming, slowly drifting into unhurried and softly stormy deep-space instrumental floating that reveals little traces of German group Novalis seeping out, in the way that the Far East Family Band always did so well. Gentle trilling Kitaro-like synth prettiness and dignified Mellotron choirs close the album on `Ascension', but some overly swooning orchestration that eventually enters the piece is completely unnecessary and overbearing.

The Far East Family Band are like groups such as Fruupp and Finch, bands that retain a nice compact run of consistently good albums from the vintage progressive rock era, some of which approach true greatness and are very special, much-loved works. They arrived and left before the rot of disco, punk and the over-commercialisation of so many progressive rock-related bands fully set in, which ensures the Far East Family Band have a perfectly satisfying and untarnished legacy , nicely wrapped up with the constantly lovely and humble `Tenkujin'.

Three stars.

Nipponjin (1975) is the second album by the japanese band FEFB. In fact all the 10 tracks are remakes of the songs they released on their 2 previous albums. Let's see that in detail :

The 1st track "Nipponjin" is taken from the unique and very good album released by the band "FAR OUT" in 1973. The leader of this band was Fumio Miya[&*!#]a (lead vocal, guitar, words and music, and producer !). After this four-member band seperated, Fumio gathered 5 new people to create the six-member band FEFB. Among these members was the organist Masanori Takahashi, later better known as Kitaro. "Nipponjin" ("japanese" in english ) is an excellent epic song of almost 17 mn.

The 9 other tracks are all from the first album of FEFB titled "The cave down to the earth". The original songs were in japanese but all the remakes are in english. Let's say right now that this album is very melodic and atmospheric, the voices are warm and the influence of Pink Floyd is obvious.

The 2nd track "the cave" (named "The cave down to the earth" in the 1st LP) is 8:37 long and is very good even if some moments remind you Pink Floyd's "One of these days" (album "Meddle") or Barclay James Harvest.

The third track "Undiscovered Northern Land" is a short piece in the style of Tangerine Dream.

The 4th track "Timeless" (titled "Birds flying to the cave" in the 1st LP) and the 6th track "River of soul" (remake of "Saying to the land" in the 1st LP) are 2 other highlights of this album.

Unfortunately the last 3 tracks are weak and it prevents me to give 5 stars to this LP. Nevertheless, it deserves a strong 4 stars and I strongly recommend this romantic, exotic and very pleasant album to all the nostalgics of Pink Floyd.

If there is a prog-band that embodies the whole spirit of this new merge of sub-genres, in a single record, (electronic/psychedelic/indo-raga/krautrock), it has to be (oddly) Japan's, Far East Family's 1979, release: "Parallel Worlds". But of course as great as this sounds alone, it is just part of what this record has to offer.

Their soberness in their psychedelic expression turns out quiet groundbreaking. Considering that this precisely, frees its songwriting from the average guitar's or keyboard's endless twisting and turnings, one usually expects to find in this kind of efforts.

Opposite to that , their slow paced psychedelic/spacy songwriting approach opens the door to something quiet more experimental sub-genre wise speaking. Therefore this work travels flowingly through very creative prog-lands and never ceasing to dare to go to others.

So expect an unusual blend of styles at its best. From the before mentioned spacy/psychedelia to some brief multinational forms to pure progressive electronic moments, which I myself enjoyed throughly, to other passages which are more in tune with Krautrock's raw melodical experimentations, singing in that kind of tone included.

A deep, slow paced, multi-shaped trip which is as bright and fresh as it is haunting.

****4 "This one stays home" PA stars!

PD please do not be fooled by the constant mention of the Floyd in this band's reviews. These guys have enough self musical language at this point, for such lame comparissons.

Thanks for having been invited to Prog Archive's PSIKE Team!

Often branded the poor cousin to the Far East Family Band's first three albums, 1977's 'Tenkujin'' - their final studio effort - has had a rather rough critical deal over the years, especially considering the fact that it furrows the same hazy cosmic path of it's predecessors. Just why is a question for debate, though the overall quality of the group's debut album 'The Cave Down To Earth' and its superb follow-ups 'Parallel Worlds' and 'Nipponjin' meant that the bar had been set extremely high. For 'Tenkujin' there would be no Klaus Schulze behind the mixing desk, instead replaced by group leader Fumio Miya[&*!#]a and his wife Linda, whilst the album also proved much shorter than all three of its predecessors, coming in at a rather snappy thirty-five minutes. However, despite these minor glitches, 'Tenkujin' still remains a fine album. All the ingredients that made 'Parallel Worlds' and 'Nipponjin' so good are here - woozy synthesizers, ghostly percussion, cosmic sound effects, wailing psychedelic guitars - with the beautifully-wrought 'Timeless Phase' and the eight-minute mini- epic 'From Far East' the obvious stand-outs. Yes, it doesn't reach the same exulted heights of the groups previous material, but to chastise 'Tenkujin' as a result is a mistake. This is a warm and woozy slice of Japanese space-rock, created by the country's premier exponents of such things, and any Far East Family Band fan who is yet to experience the synthesized soundscapes of this highly-relaxing album is urged to grab a copy any way they can. So, don't believe the hype on this one folks; just like its brothers and sisters this member of the Far East Family Band is well worth the price of admission. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2013

This bold and innovative album substantially improves on Far East Family Band's earlier style, presenting a space rock melange unlike nothing previously heard. With parts that sound like Tangerine Dream, other sections which call early Pink Floyd to mind, still more which resemble You-era Gong, and some which sound decades ahead of their time, the band produce an exceptional album which features some fantastic guitar work on the part of Fumio Miya[&*!#]a and Hirohito Fukushima, as well as the talents of no less than two dedicated keyboardists (Masanori Takahashi and Akira Ito), backed up by Fumio here and there when the synths need a little extra power. An excellent achievement.

A competent and enjoyable space rock album from Japan, The Cave Down to the Earth is a great showcase for guitarists Fumio Miya[&*!#]a and Hirohito Fukushima, whose low-key riffing and trading of solos show a more subtle touch than is usual for space rock. Combining the pacidity and tranquility of the Floydian end of space rock with the fuzzed-out tones of Hawkwind, the band create a distinctive sound which is entertaining enough, though isn't quite enough to secure them a place in the space rock pantheon on the strength of this particular recording. A high three stars which could have got a fourth star if the compositions had just been a little bit tighter.

4.5/15P.: a somewhat boring Pink Floyd copy with many Mellotrons and guitar ballads which doesn't flatline due to the Pink Floyd cloning, but due to a lack of energy and authenticity

To be honest, I'm utterly disappointed by this album. This is an album which was mixed by Klaus Schulze and on which three persons play keyboards (one of them is Kitaro, whose New Age records I enjoy quite a lot). Perhaps the music is intense and captivating at a wavelength that I do not get, but merely 5 or 6 minutes fascinate me. The rest is utter boredom.

You might ask yourself why I judge that drastically about this record, especially regarding the mostly positive reviews here. Well, the key problem - in my opinion - is (as always) that there is more style than substance here. In fact, the band desperately wants to be Pink Floyd, but copying Pink Floyd's sound is a hazardous affair, and this attempt went horribly wrong.

In fact, the album consists of a) slow ballads with predictable chord progressions, bad English vocals and worn-out guitar solos and b) short Kitaro pieces with atmospheric sounds. And each piece is pervaded by these awful chirping synthesizer sounds. I don't object to chirping synthesizer sounds, but it's the same sound which appears in nearly every song, and it must have sounded horribly dated even in 1975. The whole attitude reminds me quite a lot of German psychedelic rock à la Eloy, but there are just too few moments that are satisfying.

The album begins with Nipponjin, the 18 minutes long title track, and it actually starts out fine with the aforementioned chirping noises, electric sitar and a slow floor tom rhythm: nothing special, but (as in Close to the Edge) promising. After three minutes or so we move into a slow 4/4 ballad (one of many), stuffed with Mellotron strings and with accent-laden, but at that point still listenable vocals. In fact it's a nice vocals melody which rescues the whole affair. Inbetween we get a guitar solo which is really decent, but when the vocals enter again that strange accent cannot be ignored. Why didn't they sing everything in Japanese? It would be more authentic and a more exotic experience to listen to it. Nonetheless this part has a certain charme, especially at the places when the vocals are double-tracked. Yes, the first 7 minutes are guite okay, but from this moment on things deteriorate: guitar noodling on a one-chord-background, chirping sounds and more chirping sounds, leading into a pointless Mellotron break. Nice sounds, but with no direction. The end of the piece resembles the blues rock part of Pink Floyd's "Echoes", but adds a Japanese mantra. This is not a bad idea, but the music is so unexciting. The few seconds solo Mellotron in the end are at least a well-done ending.

The Cave is not too different: Hammond organs in the vein of Rick Wright, but to a funkier rhythm. The middle part goes into a fast rhythm which is close to creating a dense sound (including a sweet Moog solo), but I miss the authenticity and straightforward "psychedelia in your face" attitude of, for instance, German Krautrock bands. The Far East Family Band is too diffident in what it does.

Kitaro delivers three electronic miniatures here. Undiscovered Northern Land could be my favorite piece on this record since it really creates its own sonic world. The Asian bamboo flute appears as a lead instruments, accompanied by creepy Mellotron choirs, wind sounds and other keyboards. The God Of Water has the same wind sounds, but nothing happens here except for some guitar notes in the background which sound like they have reached the master tape via leakage of a malfunctioning tape machine. The God of Wind features a fast drum rhythm and one Hammond organ chord which is sustained through the whole piece. It ends where it has started and, er, that's it - again.

The remaining two miniatures can be regarded as the intro to Mystery of Northern Space, the intended final epic of the album. Movin' Lookin' is, essentially, recitation of solemn words, heavy with meaning, with lots of chirping sounds again whilst Yamato is most annoying with obtrusive 'wa wa wawawa' vocals. Mystery of Northern Space finally is another guitar-heavy ballad with soaring guitars, and the standard chord progression (A-G-F-E) is maintained from the first to the last second. A small string section in the end brings slight diversification, but cannot change the fact that the piece lacks substance.

Timeless is uninteresting in a different way: no standard chord progressions here, but rather a standard blues riff. Okay, Mellotron strings from time to time add some texture, but nothing's happening in this piece either.

River of Soul (E-G-A-E, for those who want to jam along with the piece), one of the longer tracks on this album, is slightly better. The bamboo flute is present again and the Mellotron choirs are a pleasant listen, as well. Of course, the composition isn't really stunning, but this is the only piece which is perfectly listenable from the beginning to the end, including some beautiful moments that raise a little smile when you listen to it.

Don't get me wrong: I listen to quite a lot of music, and there are even certain David Guetta pieces which I like quite a lot, and David Guetta pieces are 100% bland in terms of chord progressions. But when the chords aren't too elaborate, the songs need to have a great arrangement, or a good melody, or something different which grabs my attention. "Careful With That Axe Eugene" has just one chord, and in spite of this every second captivates me fully. But this album simply lacks inspiration, at least in my opinion. Actually, the source of (good) music should be the musician himself, his thoughts/feelings/etc, music should be authentic self-expression - and he shouldn't care if the musical idea which he has in a certain moment sounds like his idol or doesn't. This album leers at the British psychedelic rock scene all the way through - but forgets to cast a spell on the listener. Since there are many people who appreciate this album very much I apprehend that it's most probably me who doesn't get the music, but there's too little going on in a time of nearly 55 minutes. So, not more than 2 stars due to the many boring moments, and (in turn) not less than 2 stars because of the pleasant moments in "Nipponjin", "Undiscovered Northern Land" and "River of Soul".

Very well has the potential to be THE represenative of the site's ''Psychedelic/Space Rock'' sub- genre.

I was first exposed to Far East Family Band via NIPPONJIN, an album that I thought had a lot of potential but marred by relatively weak production and too many filler segues. Despite being longer than NIPPONJIN, PARALLEL WORLD seems to weed out filler. I believe Klaus Schulze is involved with the production of this album; I'm not familiar with his solo works, but in terms of FEFB albums, the production takes a quantum leap forward making PARALLEL WORLD far more enjoyable.

Most importantly, the psychedelic pieces flow well, as if time is going in slow motion as you listen (I want to say it's a goal psychedelic band strive for). The Floydian ''Kokoro'' is the only lagging track, but still enjoyable in the least. ''Metempsychosis'' sounds like more of a lead-in to ''Entering/Times'', but those two tracks sound better played consecutively. ''Entering/Times'' has that great climactic build that I am a complete sucker for, complete with hypnotically stellar drumming from Shizuo Takasaki.

The real treat is that title epic that runs for a half hour. It is an excellent piece of psychedelia, that sounds something like Tangerine Dream cross-pollenating with Eloy, but not an exact clone of either band. The first major guitar riff is the highlight moment of the pieces augmented when the vocals puncuate everything great that is going on musically. The trance inducing keyboard section at the end works as effectively as those Tangerine Dream moments of beauty.

FEFB push the most effective buttons here. PARALLEL WORLD is a stunningly wondrous work of psychedelic music that represents its genre quite effectively.

Far East Family Band - Parallel World (1976)

FEFB is a Japanese electronic, space-rock band with an minimalistic approach to progressive music. On 'Parallel World', the only album I own of this band (try to find their finals here in Holland...!) the band makes a semi-professional impression. The album is an hour long, and I think the sound must be a bit better on the cd-issue, my vinyl has little volume.

Far East Family Band experiments with an atmospheric approach to composition/improvisation. There's an emphasis on electronic keyboard equipment (with electronic Gong/Hawkwind-like loops and other effects), almost drum-machine like drums (with an unstoppable pulse on high-hat and patterns on toms). The music is repetitive, but the band manages to let most compositions evolve in a natural way. Albeit, a bit too slow for my tastes. The atmospheres are spacey, slightly psychedelic and sound-scape/soundtrack like. Now and then there's a moment with Japanese vocals and baths of mellotrons, but the song- writing doesn't seem to head anywhere. The band has three keyboard players, but I would wish there would have been some more involvement of the electric guitars.

To be honest with you all, this album didn't hit the right spot for me. The album has a duration of 60 minutes, but I think there's just 40 minutes of music here. A famous fantasy figure once stated; 'like butter stretched out on too much bread'. Having this said, I must say the atmosphere created (eventually) are definitely worthwhile and in some cases even exciting. Furthermore it's interesting to listen to a Japanese take on space-rock.

Conclusion. I'm afraid I'm going to be the first one to say that I think this album doesn't fully live up to it's reputation. It's decent progressive electronic music, but I can't find a lot of direction or intelligent design of the music. The sounds created are however fine and the music has a relaxing effect. A good addition to your international collection of progressive rock and excellent electronic music. Three and a halve stars for this one.