ISSHOKU-SOKUHATSU

A really solid album from Japan circa 1974. That album cover is iconic no? I laughed when I saw the back cover because the first impressions of the front is that we have this pipe smoking Lemur hanging off a tree limb. Flip it over and the tree branch is actually an elephant's trunk and he's standing on an enormous turtle shell. What!? Oh yeah this is psychedelia and this band were huge PINK FLOYD fans. A four piece with the usual instruments. The keyboardist adds piano, Fender Rhodes, organ, mini-moog and mellotron. Andy at Planet Mellotron gives this 3.5 stars and Julian Cope rated this 49th out of his top 50 Japanese albums. Both a little low in my opinion but this does have some commercial moments and other things I consider issues for my tastes but it's that very strong second half that pushes this over the hump in my opinion.

The album's title means "Dangerous Situation" and that title track is my favourite. Clocking in at 12 1/2 minutes the longest tune on here. This one has lots of energy early before calming down to a PINK FLOYD vibe after 2 minutes, vocals too. It all turns fuller including the vocals before 3 minutes as contrasts continue. How about that heavy section after 8 minutes and the singing is at it's best a minute later. They do sing in Japanese by the way. Ripping guitar after 10 minutes but I'm not big on the synths to end it. The closer "The Sadness Of A Ping-Pong Ball" opens with the sounds of said ball before we get this beautiful melancholic sound with light beats, picked guitar, bass and the odd piano note. Some mellotron here and on that second track but there's not a lot of it in play here. "Sky And Cloud" is that second song and my least favourite but even this has it's moments. I like the calm sections best. "Festival" has guest congas on it and how about the Canterbury sounding keyboards starting before 4 minutes. Surprising. This song isn't all over the place but it's getting close. Samples too.

A solid 4 stars for this one, and while it may have it's issues overall it's an album that all the adventerous music lovers of Japan should be proud of.