BANSAN (SOCIAL GATHERING)

Imagine a fast boogie base on which a keyboard instead of a blues riff puts spacey notes. Then a sudden slow-down, a brief symphonic interlude and psychedelia starts. "That Will Do" is started about only one minute ago and it's clear that it's an awesome track. The organ is acid and the rhythm is high. It's psychedelic but not chaotic. There's a lot of jazz behind here. A great performance of Hiro Yanagida (check his solo works, too). After 4 minutes of acid organ it comes an acid guitar then an acid bass. A great psychedelic track very clean and rock without experimentalisms. A jam session, mainly, until the initial boogie theme is back for the last two minute and closes the track.

After a short bass filler, "Naked Mountain" it comes "Waltz For M.P.B". This song reminds strongly to the instrumental part of Doors' Light My Fire.

"Liver Juice Vending Machine"....I can't imagine a cup of liver juice...This is a psychedelic track initially in the mood of Syd Barrett. The initial noises, the bass riff are very floydian, but when the bass solo begins and the guitar solo follows the possible relation with Pink Floyd disappears. What follows is artsy and acid, then the initial riff returns and the song is closed by a noisy part.

"The Conflict of the Hippo A" is another 30 seconds filler.

Other good psychedelic rock with "Clock". The bass notes, an organ base and the solos can start. It's another jam session with a solo for each instrument. The drums don't make a solo but the drumming is excellent throughout the whole album. Hiro Tsunoda doesn't need to play a solo to show his skill.

45 seconds of harpsichord entitled "One-Sided Love" and the longest track arrives. "The Hole In A Sausage" has initially something of Gong, not only in the title. I think to Radio Gnome Invisible, but without vocals. Following the intro there's a long free-jazz part of clarinet, contrabass and drums and after few minutes the organ adds some accents. Now it's more Soft Machine than Gong. Very artsy and a bit experimental. However the jazz influence is clearly evident in all the tracks. The guitar adds a touch of psychedelia and the 11 notes of the "funeral march" played by the bass with chorus effect make it weird, too. The same just after with few notes from Auld Lang Syne, then it's a bass solo followed by a noisy and likely improvised section. Drums alone for another solo. A short organ coda, less than one minute of guitar noise (it seems to be a guitar), and the disk is over.

It's a very good album but it needed a few more to have the fourth star.