OSOREZAN / DOU NO KENBAI

The only reason I went out of my way to get this was for the singular fact that it appeared on that damn obsessive 'Nurse With Wound' list. Riddled with so many obscure 70's music, I simply couldn't resist.

'Osorezan' is unlike most Japrock albums you'd expect to hear from that time. Opening with a scream so loud you'll spit coffee from your mouth all over your monitor in sheer fright, then get really annoyed that you're so easily shaken.

There appears to be a lot of folk yelling and shouting for the next five minutes - both male and female. The fact that this is sung in Japanese makes it sound real and earthy. Some pretty cool wah- wah guitar really kick starts things 8 minutes in and from then on things really pick up with (what sounds like) huge massed choral vocals that resemble the beginning of the Peking Olympics from 2008. From here on in it's mainly operatic vocals creating a feeling just like the cover looks.

There's a multiple vocal part on side 2, that for the life of me, I can't remember who stole it in more recent times. Bah!

Not surprisingly 'Yamashirogumi' is best known for his soundtrack to the badly dated and infantile Manga film 'Akira' , where at least the music sounds ok.

Some of you less refined listeners like me may find this similar to listening to parts of 'Shogun' starring Richard Chamberlain in the early 80's, but that would just be insulting to a record that has clearly had a bucket-load of toil and sweat involved in its production.

So much for the Julian Cope book 'Japrock Sampler' - where I was led to believe that this was a pretty ordinary release. It is, in fact, a very unusual and highly original album, full of vocals sung in Japanese, creating a cacophony of otherworldly noise. Singers sound like they're dropping knives on concrete, a few of which hit their feet, resulting in shrieks and wails.

One for all prog 'outsiders' willing to try something different.