PSYCHEDELUC KABUKI: GESSYOKU

Bizarre albums seem to be the norm from the Japanese prog scene these days. This one is no exception to that. From what I can tell, it's supposed to be the music to a play (whether it's a real play or an imaginary one I don't know), but it's a pretty crazy one if so. The music on this one is all over the place; touches of free jazz, hints of marching band type stuff, some carnival music, avant rock...you get the idea. Along with Hoppy himself, we get some other high-caliber musicians on this one, including Natsuki Kido on guitar, Junji Hirose on sax, and Yuji Katsui on violins. Those are the only musicians I recognize on the album, though I almost mistook the drummer here for Tatsuya Yoshida (no, it's not him, their names are just similar). It's another album which is tough to compare to anything else. Though on occasion, I can catch hints of some of the tamer Japanese Zeuhl groups (for example, I notice hints of Bondage Fruit's music here and there).

If you're interested in the Japanese avant-garde scene, then Hoppy's music is basically a required stop on your journey. It's not an album I listen to regularly though, because I prefer other groups. Still, it's a good one, if a bit uneven. 3.5 stars, really.