Japan Edition:Breaks, Beats, Blues,and the style of a lost era.

[stylesforfree]

I love records from Japan, im obsessed with them. Ever since I got turned onto early Japanese cinema I became infatuated with the style, the themes and concepts of what I believe to be some of the greatest films made and through these films I was instantly hypnotised by the music. It was especially the samurai and gangster flicks that drew my attention, I was a sucker for exploitative themes and violence.

Anime soundtracks grabbed my attention about 10 years ago, but I never really bothered with the actual shows and more recently the pink violence has captivated me. I have a bunch of Police and Anime OST's and a whole heap of various 60's and 70's Japanese artists.....Jun Mayuzumi, Meiko Kaji, Carmen Maki, Takeshi Inomata etc. Its not just the music but some also the beautiful packaging that some of these records come in, double gate fold covers, inserts, posters, booklets.

So here I am presenting the first of many.

Tatsuya Takahashi & Tokyo Union - Seibu Keisatsu/Police: Western Division Part I-II-III
Teichiku Records – GM-157
Japan
21 Nov 1983



I love the promotional obi strip advertising a newly released watch, I think its a vega watch, with the FM radio built in and headphones.



Insert booklet featuring the cars used in the show



The music is jazz-funk esque and uptempo disco stylings interspersed with dialogue and sound effects from the movie, mainly explosions and police sirens and the revving of a nissan RS-3 engine.

There were a number of records pressed with music from the series, this one is a compilation of all 3 volumes.

[Turboellis]

Nice. I've lived in Japan for over 10 years and I still get a little thrill when I find something really unusual here. You really never know what's going to turn up (like 6 Meiko Kaji LPs at a flea market, super cheap). Let me know if you're looking for something in particular and I'll keep my eye out. I'm always digging. PM me if you prefer.

[amidar]

Yep keep it going styles very cool thread, there's a lot of very interesting Japanese prog and fusion etc I've found interesting over the years but wouldn't know where to start.

[stylesforfree]

Do I update the original post with each record or do I post subsequent posts with each record?

[stylesforfree]

Yagi Masao - Tomorrow's Joe

King Records
Japan
1978

Originally a manga that was later adapted into an anime series and movie.

This is the soundtrack of the animated film I think which is a mixture of dialogue and music from said film/series whichever it is. Quality pressing.










Again the packaging here is superb, the pictures don't really do it justice but the gate fold sleeve is a thing of beauty and the poster is awesome.

This is the one track on it that stands out

https://soundcloud.com/rackmode/sachis-theme

Some kind of orchestral jazz-funk big band stylings. Heavy.

[amidar]

Keep going as your'e going mate, new post for each record!

[stylesforfree]

Sharp Five – Japanese Pops Golden Hits
Label: Columbia – JPS 5137
Released: 1967

The Sharp Five were a Japanese GS band from the 60's, they performed a number of cover songs in the style of surf/psych/pop beat and released their own original material. Somewhat of a mixed bag, surf, pop, beat and garage/psych fuzz all show their faces across this LP's 12 tracks.

This is my favourite cut from the LP

[stylesforfree]

Jackey Yoshikawa And His Blue Comets - Blue Comets Original Hit's Vol.2
Label: CBS

Cant find much info on this one unfortunately.

Best track off it:

[Turboellis]

You might want to try out The Tigers 2nd LP Human Renascence. It's quite odd coming from a Group Sounds band.

[stylesforfree]

Thanks for the shout Turboellis, im working on a Japanese mix of all the best funky breaky psychy fuzzy bits.

[stylesforfree]

Akiko Wada - In The Pouring Rain
RCA Japan
1969

Nice soulful cut on a 2 sider. One of my favourite records from Japan, Akiko's voice is powerful, the arrangements are killer, and with the perfect blend of instrumentation it makes for some very nice music

From her wikipedia:

At age 17, she dropped out of school and performed in clubs. She was signed to the Horipuro entertainment agency and released her debut single, "Hoshizora no Kodoku" in 1968 and had her first hit the next year with "Doshaburi no Ame no Naka de". She performed on Kōhaku Uta Gassen, a music show broadcast live every New Year's Eve, in 1970 and has performed over 30 times on the show since then. She received the award for Best Song at the 1972 Japan Record Awards for "Ano Kane wo Narasu no wa Anata".

She played the voice of as Bowser in Super Mario Bros.: Peach-Hime Kyushutsu Dai Sakusen!.[2] She has also voiced Marge Simpson in the Japanese version of The Simpsons Movie.

[Turboellis]

Nice choice stylesforfree. This is one of my favourites too. And her records don't often turn up second hand. At least, not cheaply.

She's on Japanese TV all the time, as a TV personality, with her trademark severe fringe haircut. A quick google search and you should find it. She rarely sings on TV except for the Kouhaku you mentioned in your post. She's also famous for her direct and tough demeanour. I know at least one person, who says that when he used to go to Namba (an area in South Osaka whose bars she used to frequent) at the weekend, he would always be nervous, in case he bumped into her.

Try to track down a copy of, I think it's called Dynamite Soul, which was recorded at a famous US venue. A great live version of this track is on there!

[stylesforfree]

Cool turb, will do, I also have an Arita Shintaro drum LP with a killer instrumental version of the track, its played at a faster tempo.

[stylesforfree]

Jun Mayuzumi – Recital "Live" At Sankei Hall



This is an interesting one, as usual, lovely gatefold, quality finish to the cover art and a cheeky pullout poster of Jun in a bikini and some lovely music to boot.

My favourite cut is Aqua De Beber

[Striker]

This is an excellent thread, I'd love to buy more old Japanese stuff but it'd send me to the poorhouse.