Blog - columbia*readymade's jazz-rock reviewed #4, 5
columbia*readymade's jazz-rock reviewed #4, 5
Here I continue my reviews of columbia*readymade's jazz-rock re-issues. Will I make it to the end? :)
Sawada Shungo / Muraoka Takeru All Stars "Hit & Hit In Bossanova" (1968)
沢田駿吾・村岡健オールスターズ 「ヒット・アンド・ヒット・イン・ボサノバ」
The all-star band features Sawada Shungo (guitar), Muraoka Takeru (tenor sax), Tokuyama Yō (piano), Suzuki Hiroshi (trombone), Ikeda Yoshio (bass), Nishikawa Takaaki (drums), and Maeda Norio (vibraphone, see album "This Is Jazz-Rock").
The sax and vibraphone did it for me. I found the whole to be a little bit slow, although there are great upbeat tracks too. Some vibraphone bits strongly reminded my young ears of Tokyo's Coolest Combo. Too bad though that I didn't know (at this time) more of the Japanese hit songs that are being covered. I especially liked The Tigers' "C, C, C", a song that I already knew. I did find this album a bit more "normal" than the others of the series so far, which all had some strong personality. Very nice listen nevertheless.
Track list: The Legend Of Emerald / Angel Love / hoshi o minaide / Summer Grass / omoide no yubiwa / yume de iikara / koi no tokimeki / C, C, C / Flower Necklace / kanashikutte tarikirenai / ai no sono / hana no Madonna
Miho Keitarō & His Group "Sound Poesy 'Sachio'" (1969)
三俣敬太郎と彼のグループ 「サウンドポエジー・サチオ」
The only one of this series that's already been re-issued on CD before (in 2003 at a higher price, and probably not in a deluxe mini LP sleeve like this one). A very interesting album, featuring soft rock and bossa nova covers plus a few originals by jazz pianist Miho Keitarō and "his group" (no details whatsoever about the other musicians).
I was attracted to this one as soon as I saw the series' jacket line-up, and if you'd hope for a racing theme you won't be disappointed. The A side is instrumental and very conceptual, with racing sounds and announcements in Japanese over and between the songs! Side B has no racing sounds and several of the songs have female vocals (from scat to English and Portuguese vocals). The song "Remember Of Paris" has an overlaid dialog. The whole holds together very well. Excellent album!
Reading the short liner notes written by Miho made this album even more interesting. It tells about "Sachio", a racer and music lover who came to see his band play in Roppongi and made the comment "the sound is hard!", making Miho rethink his directions. The album is a collection of songs Sachio likes, but "if he would hear it, he'd probably say 'it sucks.'" A comment that made me grin.
At that point I still didn't know who's that "Sachio" so I did a bit of research. Turns out that the Paris-born racer and fashion model, Fujisawa Sachio, died in a test run accident in early 1969 at the age of 25, so this album (released later the same year) is clearly an homage. Kamayatsu Hiroshi was also friends with Sachio and dedicated a song to him, "So Long Sachio" which can be heard on "kissa Rock at Hibiya Yaon Readymade hen" (Readymade International RMCA-1007 
). We also learn that the people who talk about their Paris memories are Sachio and Miho themselves, a very rare recorded dialogue.
Track list: Start Your Engine / Never My Love / Listen People / Time After Time / Slip Stream / Race Is Over / One Note Samba / Meditation / Remember Of Paris / Mas Que Nada / Goin Out Of My Head / I Wanna Be Around
That's all for now. Only two this time. 4 to go! Next up should be Sandra Alexandra "Sandra & Her 12 Samurai" which looks very interesting! Konishi-san said in a recent interview at HMV that it's one of his best finds in the series.
Find all details on the 9 columbia*readymade jazz-rock re-issues, out April 16, 2008.
Previous reviews: columbia*readymade's jazz-rock reviewed #1, 2, 3
Posted on July 11, 2008 at 00:26 | Tweet
|
Trackback
Comments RSS
I will definitely pick up all of these records and i hope there will be more to come in this series.
In your review of "Sound Poesy 'Sachio'" you mention the "kissa Rock at Hibiya yagai ongaku-dou Readymade hen" cd. This one of the Readymade records i do not yet own so could you tell me a little about it? What kind of music is it, does Konishi play on it and is it worth owning.
Posted by Gustav on July 14, 2008 at 01:46
Thanks for your comment and sorry for my delayed answer.
"kissa Rock ..." is in the same line as the recent "uta to Guitar. Piano. kotoba." compilation, aimed a bit more to an adult audience than the club-style Readymade. I believe it's a rather rare show, featuring many artists who don't stand on stage so much of late, notably HIGUCHI Yasuo (aka Pico) and Monsieur KAMAYATSU. I'm not familiar with the rest, but still it's a very enjoyable album. These are very good performances with a full band, in which Konishi-san plays bass on all tracks and also MC's a little bit.
You'll recognize "So Long Sachio" as the base for Monsieur KAMAYATSU's "So Long 20th Century" that appears on his Readymade album ("Je m'appelle Monsieur").
Posted by Patrick on July 19, 2008 at 01:29