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viewing 1 To 25 of 71 items
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PIC. DISC
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ASH 3054PD
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A picture disc reissue of the first album from the legendary Japanese rockers, Flower Travellin' Band, fronted by Yuya Uchida. Although an album consisting mainly of cover versions, Anywhere, originally released in 1970, still exhibited many of the musical traits that were to come to the fore on the band's next release in 1971, the classic Satori (ASH 3002CD/LP), an album of original material delivered with panache by the increasingly confident Uchida. An album made memorable by its risqué cover as well as its ground-breaking approach to Western rock music. 180 gram vinyl; picture disc; die-cut sleeve.
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LP
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ASH 3035C-LP
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Reissue on 180 gram, blue vinyl; hand numbered editions. Legendary Japanese rock outfit Les Rallizes Dénudés were formed in 1967 and incredibly, for a group that had only one official release (Oz Days Live, a double vinyl compilation release in 1973), played their last gig almost 30 years later in October 1996. The band's name apparently means "fucked up and naked," which more than adequately describes their music. Formed by band leader Mizutani Takashi, the music remained remarkably familiar over the years, and is best described as high volume, raw, lo-fi, repetitive, feedback-drenched guitar-noise fests with nods in the direction of The Velvet Underground and Blues Creation, but without the electronics. Radical left-wing politics were never far from the band's agenda, with one original band member (Wakabayashi) being involved in the Japanese Red Army's hijacking of a flight to North Korea. Consequently, the group's live appearances became less frequent and increasingly clandestine. All the band's albums were released in very small quantities, and because of the group's reputation for secrecy and violence, as well as the difficulty in tracking down their recordings, Les Rallizes Dénudés has assumed almost mythical status. Blind Baby Has It's Mothers Eyes sits at #11 on Julian Cope's list of top Japanese albums. "Massive slabs of distortion inhabit every seam of this monstrously linear album" --Julian Cope (Japrocksampler).
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LP+CD
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ASH 3054YEL-LP
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A reissue of the first album from the legendary Japanese rockers, Flower Travellin' Band, fronted by Yuya Uchida. Although an album consisting mainly of cover versions, Anywhere, originally released in 1970, still exhibited many of the musical traits that were to come to the fore on the band's next release in 1971, the classic Satori (ASH 3002CD/LP), an album of original material delivered with panache by the increasingly confident Uchida. An album made memorable by its risqué cover as well as its ground-breaking approach to Western rock music. 180 gram yellow vinyl; includes CD and insert; hand-numbered sleeve.
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ASH 3012LP
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2016 repress. Combining elements of rock, jazz, bluegrass, soul, Dixieland, folk, ragga, blues and practically every genre there is, The Insect Trust's classic debut (recorded in 1968) reveals one major difference between them and almost all other U.S. psych bands of the time -- while the majority were in thrall to Eastern sounds, they sound resolutely homegrown. Despite featuring banjos, fiddles and bottleneck guitars, the band still sounded absolutely contemporary, with superb tunes, gorgeous vocals and some mindblowing freakout passages. Tuneful, intelligent and highly musical, they truly forged something new out of the past, and this is one of the most beguilingly strange and original rock albums ever recorded. On 180 gram vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.
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LP
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ASH 3007LP
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2021 repress; LP version. Former Beat Of The Earth leader Phil Pearlman assembled Relatively Clean Rivers in the early '70s and eventually released this excellent rural rock album in 1975. Although Pearlman's first recorded effort was a surf/hot rod 45 entitled Chrome Reversed Rails which appeared on the Fink label in the mid-'60s, it was with Beat Of The Earth that he began to forge a distinctive musical voice. The band was one of the earliest-known experimental bands with a sound reminiscent of their East Coast counterparts, The Velvet Underground, whose influence is often discernible on Relatively Clean Rivers. That said, RCR is recognized by those fortunate enough to have heard it as one of the very finest albums of the era, with a clearly-defined American sound akin to The Grateful Dead in all their American Beauty pomp or CSNY circa Déjà Vu. An album highly recommended to anyone even remotely interested in '70s West Coast music or simply great music in general. Finally available on 180 gram vinyl once again, and comprehensively remastered using the latest 48-bit technology.
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LP
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ASH 3024LP
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180 gram LP version. Karuna Khyal's album Alomoni 1985, originally released on Voice Records around 1976, is widely acknowledged as years ahead of its time, preceding other Japanese underground experimental outfits such as Fushitsusha and White Heaven by almost 20 years. The band's musical influences are, if anything, more Germanic than Japanese, with long, hypnotic free-form rock passages, a heavy use of tape loops, electronics, environmental sounds, distortion and backwards tapes underpinning some manic harmonica-playing on some gut-wrenching blues dirges. Can, Faust and Guru Guru clearly had an influence on the band, as did Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu. Not much is known about the band's line-up, although it is widely thought there was some crossover in personnel with Brast Burn, another significant outfit of the same era which exerted such influence over newer participants in the Japanese psych scene as well as Nurse With Wound. At No.19 in Julian Cope's Japrocksampler publication, this is a true hidden treasure buried deep in time -- unearthed and digitally-remastered by Phoenix Records.
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LP
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ASH 3032LP
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LP version. Originally released on the Iskra label in 1975, Improvisation Sep. 1975 is a mind-bending slice of drone improv from two of Japan's post-war heavyweights; former John Cage student, Juilliard graduate, and Yoko Ono's former husband, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Takehisa Kosugi, considered by many to be the father of what some called "Japanese Krautrock," and Stockhausen percussionist, Michael Ranta. Heavy layers of reverbed ring modulators, threaded vocals, melodicas, pianos, violins, gongs and Japanese biwas and shamisens combine to elevate the improvisations into the region of Krautrock and in particular, courtesy of Ranta, into post-Stockhausen-inspired rock à la Amon Düül. An extremely rare and highly important album which bridges the gap between the likes of Taj Mahal Travellers and industrial giants Nurse With Wound. On 180 gram vinyl. Includes a Japanese lyric sheet insert.
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LP
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ASH 3040LP
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Reissue of this legendary album from 1970 featuring Hiro Yanagida, Kimio Mizutani, Mototeru Takagi. Number seven on the Japrocksampler Top 50. Divine excessive jazz-rock stylings by this batch of period-visionaries presumably recorded sometime in 1970 by Rudy Van Gelder and Creed Taylor at the Toshiba Records 1st Studio. All of that "real" psychedelic goo gets smeared about quite a bit; acoustic string flap AND electric gonzo-muff battle overdriven organ lines played by said Masahiko and his band of western pickups (Louis Haynes on drums, Jochen Staudt on bass). Furious jamming is meshed with some fine sub-George Russell 3rd-stream string/brass writhing and found-sound tape-spatter (machine guns, war-speak). Housed in a gatefold sleeve; on 180 gram vinyl.
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LP
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ASH 3052LP
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180 gram LP version. Although post-Group Scene band Flowers were gaining increasing popularity in late '60s Tokyo, founder and guiding light Yuya Uchida was becoming increasingly frustrated that cult status was not translating into commercial success. Watching a rehearsal for the Tokyo version of the hit U.S. musical Hair, Uchida's wily gaze fell upon the Afro-sporting cast member Yamanaka Akira aka Joe. Uchida liked what he saw and heard so much, that he invited Joe to sing guest lead vocals at the next Flowers gig, and so impressed was he with the audience's response to the singer's opening number, that he knew a direction-changing discovery had been made. Gone was Flowers and in its place, Flower Travellin' Band emerged with a whole new sound and a charismatic and talented front man leading the charge, a relentless process that would see the singer become the sound of FTB with his career ascending as the fortunes of the band decreased. Eventually, the inevitable happened and Uchida disbanded FTB in 1975, after which the band's record label, Atlantic, offered the world one final, posthumous release in a greatest hits package, The Times, with the artist as "Joe With The Flower Travellin' Band" becoming the band's epitaph. Sadly, Joe died of cancer in August 2011, but he will long be remembered as the voice of Japan's most successful and enduring musical ensembles, Flower Travellin' Band. Features the original LP artwork and includes the original Japanese insert.
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4CD BOX
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ASHBOX 003CD
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The best-known studio recordings by Les Rallizes Dénudés is the legendary Mars Studio sessions from 1980. The tracks were laid down during the tenure in the group of guitarist Fujio Yamaguchi. Yamaguchi is one of the more notorious figures in the Japanese rock underground. He was born to a Japanese mother and a black British father, brought up in a reformatory before channeling his anger and energy into a series of rock bands including Group Sounds garage rockers The Dynamites and proto-glam stompers Murahachibu. Yamaguchi's sojourn in Rallizes lasted just over a year, from early 1980 to March 1981, but the weightless, languid weird-form blues created by the meshing of Mizutani's billowing feedback and Yamaguchi's acid-etched lines has been regarded by many Japanese fans as one of the group's peaks. The fourth disc in the set comprises a live show from the same period as the studio recordings. Recorded on September 11, 1980 at the Yaneura club in the Shibuya district of Tokyo, this show was previously released under the title Double Heads September, though it was not included in the Double Heads 6CD document of Fujio's tenure in the group. Numbered, limited edition 4CD box set including a booklet with liner notes. Digitally remastered.
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ASH 3050CD
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One of the innumerable bands to emerge from the post-Beatles Japanese tour of 1966 with Fab Four pretentions. The Mops were a Tokyo quintet led by drummer Mikiharu Suzuki who had cut his musical teeth in a Ventures-style combo in the previous spring. The line-up was augmented by the arrival of Suzuki's older brother, Hiromitu, a lead vocalist with an Eric Burdon obsession who added hugely to the band's fuzzy garage soul sound. Not just a Merseyside homage turn, The Mops were a dedicated family whose love of garage rock and the nascent psychedelia would help them to create some of the most urgently deranged and musically disruptive music of the entire Group Sounds-era. Exit, a live recording, features in its entirety the band's 1974 last concert at Nakano San Plaza. Features the original LP artwork and includes the original Japanese insert. Digitally remastered.
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ASH 3042LP
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Gatefold LP version. Tokyo playwright, director and artist J.A. Caesar sprang to prominence in the early '70s largely through his work with Shuji Terayama's Tenjo Sajiki Theatre, specializing in vaguely sinister music reminiscent of a Hammer House Of Horrors soundtrack. 1973's Kokkyou Junreika release, often considered Caesar's finest work, was culled from the 5 hours of music written for the original play, distilled down to an album's worth of ageless chants, Buddhist mantras, heavenly invocations and fuzztone guitar vamps supported by Caesar's droning electric organ and the eerie female vocals of Yoko Ran, Keiko Shinko and Seigo Showa. An album that sits comfortably alongside early Ash Ra Tempel, Cosmic Jokers and Atem-period Tangerine Dream. Those that like their music with a healthy dose of gloom, look no further. Housed in a gatefold sleeve.
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ASH 3052CD
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Although post-Group Scene band Flowers were gaining increasing popularity in late '60s Tokyo, founder and guiding light Yuya Uchida was becoming increasingly frustrated that cult status was not translating into commercial success. Watching a rehearsal for the Tokyo version of the hit U.S. musical Hair, Uchida's wily gaze fell upon the Afro-sporting cast member Yamanaka Akira aka Joe. Uchida liked what he saw and heard so much, that he invited Joe to sing guest lead vocals at the next Flowers gig, and so impressed was he with the audience's response to the singer's opening number, that he knew a direction-changing discovery had been made. Gone was Flowers and in its place, Flower Travellin' Band emerged with a whole new sound and a charismatic and talented front man leading the charge, a relentless process that would see the singer become the sound of FTB with his career ascending as the fortunes of the band decreased. Eventually, the inevitable happened and Uchida disbanded FTB in 1975, after which the band's record label, Atlantic, offered the world one final, posthumous release in a greatest hits package, The Times, with the artist as "Joe With The Flower Travellin' Band" becoming the band's epitaph. Sadly, Joe died of cancer in August 2011, but he will long be remembered as the voice of Japan's most successful and enduring musical ensembles, Flower Travellin' Band. Features the original LP artwork and includes the original Japanese insert. Digitally remastered.
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CD
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ASH 3051CD
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Originally released in 1974. "Somewhere between The Doors and Santana, the fuzzy soul of 3 + 3 period Isley Brothers and the poppy English prog rock of Pete Banks-period early Yes and The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other-period Van Der Graaf Generator, is this romantic, soul-influenced album Ishoku-Sokuhatsu (trans. "Dangerous Situation"). This album is progressive pop music similar to that of solo Todd Rundgren or even The Zombies' experimental LP Odessey & Oracle." --Julian Cope, Japrocksampler; "Yonin Bayashi was originally formed in 1970 with Kasutoshi Morizono (guitar and vocals), Kazuo Nakamura (bass) and Daiji Okai (drums). They introduced themselves as 'The San-Nin' (three-piece band) at that time. In early 1971, keyboard player Hidemi Sakashita joined and they became 'Yonin-Bayashi' meaning 'four-piece band' in Japanese. Ishoku-Sokuhatsu is their legendary first album and is a true Japanese hard psychedelic/progressive masterpiece." --Wayside Music; Features the original LP artwork, including the original Japanese insert.
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LP
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ASH 3050LP
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One of the innumerable bands to emerge from the post-Beatles Japanese tour of 1966 with Fab Four pretentions. The Mops were a Tokyo quintet led by drummer Mikiharu Suzuki who had cut his musical teeth in a Ventures-style combo in the previous spring. The line-up was augmented by the arrival of Suzuki's older brother, Hiromitu, a lead vocalist with an Eric Burdon obsession who added hugely to the band's fuzzy garage soul sound. Not just a Merseyside homage turn, The Mops were a dedicated family whose love of garage rock and the nascent psychedelia would help them to create some of the most urgently deranged and musically disruptive music of the entire Group Sounds-era. Exit, a live recording, features in its entirety the band's 1974 last concert at Nakano San Plaza. Features the original LP artwork and includes the original Japanese insert. This is the first 180 gram vinyl reissue.
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ASH 3053LP
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2014 repress. 180 gram LP version. Includes an insert with lyrics (in English & Japanese). Released at about the same time as Demon And Eleven Children, the album the beautiful Carmen Maki recorded with the band Blues Creation, this 1971 heavy rock guitar monster reminds us that ...Eleven Children isn't the only heavy album from this ensemble. Maki was probably one of the strongest voices of Japanese rock and is featured here doing her finest Grace Slick impression. Lots of brutal, non-stop wailing guitar but some mellow, bluesy psychedelic rock numbers, too. Maki went on to form her own band, Oz, but this is the collaboration for which she will be best remembered. Highly recommended. Features the original LP cover. Digitally remastered.
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LP
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ASH 3051LP
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Originally released in 1974. "Somewhere between The Doors and Santana, the fuzzy soul of 3 + 3 period Isley Brothers and the poppy English prog rock of Pete Banks-period early Yes and The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other-period Van Der Graaf Generator, is this romantic, soul-influenced album Ishoku-Sokuhatsu (trans. "Dangerous Situation"). This album is progressive pop music similar to that of solo Todd Rundgren or even The Zombies' experimental LP Odessey & Oracle." --Julian Cope, Japrocksampler; Features the original LP artwork, including the original Japanese insert.
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2LP
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ASH 3033LP
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2LP version. When released in 1973, Make Up, with its incredible faux-leather imitation attaché case outer bag, looked every bit the last word in over-the-top packaging and now originals, complete and in good condition, fetch hundreds of dollars in the collectors' market. However, despite the lavish packaging, Make Up did little to enhance the group's already considerable reputation and the various band members went their separate ways immediately after the album's release. Although the album has been described as "inconsistent," there are some definite stand-out tracks, and generally Make Up reflects the varied influences that the band drew on throughout their sadly short career. This double album consists of both live and studio recordings and features keyboardist Nobuhiko Shinohara. 2LP housed in a replica outer slip-case and deluxe gatefold sleeve, including the original LP insert.
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CD
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ASH 3053CD
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Released at about the same time as Demon And Eleven Children, the album the beautiful Carmen Maki recorded with the band Blues Creation, this 1971 heavy rock guitar monster reminds us that ...Eleven Children isn't the only heavy album from this ensemble. Maki was probably one of the strongest voices of Japanese rock and is featured here doing her finest Grace Slick impression. Lots of brutal, non-stop wailing guitar but some mellow, bluesy psychedelic rock numbers, too. Maki went on to form her own band, Oz, but this is the collaboration for which she will be best remembered. Highly recommended. Features the original LP cover. Digitally remastered.
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LP
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ASH 3043LP
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Japan's proggers Flied Egg, consisting of former Strawberry Path alumni Shigeru Narumo and Hiro Tsunoda, supported by former Brush leader, Masayoshi Takanaka, released two albums in the early '70s, Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Machine being the first and undoubtedly the better of the two. Dr. Siegel's..., originally released in 1972, is a much more keyboard-oriented affair, with Narumo adding a Moog, celeste and harpsichord to his usual Hammond and piano line-up. On this album, the musical influences are more Uriah Heep than the previous Hendrix-inspired leanings, although touches of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Deep Purple, Birth Control and even Black Sabbath find their way into the musical mèlange. Dr. Siegel's... presents a rich selection of musical styles, culminating with "Guide Me To The Quietness," a glorious prog epic that brings an inventive and enjoyable album to a climactic finale. Digitally remastered. 180 gram vinyl pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve.
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6CD BOX
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ASHBOX 002CD
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Between August 1980 and March 1981, Les Rallizes Dénudés (or The Naked Larryz, as the long-lost acetate they are rumored to have recorded for Virgin Records in the mid-'70s dubbed them) played seven concerts in and around Tokyo. Never officially released, illicit ninth generation cassette copies circulated in Japanese fan circles for many years, attaining a whispered, Holy Grail status amongst initiates to the Rallizes cult. High quality soundboard versions were finally released by the secretive Univive label in 2005. Three of the best of these concerts are collected on Double Heads, all recorded at Yaneura, a small club in the teeming neon teen shopping mecca of Shibuya in Tokyo. Together, these three concerts comprise a singularly pivotal moment in Les Rallizes Dénudés' development -- as well as some of the most glacially psychedelic music of their long career. This numbered, limited edition 6CD box set contains a booklet with liner notes. Digitally remastered.
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ASH 3044LP
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2012 repress. LP version. Following his self-imposed exile in Britain, soon-to-be Flower Travellin' Band leader Yuya Uchida embarked on the task of creating a hand-picked band in the hope of achieving a home-grown outfit to rival groups he'd been listening to in London. Legendary guitarist Hideki Ishima was his first recruit, followed by steel guitarist Katshiko Kobayashi and then the bravest move of all, the beautiful vocalist Remi Aso was asked to front the band, now named The Flowers. The band's debut LP, originally released in 1968, completely changed the Japanese musical scene, featuring as it did, hard covers of Big Brother And The Holding Company, Cream and Jefferson Airplane songs, and its ground-breaking cover art, featuring the band's members, including Miss Aso, naked in a cornfield, changed the musical landscape for ever. On 180 gram vinyl.
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LP
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ASH 3046LP
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LP version. The fifth and final release by Far East Family Band (if you include 1973's Nihonjin, released under the Far Out banner), 1977's Tenkujin was the first of the band's albums to be released in the U.S. on the small and short-lived California-based All Ears label. Without Kitaro, who by this time had departed to pursue a solo career, the band reverted to its earlier ballad-based sound, this time supported on drums by former Samurai alumnus, Yujin Harada. The expected Pink Floyd influences appear in abundance, although this time the songs are sung partly in English and in Japanese. Another solid album from what many consider to be Japan's finest new age/psychedelic group. On 180 gram vinyl.
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ASH 3047LP
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LP version. Following critical acclaim but meager record sales in their native Japan after their superb debut album, Satori (ASH 3002CD/LP), Yuya Uchida and his Flower Travellin' Band decamped to Canada following an invitation to open for local jazz-rock outfit Lighthouse. While there, Lighthouse leader and keyboard player Paul Hoffert offered to produce the band's next studio album, the ironically-titled Made In Japan, originally released in 1972, although it must be said, Hoffert's musical vision didn't always reflect the band's. However, Uchida was particularly happy with the results; although again, critical acclaim didn't translate into significant record sales and the band duly parted company following their half-live/half-studio release, Make Up (ASH 3033CD). Housed in a gatefold sleeve with slip case and original LP artwork. Digitally remastered. Hand-numbered edition of 1000 copies.
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2LP
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ASH 3045LP
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Gatefold 2LP version. Another crucial release from the highly influential and reclusive Japanese psychedelic noise band Les Rallizes Dénudés, now available for the first time on vinyl. Originally formed in 1967, the band was known for its ties to avant-garde theater groups (as typified by Shuji Terayama's troupe) and leftist political groups, and their feedback-drenched live shows and use of strobe lights and mirror balls onstage earned them comparisons with The Velvet Underground. In 1970, bass player Moriaki Wakabayashi was involved in the hijacking of Japan Airlines Flight 351, orchestrated by the Japanese Red Army. Singer Takashi Mizutani was allegedly offered a role in the hijacking, but he turned it down. Cable Hogue is a CD release compiled by Mizutani from the original tapes he used for the Rallizes video which was released in 1992. Housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.
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