09. Flower Travellin’ Band Made in Japan 1972 (Atlantic)
Hard Rock
Japanese acid heads, shacked up in Canada! Overview
I found 1972 the toughest year so far for deciding on what to leave off the top 10 list and the biggest loser would finally be Budgie’s second album
Squawk, which I felt wasn’t as strong as their debut and fell behind both the albums of the Hard Stuff and the Flower Travellin’ Band in terms of song quality. So with this in mind, the Flower Travellin’ Band make position number nine and follow up
Satori with their North American based
Made in Japan album, an album that was being made to break them in the west. In order to achieve this transition, a
Satori Compilation album was released at the end of 1971 as a taster, featuring material from
Satori and material that would also feature on the upcoming
Made in Japan album. The Flower Travellin’ Band were now being marketed as a Japanese version of Led Zeppelin and their brand of hard rock was now being seen as a possible marketable Asian package for the west. If the truth be told though, their sound had progressive leanings and the wacky experimentation of the then burgeoning ‘Krautrock movement’ making them far more than a straight-up hard rock band! Also the band had that constant ‘I’m on an acid trip feel to them’ which was part of the band’s offbeat charm. So for this to happen and to make the band more marketable, a fair amount of tweaking would be needed to make the band accessible to western ears. So the band was shipped off lock, stock and barrel to North America, but not to the USA….but instead to Canada! They landed in Canada in 1971 and that would be their base to supposedly produce a more streamlined and accessible album for the western market. The band would be produced by Paul Hoffert of Canadian band Lighthouse, who put out a jazz-infused rock sound (their 1971 album
One Fine Morning is worth checking out) This choice of producer, may well have put the band members at loggerheads with Paul Hoffert, who had clearly been picked by the record label and with the band having little say on the matter. Hindsight tells us that both parties were generally unsatisfied with the final product that is featured on
Made in Japan, but many others would find it quite an intriguing listen.
Joe Yamanaka- Vocals
Hideki Ishima- Guitar
Jon Kuzuki- Bass
Joji ‘George’ Wada- Drums
Production- Paul Hoffert
Album
Introduction- A brief publicity intro advertising the band playing live, along with other well-known artists.
Unaware- A mostly acoustic number the immediately draws comparisons with one of Jimi Hendrix’s softer tracks and leads us gently into the album. The latter section of the song sees Joe Yamanaka upping the volume and his voice dominates the song, I guess you either dig his voice or you don’t!
Aw Give Me Air- A track that could have been on
Satori albeit in a more complex form, it has a plodding feel and also has that very accessible feel to it, thanks to some impressive guitar licks.
Kamikaze- This is classic Flower Travellin’ Band in every sense and one of the best tracks on the album. Starts off with some impressive singing accompanied by that potent guitar, before Joe Yamanaka enters some trippy singing and the guitar of Hideki Ishima is just so slick sounding.
Hiroshima- A real leviathan of a track, touching on the haunting subject of ‘Hiroshima’ this song is one of the slower tracks on the album and the band show an almost creepy and cold perspective, on such a harrowing subject.
Spasms- The most progressive track on the album and in many ways the type of track the band wanted to put out.
Heaven and Hell- A weird song based around a love-theme and a subtle cry to the peace loving 1960s.
That’s All- The album closer, again draws back to the band’s roots and has a funeral march feel to it, there’s even a sitar on show.
Verdict
Made in Japan is often a much maligned album, as purists often see it as betraying the band’s pure base sound which despite having western influences, was still firmly rooted in a Japanese sound and feel. I always felt that
Made in Japan despite not being as spectacular as
Satori, was still an impressive album that married the band’s base Japanese sound with a western dominated one and I’d go as far to say, that the band may have got their own way here over the record label, because I don’t hear too much in terms of accessibility on the album at all! Taking two of the best songs from the album “Kamikaze” and “Hiroshima” sees the band firmly sticking to their
Satori roots and in “Hiroshima” they put out a song that moves along at a very slow pace, which at times feels similar to slower Black Sabbath leanings from the same period. In fact the slower mid-tempo songs tend to dominate the album. There is also nothing accessible about “Spasms” which I’ve already stated was more progressive in feel and saw the band aspiring to the ‘Krautrock sound’ that they were truly being influenced by. The closing track “That’s All” is the band putting out another sombre sounding track with some interesting experimentation. In fact only “Unaware” and “Aw Give Me Air” sees the band going somewhere to meet the record label half-way and putting out something more accessible. Needless to say, the album was poorly received and didn’t sell well and led to the band being largely forgotten for the rest of the decade.
Made in Japan might not be as spectacular as
Satori, but is probably their best album after that masterpiece and is well worth checking out. Especially since the album feels like it has been produced by an artist (Paul Hoffert) that wasn’t overly familiar with the genre he was producing. This can often lead to dodgy results, but at times it can lead to an interesting amalgamation of sounds and influences, and I feel
Made in Japan falls into that second category. This album is most definitely for fans of the band rather than the average listener, as Joe Yamanaka’s voice along with the album’s slow to mid-tempo feel, may not be everybody’s cup of sake.