Praise for Flower Travellin’ Band‘s Make Up from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: Released in 1973, Make Up was the final album (not counting their recent, and unfortunately disappointing, reunion disc) from these ’70s Japanese heavy psych rock gods. A gatefold double LP packaged extravagantly in a stitched, brown faux-leather case! (This compact disc reissue replicates the look of the original, the CDs in a gatefold sleeve inside a slipcover, complete with lyric sheet insert).
Despite the fancy packaging, this artifact doesn’t make Julian Cope’s Japrocksampler Top 50, in fact he rather pans it, calling it “useless” and a “disastrous hotchpotch” (it was assembled from recordings from an ill-fated live concert as well as studio demos).
However, it must be said that we don’t always agree with Mr. Cope. While it may be that Make Up isn’t FTB’s most essential album, we think any fan will dig it. If it’s perhaps a document of the Flower Travellin’ Band succumbing to typical ’70s dinosaur rock band excess, a la Led Zeppelin (double album, extended soloing, and a ’50s rock n’ roll cover), that’s not necessarily a bad thing! While you need Satori first, your FTB collection will be lacking without this.
Disc one contains six songs, some studio, some live, including the rockin’ title track, all of which provide singer Joe Yamanaka (FTB’s not-so-secret weapon) with plenty of opportunity to wow us with his distinctive wail. FTB’s more mellow, pop side is definitely on display here, with the gentle epic ‘Look At My Window’, the bluesy, balladic ‘Shadows Of Lost Days’, and the sad ‘Broken Strings’ all probably prompting lighter-raising among concert goers. Heavier fare there is too, the aforementioned ‘Make Up’, plus the ornate chug of ‘Slowly But Surely’, and ominous opener ‘All The Days’. We name checked Led Zep, but it’s Deep Purple that FTB more likely resemble on this disc, what with the keyboards of guest Nobuhiko Shinohara.
Disc two is where this set gets really indulgent, starting off as it does with a 25 minute live version of ‘Hiroshima’ (only 5:13 in its original version on their previous album, Made In Japan, padded out here with a lengthy drum solo, of which we heartily approve). Heck, ‘Hiroshima’ could go on for hours and hours as far as we’re concerned, since it’s chock full of the type of slightly sinister, blown-out riffage that today’s stoner rockers try their hardest to recreate. In fact, thinking about it, this sounds a hell of a lot like AQ faves Los Natas!
That’s followed by another live track, a somewhat incongruous cover of ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, with FTB producer (and former Group Sounds star) Yuya Uchida on vocals. This seems to the sort of thing that turned Cope off from this album, but we’ve seen footage of early Black Sabbath covering this tune too, so we’ll let it slide. And in any event, that roots maneuver is followed by a rendition of FTB’s own classic ‘Satori Pt. 2′, ten tribally-rhythmic minutes of sinuous psych with Joe at his piercing best. A hard rock rock n’ roll showman as shaman if there ever was one. And the drifting, semi-acoustic, spaced out ‘After The Concert’ that winds things up wordlessly and beautifully can’t be the cause of any of Cope’s complaints.
In any case, all you proto-metalheads and acid psych loving Japanophiles can decide for yourself, thanks to this new reissue (a limited, numbered edition, by the way).
At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.
Tags: Album of the day, Aquarius Records, Flower Travellin' Band, Heavy70's
This entry was posted on Monday, February 7th, 2011 at 5:37 pm and is filed under 2011, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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