Saturday, May 27, 2006

Far East Family Band-Parallel World[1976 Japan Space Rock]

More music by this awesome band,probably one of
my fav. japanese band at this moment.

The Spaciest album by this band,also has one of my favourite album covers

This is without a doubt the best album FAR EAST FAMILY BAND has ever done. Unlike other albums where the band focused mainly on ballads influenced by PINK FLOYD, on "Parallel World" they decided to merge the prog rock style of the time with electronic music in the vein of Klaus SCHULZE. And just like their previous album, "Nipponjin", this album was also produced by SCHULZE, and you could swear he actually played on the album (he didn't). All the synth duties here are Fumio Miyata (who also played guitar and sang), Akira Ito, and Masanori Takasaki (who we all know as the future New Age star of the '80s and '90s, that is KITARO).

For "Parallel World", the band went to England to record at Richard Branson's Manor Studios to strike a deal with Virgin Records. Unfortunately Virgin rejected the album (their loss), so it was left released only in Japan (with two different album covers, depending what you got, mines is the lesser known one with the peering eyes cover). About these two different album covers, I am unable to determine if what I own is a reissue, but probably is. Let's say this new electronic direction for the band was an excellent move as they produced their ultimate masterpiece. Here you get "Metempsychosis" which shows the band in a more experimental setting, complete with synth drones and percussion. "Entering" will fool you for SCHULZE's own works, Shizuo Takasaki's drumming often reminds me of Harald Großkopf (WALLENSTEIN member who was often found playing on SCHULZE's albums), and it's packed with same kind of space electronic effects found on a SCHULZE album. It's the presence of guitar (from Fumio Miyata and Hirohito Fukushima) that separates this from a SCHULZE album. Then you have "Kokoro", which harkens back to their earlier works. This is basically a slow ballad, sung in Japanese that could easily fit on "The Cave: Down to the Earth". This is the only song like this on "Parallel World".

And then you get the 30 minute title track that is just so amazing that it totally justifies the five star rating I give this album! Here the band goes on a lengthy jam, with the Akira Fukakusa's bass dominating with tons of killer synths, lots of great spacy string synths and Moog. After about halfway through this piece, the bass and drums gives away to straigh-up synth experiments. Somewhere you hear some chanting and references to Zen Buddhism. There are some truly mindblowing use of Mellotron that pop up on occasions, and this one synth solo I am pretty sure none other than KITARO is responsible for. I can't believe this album, it's hard to believe that a guy whose later music is often dismissed as New Age fluff (KITARO, that is) is on this album. Truly a wonderful album and if the description of this album sounds good to you, find a copy.
5 stars
[progarchives.com]

password:citiesonflame
http://rapidshare.de/files/21531093/fareast3.rar.html

10 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey Thanks a million for such good post by the Far East Family Band! I really dig their stuff! The percussion on Parallel World is the key to me, you can get so lost listening to the mezmerizing beats on that album. It is such a classic album, it allows you to sit back and develop new ideas and interpretations about the world and beyond.
Thanks for a great post again!
peace
voodoo king

8:01 PM  
Blogger musicgnome said...

As requested, allow me to note. I LOVE THIS BLOG. Though I have a vast number of these recording, some have been incredibly enlightening...and the manner in which you educate the reader is fantastic. Your blog inspired me to create a Japanese Psych Mix at the Art of the Mix website.

Thanks for all you do!

3:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank you so much.
Your blog is very unique.
I have no doubt that Blogs like yours and others are inspireing the next generation of musicians. It's very exciting. This is the way of the future.

Best Regards
MZ
Sydney, Australia

4:31 AM  
Blogger Dirk said...

@musicgnome:
nice playlist for the mix
to bad i cant listen it

11:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah another great album share. Can't wait to give it more of a good listen through headphones. Great blog!

12:00 PM  
Blogger Risuaita said...

Two thumbs up for this superb space rock album! Thanks Dirk

4:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

zeker een goed album
deze zal ik zeker kopen als ik m zie
dank!

1:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It 's good to fly thru the cosmos.
I'm sure The Silver Surfer digs this music.Thanks.

11:34 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

One of my all-time favorite Japanese releases, or cosmic music releases, or 70s prog releases, etc. So good. Thanks!

5:32 AM  
Blogger happydog said...

thanks again for the downloads. I really appreciate it. I wonder if you could tell me what format these files are in? My computer refuses to play them for some reason. Thanks for your help.

6:25 AM  

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