Saturday, June 03, 2006

Sadistic Mika Band-Sadistic Mika Band ['73 Japan Hard Rock/Glam Rock]

later tonight some High Rise or other heavy stuff

Excelent Hard Rock/Glam Rock!
Sadistic Mika Band was formed in 1972 by guitarist/vocalist Kazuhiko Kato - previously a member of the popular Folk Crusaders, who had scored several number one hits. Fronted by Kato's wife, media personality Mika, Sadistic Mika Band released the single "Cycling Boogie", followed up by the full length Sadistic Mika Band in 1973. The music was hard rock with a distinctive Japanese nuance, and a far cry from the folk music Kato had been playing in the popular but formulaic Folk Crusaders. The first album made a minor splash in Japan, but listeners were at first not sure how to deal with the band's progressive sound, which theretofore had only been heard from from foreign bands. Perhaps because of this style, the record was released in the UK on the Harvest Records label, and caught the attention of some music critics and fans, including Ian MacDonald of New Musical Express, who declared that the band made Iggy and the Stooges sound like the Amadeus String Quartet. The band decided to record their second album in London with producer Chris Thomas, who had produced Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Procul Harum, and others, and was already a fan of the band. The result was Kurobune (Black Ship) - a quantum stylistic and musical leap forward from its predecessor that charted highly in Japan, and was again released by Harvest Records in the UK. Although not a commercial success in England, the record was hailed by critics as a seminal work, receiving numerous accolades at home as well, including nods for number one band and album of 1974 from the Japanese edition of Rolling Stone. In the summer of 1975 the band recorded its third album, again with Thomas manning the board. Released the same year, Hot! Menu boasted some English lyrics for the first time, and saw the band in a more playful mood, while still showing off their impressive chops and compositional depth. The band joined Roxy Music in the summer of 1975 on a tour of Britain, and it appeared they might crack the elusive foreign market, but Kato suddenly left the following summer after it was discovered that Mika had been conducting an affair with Thomas. The band slogged forward for two more releases - Sadistics (1977) and We Are Just Taking Off (1978) - before breaking up. They reformed for a tour in 1985 as Sadistic Yuming Band, fronted by vocalist Yumi Matsutoya, and released an album of new material in 1989 called Appare with Karen Kirishima on vocals, performing several shows in support of it before calling it quits for good. By this time, several of the members were already megastars in Japan - in particular Yukihiro Takahashi, who along with Haruo Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto formed the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra. Takahashi continues to perform with Hosono in their duo, Sketch Show. Kato has only periodically recorded since the band broke up for good, mostly staying out of the limelight

all Sadistic Mika Band releases where released in the UK on vinyl
so maybe you can track them down in a second hand shop
more info here

password:citiesonflame
http://rapidshare.de/files/22108700/sadistic_mika_band.rar.html

13 Comments:

Blogger the6070Rock said...

WOW, i dont listen, yet but when i saw HARD ROCK, yeah man, make me crazy B)

"My heart is black & my lips are cold"

ROCK ON

6:02 PM  
Blogger Dirk said...

why dont listen?

6:16 PM  
Blogger the6070Rock said...

Downloading just now...

=)

6:51 PM  
Blogger Dirk said...

i just posted another excelent hard rock with some prog infuences

7:14 PM  
Blogger musicgnome said...

Holy frick!!! Incredible...

9:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great for the novelty of Japanese GLAM. Are there any other Japanese GLAM ROCK outfits? It's from the 70's..so what's not to like?

libertycaps

12:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have a great blog.
Many thanks for the Sadistic Mika Band.

I wonder if you have the 2 albums with Mariner (George Murasaki)?

Nils Tibor

10:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Holy shit man..
i've taken just 1 album from this blog, but it is very very good :-))

The Wolf

7:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
»

10:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hmm I love the idea behind this website, very unique.
»

2:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That poor guy Kazuhiko! And bad Mika! Well, it's very goofd music anyway!

3:21 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I stumbled across Sadistic Mika Band in the '70s and wore out my record. The link is dead... any chance for a repost?

Thanks for your consideration!

5:14 AM  
Anonymous Kamagra said...

and this people call this hard rock? jajajaja sound like Alvin and the Chipmunks jajaja, sorry but it's true, I only know about a real Japanese rock band, Detroit Metal City.

3:28 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home