Rolling Stones – Tattoo You
Japanese traditional music meets jazz, prog, and psych rock on this masterpiece by Osamu Kitajima on Island Records sub-label Antilles. Released during a time when a majority of Japanese musicians were essentially copying Western sounds, Kitajima took a different approach and focused on Japanese classical/traditional musical forms, infusing them with Western production and stylings. Shakuhachi, tsuzumi, narimono, sho, biwa, and hayashi-bue feature on the album alongside electric guitar, Ace Tone rhythm machine, and synthesizers, in a wonderful fusion of new and old. The music can be compared to world-leaning 70’s progressive acts like Embryo or Guru Guru, but according to the liner notes, “might just as easily be found comparable to the mid-sixties English and American artists, such as the Byrds and Fairport Convention, who had begun to breath electric fire into their respective folk musics.”
– Phil Cho
Recommended – Full Listen
Tags: Cult Classic / Folk / Japanese / Progressive Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Traditional
Tracklist:
A1 Benzaiten – God Of Music And Water
A2 Taiyo – The Sun
A3 Tengu – A Long-Nosed Goblin
B1 Benzaiten (Reprise) – God Of Music And Water
B2 Whoma – Immortality
Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Synthesizer, Percussion, Electric Guitar, Koto, Biwa, Drums [African Drums], Drum [Mexican Drum], Drum Machine [Ace Tone Rhythm Machine] – Osamu Kitajima
Bass – Dennis Belfield, John Harris (2)
Biwa – Masako Hirayama
Composed By, Arranged By, Songwriter [All Songs Written By] – Osamu Kitajima
Drums [African Drums] – Kinji Yoshino
Drums [Tsuzumi], Percussion [Narimono] – Kisaku Katada
Electric Bass – Haruomi Hosono
Electric Guitar – George Marinelli
Engineer [Assistant Engineer] – Yutaka Matsumoto
Engineer [Engineered By] – Kinji Yoshino
Flute [Hayashi-bue] – Haruyoshi Hosei
Keyboards – Brian Whitcomb
Lacquer Cut By – JG*
Liner Notes – Michael Hooker (4)
Producer [Produced By] – Kinji Yoshino, Osamu Kitajima
Shakuhachi – Tatsuya Sano
Sho – Yosei Sato
