Monday 25 February 2019

Hiroshi Kanai in Rose - Story of Murder (1984) and Bible Black





Now a fortnight of posts on rare Japanese prog.

The guitarist of Bible Black who made an official CD in 2012 obviously highly indebted to King Crimson and R. Fripp is named Hiroshi Kanai, aka Rose.  His first solo album, recorded in 1984, only released to cassette, presented two long instrumental compositions, Notebook on Murder and Story Without End.  It's unfortunate this didn't receive a wider release and audience, as it consists of classic progressive rock of the same level and caliber as the greatest King Crimson albums in its masterful 73-74 heyday, and everyone who is a fan of the style will appreciate it.  First track:





I guess those who felt really critical, perhaps on account of a bad day at the office, might complain that it's a little too much KC-based Frippery.  But I mean we're so desperate, after so many years of listening to those old classics, for some new music, aren't we?  I sure hope Tom Hayes is reading this blog for an idea of what he's missing out on.  I mean this is priority 1 level sh, bro. As you might expect there's tons of digital strings to create that symphonic aurora borealis and it seems, from the back info, that Kanai played all the instruments.

Story Without End's very Italian progressive finale:





Then if you were to compare this with the later more recent Bible Black album, which you should, you'd find the professionalism of his guitar playing has really improved with a very tight Les Paul taut precision but at the expense of the creative imagination, in my opinion.  A feature of all modern prog in comparison to its 70s heyday.

9 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Can anyone translate the track titles?

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  3. I used OCR and my best guess is (I'm not sure of course):
    A1 母 - Mother
    A2 遺跡 - Remains
    A3 闇と光 - Darkness and light
    A4 追憶 - Recall
    B1 浸殖 - Immersion
    B2 静寂 - Silence
    B3 悲哀 - Sorrow
    B4 幸微 - Fortunately

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    Replies
    1. A
      1. Poison
      2. Old Ruins
      3. Darkness And Light
      4. Memories

      B.
      Corraded
      Silence
      Sadness
      Rose

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    2. track 1 mother = poison? very good, a reference no doubt to that primal therapy I mentioned earlier
      (the above translations from the ripper of the cassette)

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  4. Hello, any chance of a reup for these?

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  5. https://www.sendspace.com/file/3w5oi6
    reup

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, I have been looking for this cassette for a long time.

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