This past spring and summer I listened to all his records again over and over and explored every hidden crevice and nuance in his works. So it was important to me to collect all the tangential materials from this period, such as the early lyrical albums I posted, and more importantly the undigitized elements, such as this album, that were always far away in hard to reach places (like Japan). The sound sample from the discogs database page for this record, in particular, sounded really attractive, you can hear it for yourself here.
Unfortunately, because the tracks are side-long for both a and b, I still haven't yet identified where that theme song type passage appears on the record, and that is partly due to my lack of patience made much worse by advancing age and loss of the ability to multitask. The movie itself you can watch, and enjoy, if you are able to understand Japanese on-- where do you think? youtube. But this must be one of the few times where a movie cannot be found, even in synopsis form, on imdb.
Listening to Fukamachi in detail, so to speak, only convinced me what an unrecognized genius he was, especially in this period of the early 80s when Daisy Chain and Woman with Red Hat came out, and on to Alien (which I included in one of those big packages earlier). He was at least as inventive a composer and magnificent as keyboardist in the progressive fusion genre as the better known German Joachim Kuhn and Dutch Jasper Van't Hof and that sure ain't fair. In particular, unlike the North American artists of a similar caliber like Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea, he had that flair for very emotional expression, dramatic musical movements, and symphonic-style (classical) composition (and you can find all these components in the soundtrack to Mishione) which as I've said repeatedly are usually European hallmarks.
Anyways, with this I think we can finally close the big musical book on the brilliant Jun Fukamachi's discography. At least for now.
https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/im3l4h
ReplyDeleteIt's been too busy (with new music) to celebrate the 5th year of this blog, 840 posts, at least a thousand albums... what luck to be able to still find new material to share week after week, how long will it last? I'm hoping a real long time.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for the 5th anniversary!! Thank you so much for sharing all these records with us. Keep it up!! Many many thanks, really. Greetings from Argentina!
ReplyDeleteA beautiful country I would love to visit someday, thanks!
DeleteHi, Julian,
ReplyDeleteThis movie has been fan translated a few months ago. Actually, I was the one who commissioned the translation. Its title is "Before Spring" and was directed by Honjin Hashiura. Here's a synopsis in case you're curious:
Iyo is a teenage girl from a bourgeois family living nearby the Sea of Japan. Someday, her father finds an unconscious woman on the beach and decides to bring her back home. When she wakes up she is amnesic. A long trip trough painful memory begins for her, Iyo and her family.
Thanks so much for the OST. Now, if only the soundtrack to Keiko was available somehow. In my opinion, it's the best soundtrack by Fukamachi...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ogbNiOSAc0
oh wow, how interesting-- is it a good movie then?
Deleteand where do we find the fan translation?
I have it commissioned by my friend ohako. You can find it here:
ReplyDeletehttps://ohakosubs.tumblr.com/post/164743774705/before-spring-kaich%C5%8D-on-1980-dir-h%C5%8Djin
Julian, congratulations for the 5th anniversary. Greetings from ITA. You are the n.1.
ReplyDeleteDiscovering this artist right now, very enjoyable indeed ! And inspiring. Thank you very much for this discovery and congrats for the 5 years generosity man ! Greetings from France
ReplyDeleteOST to this morning. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the 5th anniversary. This post just completely opened my mind and soul. Never heard of Fukamachi before and playing Quark now for the third time in a row: What a genius! Also very well put when you say "flair for very emotional expression", you can absolutely tell, it's emotion and drama all over. Thank you, great discovery :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a million! I love Jun's fusion work and wish as an American the Japanese artist would have more exposure as I am sure the music would be receptive in blue states(just kidding!). His music is so hard to find here in the US and I appreciate your efforts!
ReplyDeleteright, I guess they prefer mariachi bands in red states
DeleteAnd who doesnt love good Mexican food too! Id kill for good mole enchilada where I currently reside!
Deleteoh man!!!! I could've said exactly the same-- it's hard to find a good mole, only ever had those close to the border in the South
DeleteHa! I had a good one at Acosta's Mexican Restaurant outside Bellevue,WA family owned restaurant home made Mexican food. One of the many great things about living on the westcoast! Btw I just d/l'ed those Attila Zoller albums just for the beautiful covers but I love jazz so thanks for doing the legwork again.
Deletewhat a find!!!
ReplyDeletelove everything jun,s done..sadly missed..
once again thank you julian,you are a treasure!!!