In 1976, on the debut album (excluding the prior already posted Suicide Play with Genshu) this wonderful group helmed by Mickie made a wonderful pop song called "If you are passing by," as usual, should've been a hit back in that year, and may be it was, in Japan:
A nostalgia song which is remarkable in that it doesn't reference any children or people he is going back to visit, he just wants to ensure that his childhood creek is ecologically undamaged, in the state he left it in. Needless to say this song touches me deeply as it reminds me of the local pond I've mentioned before where I used to play every day as a child, catching huge bullfrogs, turtles and fish and insects. When I visited last year, it had a concrete barrier put up rendering it totally off limits and a huge warning: "Keep Out! Biologically protected zone!" to make sure no child could ever enjoy it again like I did... Yeah I'm sorry Mickie, today, if you're passing by, those pussy willows are all quite gone from songs...
Altogether a beautifully composed ditty, and as I've said before, only in the mid-70s golden age of pop could you hear something so naively beautiful. So the first album is basic pop, with even a Beatlesian sound, altogether too generic to be of much interest. Side b is taken over by Suite Genesis, a stitched-together suite of actually separately composed songs, which, unfortunately, is also mostly generic, except the very first passage (have a listen to that, but don't get excited as the rest of the suite is a downward spiral).
Eat from the House OST presents to us some of that classic Ceccarelli-like funk-prog sound we heard from Mickie's 1975 instalment:
I could listen to tracks like that all day, and according to my wife, I do.
Then, in 1978, no one could not enjoy the opening to the mega-hit (in Japan) Monkey Magic:
Watching the opener on youtube is beyond entertaining, have a look for laughs, as you listen to the above (same) theme song. Those who recall from their childhood the Kung Fu style ridiculously dubbed Japanese shows in particular will love this. I didn't then and I still don't understand today why they had to make those comical faces during the fight scenes.