Japanese band NOA, compleat [Tri-Logic 1987, If Tomorrow Comes 2018, Journey to Babel 2021, Dagger of the Mind 2022] limited time only

 

I posted the OG album way back here-- more than 10 years ago (wow!)-- and described it as a masterpiece, which it still is, upon relistening.  I didn't realize they made more music, 30 years after that first one, and onwards until three years ago.  In those subsequent albums though they did repeat or rework tracks from the 1st record unfortunately, so there's less original stuff than one might expect.  

You can see the discography on this page.

In terms of new material, the title tracks will give you a good idea of the band's competence and continuation of the prog KC influence, from If Tomorrow Comes Part 1:

Journey to Babel:

Dagger of the Mind:

Griot Galaxy's Opus Krampus, by request, plus more

 

Discogged thusly:

Profile: American jazz band, formed in 1972, disbanded in 1989.

Members: Anthony Holland, Ben Henderson (2), Faruq Z. Bey, Tani Tabbal

The music is definitely a mixture of free jazz and fusion as so listed on the above page, perhaps less fusiony than electric jazzy free stuff with a lot of hard percussion and dissonance.   That is, missing is the furious fusionary energy and perhaps consistency.  It's not so free as to be just floating off into the ether of space / inaccessibly meandering / insanely spouting phrases all over the place, either there is some composed stuff or the band is competent enough to follow each other's narratives, and to me it appears the first minute or two is written down, then as usual this forms the springboard for individual improvs, or perhaps forms the diving board for bellyflops, depending on tastes.

From the first, 1982 album, Kin, the title track:

From the requested Opus Krampus from 1985, the opener called After Dream:

As usual I was able to locate some more material, including a 2-CD live recorded in 1983, a bootleg-like Live from Montreaux from 1982, and an "unreleased 1982 studio album," and all of these are along the same lines as the official 2 LPs.  Put together in one package for your listening pleasure.

And go ahead and post some more wishlist requests, 'tis the season for this of course, as every year, I'll see what I can do-- inshprog as we say, or, by the grace of the prog gods--

Inoue Takayuki Band's Sunrise from 1976

 

Information on Inoue Takayuki:

Japanese rock guitarist, composer and arranger. Born in Kobe 15-Mar-1941, died 02-May-2018.

He was a member of The Spiders (3), Pyg (2), the Takayuki Inoue Band, and worked for a long period as a member of Kenji Sawada's backing band.

His band is hidden (in Japanese characters) on this page:

Inoue Takayuki Band. Japanese rock group, formed in 1971 by members of The Spiders (3) and Pyg (2). The band was led by Takayuki Inoue.

Both his output on his own and the band's output are rather prolific.  There are occasionally several LPs released in a given year of the seventies!

I will have to try to get a grip on some of it to get an idea if it's all as good as this instrumental, fusionary library-like work from 1976 called Sunrise.  In fact it sounds almost like a library record, but has an enormous amount of variety in terms of composition with light sounds, breezy stuff, then more progressive fusion material.  Maybe someone can provide some insight on whether this is a worthwhile endeavour.

The first side long track is very interesting in the way it progresses through so much musical history, the last part even uses the Moonlight Sonata's famous minor-key three-note piano arpeggio in C sharp minor, but I think a half tone lower (C minor).  I detect a little bit of Pink Floyd influence [Wish you were here] in some places with the sustained keyboard chords and the dramatic buildup, though that's what you'd expect from a musical depiction of Sunrise.  I recommend you listen to it with big headphones, the biggest you've got, with noise cancellation preferably, to neutralize the external sounds of your family begging you to turn the music off and help with the household chores or children screaming in the background...

First track of the second side with its interesting organ tritonal chords, colored by surrounding synth sounds:

Track 6 or B5 if you're following on the database, highlights the kind of soundtrack (horror movie in this instance?) composition that this versatile musician was capable of:

Back to Bible Black with II - Message From Moonbase [FLAC limited time only]

 

Information on this release here.  Earlier I posted the first album and the 1984 cassette from their guitarist, called Rose, back here, long ago.  So last year, 40 years after that first cassette, 12 years after the first CD, they posted a second album with the above title, approximately in a similar style to the first Bible Black, so a very enjoyable King Crimson-like mix of symphonic and typical hard guitar prog sounds, perhaps like their compatriots Social Tension posted here.

The Opening or Intro makes it clear exactly what we're dealing with here, taking us right back to the great classics of the late 1970s in synthesizer prog:

It's followed by Subway:

And the remainder of the composition just follows in the same vein, without any let up.  Really good, classic prog.  Obviously, the guitarwork by Rose is just stunning, but the synth player, who is this guy, equally magnificent.

A track called Poison brings back the great Frippian dissonant riffs:

Japanese Anzen Band, Album A, 1975 [nonFLAC] and 1976 [FLAC]

 

Brilliant cover art in both instances, I think we can agree.

Back to the Japanese rock/prog for the next three posts.  This is a mine that never gets exhausted in its yield of pure gemology.  Here's one I could have sworn I posted before but obviously didn't, similar to my old favorite School Band, with hard rock, ssw, and fusion elements mixed together in a pretty accessible form, or perhaps like Tranzam.

Information on the band here.  Unfortunately, only 2 albums from the mid 1970s.

Track 4 from the first album gives you an idea of the delightful mix of sax plus rock this band is capable of:

Intro to the second album which appeared the next year, showcases the smooth sax sound again:

Later they get into the funky sounds, rock stuff, providing quite a lot of variety.  I absolutely adore the track 3 song, with its warmth and drive:

Stay tuned to the wonderful bridge passage with harmonics and the full-on electric guitar riff, followed by dreamy synth strings.

Another wonderful 'lost' Japanese rock album... How many more are there still undiscovered?