MODERN WORLD SYMPHONY

Taku YABUKI is a Japanese keyboardist who is well versed in classic, jazz, and of course rock, and has already been renowned as a member of KOENJIHYAKKEI. Luckily I've attended a gig by one of his projects named Taku Yabuki Unit in collaboration with Yoshinori IMAI (drums, percussion), Hidehisa SASAKI (guitar), and Ryosuke NIKAMOTO (bass) (Maki IWANAGA replaced Ryosuke as bassist on the gig anyway), and got immersed in their aggressive "Musiquake" constructed / purified with keyboard, bass, guitar, and drums material.

In spite of such an aggressive music tactic on stage held by the Unit, this album "Modern World Symphony" has completely amazed me as a brilliant versatility, along with Taku's intensive enthusiasm and quick adaptation for various musical genres. Actually, lots of talented musicians have collaborated with him upon this creation, whilst his personality / originality cannot get suppressed at all. Guess Taku's sometimes pushed his keyboard shower out ahead, and sometimes supported his collaborators with his massive key plays ... both of his works, plays are sublime and enough to cheer all players (including himself) up.

A perfect example where Taku played at the frontest "Freedom Landscape" is such a theatrical keyboard-based creation enough to absorb us into his dramatic, kaleidoscopic gemmy plays. On the other hand, "Genesis" or "Bird Of Passage" sounds like a fantastic joint interview by all players, with delightful uptempo beats and sounds (on stage they all have played more aggressively than this studio-made version as honestly I say ... cheers and shouts have been given here and there).

Their eclecticism originated from mainly jazz, classic, and rock complete creating their peculiar rock symphony upon this album. Recommended for all progressive rock freaks, especially familiar with Symphonic / Neo / Jazz Rock.