MILK TIME

(From PA blog "Japanese Progressive Rock presented by DamoX")

Exactly the dawn of Japanese improvised organ-based psychedelic progressive rock! (I believe 'another' dawn of Japanese organ-based psych-prog should be The Happenings Four.)

Their core storm gets started with the second track Running Shirts Long ... don't be deceived by the beauty of Hiro's keyboard solo in the short opening Love St. ... each instrumental solo gets exploded heavily and rampantly. And please carefully listen to Hiro's keyboard play especially - although his solo play goes forward at a moment on the latter part, basically Hiro should support the other solos with his strict (and deep) rhythm on the background. Their terrific heavy improvisation on the middle part absolutely, absolutely reminds me Acid Mothers Temple Speed Guru's exploded guitar solo in the song Acid Takion. Makoto Kawabata might be much influenced by Hiro's improvised heavy keyboard play (here's a difference of instruments between them though) I imagine? Kimio Mizutani's crazy guitar solo can make their sounds more aggressive, and Hiroki Tamaki's sharp-edged electric violin can season their style with extremely dry and bitter soundspice. Just in the song can we feel such a greatness of all instruments, all players.

Anyway dart a glance around - in this album is flute-based soft and graceful fairy-tale song like When She Didn't Agree and Yum, a short instrumental track Love T with plaintive violin sounds blended with solemn keyboard ones, or a jazzy freaky flexible jam session Happy, Sorry. And another peak of this album is, I'm sure, the miracle suite Fish Sea Milk / Fingers Of A Red Type-Writer. Based on such a weird keyboard rumble, Kimio's crushed guitar, Hiroki's keen electroviolin, Nozomi's loud flute, Kenji & Hiro Tsunoda's deep rhythm section can fall one upon another. We cannot close our mouth and close our eyes till the end of Me And Milk And Others, the song characterized as a slow percussion and violin inferno.

A great stuff, able to be defined as one of the dawn(s) of Japanese Progressive Rock. Recommended!

Hiro Yanagida's debut album called "Milk Time" is a really special recording for me. Along with Food Brain and Cosmos Factory it was one of my first 70s Japanese artists I was listening to. It really rocks hard...& intelligent! Hiro together with bunch of 1st class musicians like Kimio Mizutani and Hiroki Tamaki created truly fantastic psychedelic piece of art. It's incredible how many ideas were included on this relatively short (36 minutes) LP. "Milk Time" is full of different music styles which perfectly fit to each other here. It's also very important that Yanagida didn't completely dominated this record with his organ playin' but left lots of space for his colleagues who can shine equally to Master of Keys. Especially violin and guitar are often pushed in front of the "wall of sound".

Let's check the tracks one by one:

1. "Love St." - less than one minute, very soft harpsichord performance. Sounds like far east Medieval music. Simply beautiful.

2. "Running Shirts Long" - this a real thing! Almost 9 minutes of outstanding psych/jazz jamming without self indulgence dragging. The main Hammond organ riff from the beginning hits you in your face and presses your body into armchair! Sounds like marching army of giants just behind your back. After that Mizutani kicks in with fuzzed guitar solo which is obviously Hendrix-inspired. His solo is followed by dynamic violin showcase where Hiroki Tamaki proves that this instrument surely belongs to prog rock! When violinist starts to lose steam, Yanagida take over the main "weight" of leading the jam and plays long as hell organ solo. It's probably the best musical moment of this guy in his career. His Hammond sounds violent, swirling, distorted & truly inspired, like from the best The Nice/ELP times, with all of these required noises, hits, roars and slide effects we like so much. Then Keiju Ishikawa takes control with frantic bass solo, followed by drum show off...which is of course the weakest spot of "Running Shirts Long". During most time of the composition solo performances particular musicians are supported by the other creating high-tempo rhythm & background. Unfortunately during drum solo all the other instrumentalist calm down and leave Tsunoda alone so track lose it's dynamism. Thankfully this solo spot isn't so long and everybody comes back in the end with main, groovy motif.

3. "When She Didn't Agree" - in the previous track only Nozomi Nakatani didn't have "his moment". But in this short interlude-like composition his flute is the main actor. Together with Hiro's harpsichord it creates gorgeous Japanese folk-like atmosphere.

4. "Happy, Sorry" - another ingenious composition. This time the leading theme is very jazzy, somehow lightweight and very catchy. Similar like in "Good Morning People" from his second album this one sounds very uplifting and a bit childish. Guitar & violin solos are good as ever, but Hammond solo is a real classic, it's played with a great sense of melody. No atonal noises this time, only pure beauty. Rhythm section is also fantastic, drummer plays some untypical signatures all time, while bassist shines throughout with happy-sounding.

5. "Yum" - very melancholic instrumental only with heavenly-sounding flute and harpsichord which sound like falling raindrops. Beautiful, classical-sounding piece of true art. It's a real miracle that these guys can equally good play long, psychedelic jams and such soft compositions. I guess what kind of modern rock musician would include such peaceful and relatively long (almost 4 minutes) track? Probably no-one... Sad.

6. "Love T" - another atmospheric composition, this time arranged for violin, harpsichord and (most of the time) discreet organ. For me sounds like mix of traditional Japanese music and Baroque classical one. Simply outstanding.

7. "Fish Sea Milk" - and here comes the monster which simply has to be included on almost every early 70' Japanese psych/prog record. Thanks God Yanagida put only one such sh**ty-ditty. Two and half minutes of nonsense noise-making without any direction. Experiment for its own sake. Skip this one before it will drill a hole in your brain. Really, better listen to my advice....

8. "Fingers Of A Red Typewriter" - fortunately after previous disaster Hiro & His Friends are coming back to form with this 8+ minutes jazz-rock epic. First part of "Fingers..." seems to be entirely dedicated to Kimio's guitar pyrotechnics where he can present wide range of technical tricks and mind blowing effects (wah-wah, fuzz, distortion etc.). Before 4th minute Hiroki takes "central stage" and demonstrate as long electric violin soloing. However I have to admit that some of these violin "noodling" in this particular track sometimes become tiresome and slightly not focused. However Hiro all the time keeps as interested with backing organ performance which is - as usual - marvelous. It's only a pity that he didn't decide to join his fellows with his own solo and it would be even better.

9. "Milk Time" - titles composition is violin-only half-minute ditty with clearly Western classical music inspiration. Good but too short.

10. "Me And Milk Tea And Others" - along with "Love T" this is another melancholic, weep-inducting composition with leading role of violin which sounds somehow Jewish for me (instead of Japanese or Western classical). Jazzy percussion and slow, eternal organ waves fulfill the track very nice. Good closing number.

To sum up: "Milk Time" along with Food Brain project is the best thing ever recorded by Hiro Yanagida. And compared to to Food Brain, we don't have to suffer many boring minutes of complete mess which is "song" called "Hole in the sausage"... The only low point of the record is "Fish Sea Milk", but it's quite short and you can always skip it. As I already said in Hiro's second album review I can recommend this recording to fans of good, old Japanese (and not only Japanese of course!) psychedelic prog. Other artists/bands with similar approach to music are as follow: Food Brain, Apryl Fool, Shinki Chen & Friends, Love Live Life+, Masahiko Satoh ("Amalgamation" album) (all of them with Hiro Yanagida), but also Strawberry Path & Flied Egg (both with Shigeru Narumo on keys and guitar) or solo album of Kimio Mizutani "A Path Through Haze". And in general Hammond organ fans should be also satisfied with this record, however don't expect only keys-based sound here because you'll find much in Yanagida's offering.

After such review 5 stars rating is obvious. Hiro is my hero!

This ablum offers a pleasant instrumental musical voyage to the world of classical psychecelic progressive rock elements. Neat walls of raw organs, guitars, bass and furiosly rolling drums summon forth a pleasant realm of acid rock where one can relax by escaping troubles of logical reasons. Violin fits marvelously as a supporting solo instrument to the sound context, strenghtening the sound perfectly. Fast grooves are counterbalanced with quieter sequences and short pieces building up from guitar chordprogressions and flute interludes. In the middle of the record jazzy lounging for fuzzy quitar in a relaxed hippie glade follows, allowing to be enrichened with dialogues for violin and keyboards. In the later part of the album are discovered very beautiful classic music melodic tunes, first with flute and harpshicord madrigal, then followed with a piece for violin accompanied with organs and bass guitar. Hollow calls indicate return to more atavistic levels of surreal rock poetry, leading to strongly riffed heavy acid jazzy groove. Funky and vital turns twist a deligthful trip in progressive rock styled treatments of jazz standards, giving associations of early German art rock bands sound. After a traditional chamber quickie, the album closes to a melancholic tune with beautifully weeping violin and subtle support from the group. If you like good quality late 1960's sounding heavy jazzy jamming blended with light European classical music, it is certainly found from this album.

This is Hiro Yanagida's debut released in 1970 out of Japan. He would release three more studio albums and a compilation recording all in the early seventies. He was the keyboardist for FOOD BRAIN's only release also in 1970, as well as the keyboardist for LOVE LIVE LIFE + ONE who released one album in 1971. Here Hiro continues with the keyboards playing organ and harpsichord while five others add guitar, drums, bass, flute and violin. I would describe the music as psychedelic at it's base but folky and jazzy too and it's all instrumental. Hit and miss for me to be honest but an enjoyable listen but certainly not a 4 star record in my musical world.

The album cover makes me smile but it was the title of the album that brought back some memories I had forgotten about. Back in the late sixties and yes 1970 the year this was released I was in elementary school and at lunch time the teacher at one point would yell "Milk time!" and those of us who had parents who paid for this would get chocolate or white. I never got white. Half the songs are short pieces plus we get two long ones here just under 9 minutes and of course it's the two long ones where we get some substance. There is a drum solo late on "Running Shirts" and the other lengthy track "Fingers Of A Red Typewriter" is quite jazzy even the guitar style and walking bass.

I have a lot of keepers from Japan but this one just doesn't click with me enough to go 4 stars. Talented man though.

The solo debut of Hiro Yanagida, Milk Time was released after the February 1969 dissolution of his band The Floral, and supposedly whilst playing for both Food Brain and Love Live Life + One; however that time-math works, I'm certain someone can get back to me. I'm still trying to understand exactly, but I believe The Floral's timely, and albeit regional, success [regional being an assumption] was the result of winning a contest via Japan's Official Monkees Fan Club, the ultimate reward being--again, I assume--the recording, production and Club-wide distribution of their debut '67 release (a three-song single, according to Discogs). I feel it's worth explaining too that The Floral released only one LP, but after a name-change to Apryl Fool. Seriously though, worth checking out that Official Monkees Fan Club Single, because it's like really fun Garage Pop (it's on YouTube). Listening to a smattering from their singles reveals an at times darker, LA-style Psychedelic sound, like the Doors perhaps, but otherwise like a Japanese Trad Pop(?). Now, onto the next decade and the album at hand!

When the album opener "Love St." began, I was honestly taken aback. This short, sub-minute intro consists of a Baroque-apparent keyboard figure, now-distinctly Psychedelic to my ears. That ballsy, American Rock style mentioned about The Floral can be heard on the grungy "Running Shirts Long", but also feels somewhat as if Jimmy Page was replaced by Jimi Hendrix in Zep? [A half truth, honestly.] The bass (Keiju Ishikawa) is thumping and the extended guitar solo (Kimio Mizutani) growls and barks loudly. And then we get a surprise electric violin solo from Hiroki Tamaki [I wouldn't have been surprised if I had done barely more 'research' leading up to this]. Assuming they were as big then as they are important now, the violin is making me think of Mahavishnu Orchestra's Jerry Goodman (The Inner Mounting Flame came out a year later in '71, although Goodman's band The Flock's debut was from a year before this). This extended jam then shifts to a great organ solo from our band leader, Hiro Yanagida, and then closing out what feels to me like introductory solos is drummer Hiro Tsunoda. Now reading as almost video-game ready (like something out of the Zelda catalog) is the bucolic and quite lovely "When She Didn't Agree", a suitable interlude featuring the one band member I certainly didn't catch with the last one, flautist Nozomi Nakatani. Seriously beautiful.

Up next is one from the time, "Happy, Sorry". Bright and bubbly, the guitar solo is pretty fantastic. What's wild to me is the Blues solo to follow from violinist Tamaki, calling to mind, as it frequently does, Don "Sugarcane" Harris and specifically "Directly From My Heart To You" from Weasels Ripped My Flesh (also 1970). It is fun that this changing-hands, solo-after-solo direction is represented in the Psychedelic Rock/Pop genre, as it's something that feels very Jazz-oriented (even now). The organ takes another, the light buzzing tone soaring perfectly over the accompaniment. My mind was brought right back to some rolling fields of green on "Yum", a duet between flute and what sounds like harpsicord [Oh, it is haha]. This is fairly classic, conflicted melancholy, if I can put it into words; a bittersweet mood. Won't be for everyone, I can imagine. Next, calling '66/'67 Beatles to mind, the dark-tinged Classical "Love T", a violin solo totally other than what we got before from Tamaki. I really like this one. With it beginning the original album's second side, I was more than half expecting "Love T" to seamlessly go into the next. I can imagine I'm not the only one...

"Fish Sea Milk" calls to mind some of the Avant-garde experimentations of the late-60s by Zappa and even the Beatles, but also Krautrockers like Can and Amon Duul II. Of course, these kinds of synthesized experiments were only furthered by Progressive Rock and Avant-Rock/RIO. To be frank, this shimmering weirdness is certainly the most interesting thing to me thus far. The tastiness continues on "Fingers of a Red Type-Writer". The guitar is just so sexy on this one... I cannot tell a lie haha. I'm not a fan of 'the Blues' per se, ya know, in and of itself, but when utilized to bring out grit and emotion and balls, I'm more than game. I'm sure this feels like a given to many. This song, another extended guitar solo, is really bringing out yet another genuine Zappa parallel... In this, its staying power will vary. Once again, we change hands in soloing as violin takes over with an increase in pace. I could have gone for less soloing myself, yet the song overall is pretty damn good. As we approach the close, we get one more interlude, the titular "Milk Time", a Classical string ensemble lasting less than half a minute. Viol continues in the sweetest sweetness on our final track, "Me and Milk Tea and Others", and I can't explain it, but that's the perfect name haha. Really very lovely. Don't pass this one by.

All I know is I'm so pleased I got to hear this and I can't wait for the next one. The Hiro appreciation on the site generally is no mystery to me now.

True Rate: 3.75/5.00