FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND

Satori is a very good album, possibly the best of Flower Travellin' Band, which is one of the top Japanese rock bands from early 70s. Calling it progressive rock, though, might be a stretch, so it might not be a great choice for people looking for more traditional prog music. I am rating the album based on my opinion about the quality of the music (with is basically how much I like it), but I feel like giving this warning because there is not a lot of prog, even by psychedelic / space rock standards.

Although the album has five songs named Satori pt1 to pt5, they are not really related, except for the fact that they are more or less five long jam songs with long instrumental parts. For instance, the longest one (Satori Pt. 4) might be the less interesting to a prog fan because it is mostly a blues rock song with some psychedelic tinges, including lots of harmonica and guitar soloing over a blues riff. It is very similar to what lots of post-Cream blues rock bands were doing in late 60s and early 70s. It is as good as you like that style.

Maybe the most interesting songs for a prog fan are Pt2 and Pt3. Pt2 has long psychedelic guitar solos with lots of effects that evolve slowly, over a hypnotic drum beat. This has some resemblance to guitar-oriented Krautrock. Pt3 is the song with most variations, going from a heavy guitar riff influenced by japanese traditional melodies to a raga-like solo, to a hard blues part, to a spacy-psych part with mostly guitar effects, then to another psych raga-like solo with intense drumming.

The other songs are very good too, but heavier, and they must be the reason why some people compare the band to Black Sabbath. Part 5 is more experimental, with longer solos, and it is my third favorite of the album (after parts 2 and 3).

It is definitely a worthy album for everybody who is into early 70s rock music, especially psychedelic rock, blues rock and hard rock. There are some "proggy" moments, but not so many. Even so, it is very experimental and adventurous, and probably one of the best albums from early 70s Japanese rock bands.

Here's a mixed bag of greens. That I can tell you. When reading about the conception of the album you understand why. Apparently Flower Travellin' Band was obligated to produce a double album. Well, that's nothing strange about that. Many a band have done that. The only problem, as it were, was the lack of material. The band seemed emptied and the well had gone dry. But by some sort of stubborn perseverance they pulled the best bits out of the bag and threw them onto vinyl. The only problem now was that it wasn't enough to fill four sides of vinyl, so they added some live tracks aswell, and voila, "Make up" was born.

The strange thing about this album is the disjointed feeling one gets when listening to it at first. It seems all over the place. After a few listens you still feel disjointed but it doesn't really matter. It becomes a part of the charm and instead of feeling puzzled you feel envigorated and at peace with this album, so forcibly created. The inclusion of organ works brilliantly. Prior to this album no keyboards were present but here they add to the mix and are really effectful. The opener" All the days" is live, as are quite a few tracks. A demented riff, augmented organ and fuzz bass leads you into screams and oriental style of singing. This is a great track, binding together elements of "Satori" and a gentler. less harsh version of the band without compromising with heaviness and roughness.

The title track is a favorite of mine. Opening with an amazing organ, sounding just the way I want it to sound. A great driving bass and guitar comes in, complementing the organ. "Make up" has such a great drive and pulse. Wonderful guitar solo and the organ solo is to die for in it's simplistic glory. Amazing track! Very much in the hard rock vein.

"Make up" (which is a live track) segues seamlessly into "Look at my window". A gentle track at first with a lovely organ and emotional drumming. The track then takes off and becomes a harder sounding piece. The whole thing is built up in sections and works very well indeed. ALso a great track.

"Slowly but surely" is another killer track. Here they play around with light and shadow, heavy and gentle and it is very accomplished. Great heavy guitar riff and warm organ leads into groovy hard rocking progressive. I love this track. One of the real winners on this album.

"Shadows of lost days" is the ballad of the album and is a very heavy one at that. Wonderfully passionate vocals. A favorite of mine for years.

"Broken strings" is a hommage to all the strings broken by the guitaris throughout the years. Over 7 minutes in length it builds from gentle piano into a many layered comtemplative ballad. Beautiful and relaxing. Just lean back and close your eyes.

Then there's the magnum opus on the album, "Hiroshima", captured live. Originally from the previous album "Made in Japan" this is a real monster. Oriental sounding bass riff leads into the mayhem of warfare by atomic weapons. Painful and catastrophic in appearance it is a true experience to hear in a live setting. There is a lenghty drum solo in here and though I'm not all that partial to drum solos I must admit that it is a magnificent piece of percussive performance. The bass solo is deafening and devestating in it's assault. Terrific listen!

The only track that is totally out of the place and should have been discarded for whatever else is "Blue suede shoes". Great song but not here and not in the lame version presented here. I wish the bass player could have fooled around with effect pedals or the drummer could have yelled into his bass drum while the guitarist broke his strings. Anything would have been better than "Blue suede shoes". It really breaks the magic a bit.

It all comes to an end with "After the concert". A gentle piece of contemplative peace and stillness. Great way to end it all.

"Make up" is not as "difficult" as "Satori". It is slightly more polished and the japanese elements are there but evened out. What you get is really a (sort of) masterpiece of orientally flavored hard rock with lots of progressive attitude. It's a wonderful album in many ways and I really like it. Endearing, at times brilliant, always great and full of stuff to discover. If you want to explore Flower Travellin' band this would be a good place to start, as an introduction, unless you think you've got the stomach to approach "Satori".

Less metal more Hendrix Black Sabbath: 7/10

While not nearly as heavy as BLACK SABBATH, SATORI is in many ways comparable to the band. Through Hideki Ishima's astounding guitar work, infused with psychedelic distortion and bluesy riffs, we can see an echo of Tommy Iommi; Jhun Kowzuki's accompanying rumbling bass is similar to Butler's and Joe's vocals in many moments try to mimic Ozzy's grated and loud singing style. In many moments Joe succeeds. In fact, in many moments, SATORI succeeds in mimicking BLACK SABBATH. But they also succeed in being disparate from the British band: Flower Travellin' Band is far more raw, psychedelic and blues-rooted and the guitar is vital within the album.

Don't let SATORI's length fool you: this album is hardly anything other than a compilation of powerful riffs and blues- orientated jams. Parts 1 and 2 sounds dark and apocalyptic, Part 3 is more atmospheric, Part 4 is more playful and rhythmic with astoundingly great riffs and pinnacling vocal performance by Joe and, lastly, Part 5 demonstrate some bits of jazzy influences.

The bluesy, psychedelic and distorted style of FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND with their simple - but anthemic - metallic riffs are great to listen to, but offer very little (if any) progressive quality. Given the nature of ProgArchives, I'll have to deduct a few points from my final rating due to that but, nonetheless, it's safe to say that SATORI is still worthy of a spin.

A legendary Japanese outfit with a penchant for Black Sabbath, King Crimson and Jimi Hendrix, the Flower Travellin' Band were standard-bearers for the exciting rock scene that emerged out of Japan during the early-seventies and one of the ultimate cult groups. They issued just four albums during their rather brief musical career, all between 1970 and 1973, though much of their reputation stems from 1971's bruisingly doomy 'Satori', an album seen by many as the high watermark of Japan's psychedelic rock scene. Made up of five interlocking parts, 'Satori' charts a raw and powerful course through the group's grazing mixture of chundering proto-metal guitars, warbling vocal assaults and ethnic percussion licks, an almost apocalyptic sense of foreboding drenching every single chord. At it's best, it's a truy mesmerising experience, the group darting between heavy and light sonic shades with an almost punk sense of reckless abandon, though occasional repetitive longeurs - some of the overlong guitar solo's for example - do slightly diminish the overall effect. That said, its rare to find an album that mixes power and beauty with such wild-eyed gusto, matching the likes of The Stooges, Hendrix and Sabbath for pure, single-minded bluster. Essentially one long piece of music, 'Satori' may well appeal to those with a fondness for the heavier things in life, but conversely, may also put off fans of more melodic forms of rock. However, if it's a blazing, blues-tinged trip to the outer reaches of wigged-out psychedelia you're after then look no further than 'Satori'. Jagged and metallic, at times utterly engrossing, and about as subtle as a crazed psychopathic bull having a massive epileptic fit in an over-crowded fine china shop, this is music of astonishing power and aggression. You have been warned. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2014

FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND is a Japanese heavy psych band from Tokyo that were connected to the counterculture movement. SATORI is their second album but the their first to contain all original material. Despite not selling very many albums in their day the group gained a large cult following over the decades mostly due to this album which blends a mix of Black Sabbath inspired doom metal with the fuzz guitar of Blue Cheer and some Hendrix sounding guitar riffs and leads. That describes the tones and inspirations for the parts but the sum of the parts that creates the music itself reminds me more of Krautrock guitar oriented jams. This early mix of metal with progressive and psychedelic rock is a real treat because it is simultaneously rockin', bluesy, spacey and tripped-out.

The thing that really stands out is that FTB seemed obsessed with everything Western and incorporated few Japanese sounds into their mix. The only thing I can discern is the occasional gong and a few scales that sound Eastern-tinged at times. For the most part this will remind you of the 60s drugged out hippie bands that emerged from the LSD culture. There are monotonous bass riffs, tripped-out echoed guitars and full-on freakouts but the sound is heavy and the contrast between the hard rock and the psychedelic ways in which they play it is what makes this sound so different from everyone else of the day. I agree with the hype surrounding this album but it falls short of a long lost masterpiece for me however it is a very well played album that will keep your interest throughout its entire run.

Flower Travellin' Band's Satori isn't really the album-length song which the track titles imply that it is. It's essentially a series of hard-edge, heavy psych jams strung together, but the thing which really makes it is how tight those jams actually are. With brilliant guitar work which occasionally creeps into proto-punk territory before launching off into weird space rock like a stripped-down and edgier version of Hawkwind and a leaner, lighter version of Black Sabbath got mashed together in a black hole and spat out in the form of these guys. It's not a classic, but it's very very good as far as highly improvisational jam-based albums go.

One of those cult classic albums from a relatively obscure band that you're probably thinking about hearing just to see if it lives up to its cult status. For the most part, SATORI does live up to expectations; it's a solid heavy psych album but not quite up to excellent. It is worth sneaking a quick listen, especially fans of Black Sabbath or Cream.

Not far into the first part of SATORI, one will hear the battle-cry-esque holler of one Joe Yamanaka, a man whose singing voice reminds me of Steve Perry (I kid you not, that's what I hear), Rob Halford and Ozzy Osbourne. His voice can best be described as acquired; I find it mostly non-obtrusive, but I'm sure there are plenty out there who might describe the vocals as ''disgusting'' or ''deplorable''. It's not the case on the whole album; Joe's high-pitched moments can get irksome, but the fifth part of the album is where Joe reaches his full potential as his vocals (no words) are very hypnotic and beautiful.

The music of the album is largely based around the riff. SATORI dates to 1971, giving enough time for bands like Sabbath, Zeppelin, Purple, etc. to have an impact on up-and-coming hard rockers of that time. Parts I, II and V show the bands' proto-metal influences with enough psychedelia to make them sound ''different''. Part V in particular is the krux of the album with the hypnotic main grove and the proto-prog-metal technical dazzling opening/closing riff. I mentioned that Cream fans might enjoy this, and the Cream sound is there in Part IV's first big riff, but not enough to be a ripoff. My one tick is that Parts III and IV are a smidge too long (not to mention Part III's main line sounds like a lesser ''In-a-Gadda-da-Vida'', the only real knock-off I can detect).

I feel that SATORI earns its cult classic status, largely due to the riffing, Part V, the psychedelic feel and the drumming (particularly the thumping of Part II). Those that don't like their music raw or psychedelic might want to refrain from this, but everyone else might want to feed their curiosity (however minute it may be) and give SATORI a try. It's good, raw, and fun.

Legendary Japanese album that pairs the uncanny heaviness of early Sabbath to a loose psych vibe, resulting into a sort of heavy horror Kraut. I must say it sounds better on paper then the actual result but it's still a solid album, mandatory for heavy rock, psych and kraut fans.

Part I is excellent. An upbeat heavy rocker, reminding of Sabbath obviously but with sharper, fuzzier guitars, playing the heavy riffs at least an octave higher then Tony Iommi would do. The vocals are similar to Ozzy but a bit crazier and more expressive.

Part II is a bit looser then the first track. A sharp lead riff goes into a rousing dialogue with the excellent vocals. After a good 3 minutes it all gives way to a jam with tribal percussion and an extended guitar solo. I can enjoy it but it's here that the band actually disappoints for me. They never reach the inspiration or intensity of a Jimi Hendrix for instance, nor do they make the jump into the more experimental psych-rock as released in Germany around that time.

Part III repeats the main riff of Part II and continues with another extended jam that is rather average again. By the time Part IV begins, I'm completely weary by the continued sharp and whiny tone of the guitar. The song is rather poor as well, with cliché riffs and dull vocal lines. Part V is more interesting but can't save the album.

This album makes the kind of thing that should be right up my alley but it fails on many points. There are a couple of inspired jams and good tunes, but too few. As a fan of the genre I feel rather disappointed, an album that fails to live up to its hype.

Satori is an album I heard a lot about, and its cultural and musical significance is obvious. I first picked this one up a few years ago, but at the time, found myself scratching my head as to what made it so great. The music was very unusual-- raw and unpolished; not the type of Space-Rock I was used to hearing out of the UK around the same time. However, after owning it for a little while now, I finally see the appeal. This is very strong, heavy and forward-thinking music. Even if it doesn't sound like it at first, you must remind yourself that this album came out in an era that had yet to really hear a lot of the stuff done on this album. Sure, there already were plenty of psychedelic Rock works out by 1971, thanks in no small part to acts such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues and Frank Zappa, among others. However, the rough, hard-edged atmosphere heard on this record was something that in my opinion wouldn't become the norm for another couple of decades. In that sense, Satori is very ahead of its time, and I wouldn't be surprised if it served as an inspiration for many heavy/psychedelic rock acts that came after it.

Flower Travellin' Band take many influences on themselves, here, such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, but there is still plenty of originality and 'music of the future' type moments on the record that it makes it very much worthwhile, in my view. It may take some time to get into the swing of things, especially if you're not expecting it, but it's worth it once you allow yourself to appreciate this work on its own merits. It just happens to be really damn good, as well. It's very dark and full of doom, so I don't recommend listening to it when having a bad day, but the darkness is merely a result of the heavy psych-rock the band emits throughout. The cover art is beautiful, but don't let that fool you; the music held within is, more often than not, rather dreary.

The piece is comprised of five parts, all bearing the name of the album itself. Each movement is a little different, and makes for some good variety. Some tracks are better than others, but no track is completely weak or lacking. There is plenty of substance, here.

''Part I'' Starts off with a brief sound of dead airwaves beeping, then some light cymbal crashing from Wada. Then, silence. Suddenly, one of the most unsettling musical moments of my life breaks in: ''Gaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!'' ''Du na da na, du na da na, du na da na, du na da na!'' go the guitars, and then Yamanaka begins to sing proper, but not before throwing in some more wailing for good measure. His Japanese accent is obvious when singing the English lyrics, but it never gets all that bothersome, and at least you can understand him, unlike the earlier Eloy works. This song simply goes through the same motions a couple of more times before suddenly ending. It's an okay track, but not as good as what will follow.

''Part II'' is already off at a better start, with a very catchy drum beat and some heavy rocking rhythm guitar accompanying it every now and then. The lead guitar parts during this first part are pretty interesting as well, but it isn't until around a minute forty that they really shine. Some really awesome fade-in-fade-out volume swell effects are performed while holding a solid, crunching guitar chord. It very much gives the song's atmosphere a sense of psychedelic dread, which I'm sure is what these guys were going for. For a little while, the drums are allowed to break free, playing that contagious beat on their own, unaccompanied, until around 4:02, when the volume swell guitar effects come in again, this time even more melodic and effective. I swear, my mind jumps to more modern trippy rock bands like Tool when I hear these moments; and this was back in 1971! truly music that was ahead of it's time. Anyway, the lead guitar parts continue in the left channel, while the psychedelic guitar effects continue in the right, now encased in a good dose of reverb, adding that trippy effect even more. This goes on for awhile very successfully until 6:48, when everything seamlessly and effortlessly snaps back into the main riff. That's when the song ends. It's a brilliant piece of psychedelic rock music.

''Part III'' has a much more subtle beginning than any of the previous tracks, with distant sounds of what sound like either thunder cracks or explosions. Either way, this is soon followed by a dread-laden bass line that carries the listener into the darkness. 1:25 sees the first full-fledged guitar riffing of the track, and it's the most Sabbath-esque tune heard yet on Satori. This continues on for much too long without really changing, and it's probably one of the least-pleasant moments on the record for me. Finally, after what feels like an eternity, a little over five minutes into the song, things finally switch up, and it gets interesting. For the next twenty or so seconds, an amazing musical breakdown makes way for the excellent guitar solo soon to follow. Once it hits, there is no stopping it. It's not super fast or technical, yet it always makes me groove whenever I hear it. Here, Hideki Ishima really shows what he is capable of conveying through his instrument; intense, heavy psych-rock. Around seven minutes and eighteen seconds in, things come to a crashing halt, and the dark, spacey soundscapes begin. This band does an awful lot with so little, as most of these trippy musical moments are handled simply through the unusual way they choose to play their instruments; as mentioned before, this album is a very bare-bones type of recording, Not much post-production seems to be at work here, and anything you hear that sounds particularly unusual was most likely produced live in the studio (except for the moments in which Ishima had to double track over himself, due to the lack of a second guitarist, of course). Recapitulating my least-favorite guitar riff (but not for too long), the band then goes into one final, frantic blast, before ending the song on avery strong note.

''Part IV'' has the best opening off all these tracks, and start out very clean and bluesy before switching into the distorted, raw riffing that they do so well. This time, it's all very well-contained and doesn't go on for too long. About a minute and a half in, Yamanaka starts spiting out the lyrics in an almost spoken word style that reminds me a lot of Jimi Hendrix's vocal style. Wether or not this was intentional or not, I don't know, but it works. One of the groovier, more enjoyable parts of the album for me. Again, musically, these guys sound ahead of their time. Every once and awhile, between the vocalized verses, the guitar comes in with a very heavy vibe that I swear to god puts me in kind of the thrashier Metallica days. Again, not in terms of speed or technicality, but in terms of attitude and approach. This band sounded like bands that didn't even exist yet at the time, and to me that is worth noting, because it's more than a little impressive. A very Prog-Metal type of odd rhythms come in, then suddenly everything becomes incredibly smooth and groovy. This is my favorite musical moment on Satori, and it hits around 3:57 of this track. Harmonica, aye? Absolutely, and it works incredibly well here, up against the stomping, chugging rhythms produced by the bass, drums and electric guitar. it's absolutely brilliant. Hey, guess what? We're only halfway finished with this song!

5:41 marks another fantastic guitar solo from Ishima, and he's completely on top of his game, here. Wada is no slouch, either; his tight, rhythmic backbeat helps keep all of this intense rocking in check, and while not overly frilly, the man's drumming ability certainly can't be ignored. This section of the song goes on for quite a long time, but never gets boring, unlike previous overly- long moment on the record, and then everything else breaks away except for drums and harmonica. Soon, the other instruments begin to re-introduce themselves one by one, this time accompanying the main riff that the harmonica is providing. Finally, around 8:46, things come back around to that initial riff, and Yamanaka does his thing once again. These guys are great at bringing their musical journeys back around to where they began, thus giving each song on Satori a very symmetrical feel. It means that the album never wanders too far away from itself, and all the music enclosed stays concise. One final blast of energy bring this rocking track to a resounding close. The drumroll at the end is especially tasty.

''Part V'' is the last song, and starts off more intense and complex than any of the others that came before it. Sudden start-stops, and a VERY Ozzy-like vocal howl comes very shortly into the game, and the clean guitar arpeggio picking heard off in the distance backing this up is enough to send shivers down your spine. This is probably the darkest song, and you can definitely hear the Black Sabbath influence here quite a bit. But it doesn't mean this song is completely unoriginal; it just means it may sound more familiar to you than the other tracks. The long-held breaths from Yamanaka are clearly meant to simulate fear, pain, dread, etc. It works, but it may not me as pleasing to your ears as other, more musical moments on the record. Jun Kosugi's bass is the most notable here, and it backs up Ishima as he plays quite possibly his most emotional guitar solo. Overall a very good track, full or darkness and while the Sabbath similarites will be obvious to you, think of a more modern act that has managed to pull this type of dark, beautiful stuff off quite well. Opeth is what comes to me. Fair comparison? Well, perhaps you will feel differently about it, but I wouldn't be surprised if this album didn't influence Mikael Akerfeldt at one point or another. After all, it's highly regarded among many doom-rock followers, and I'm sure the man heard it sometime in his life. This track (and album) finally ends on a very spine-chilling note, with a final soft chord being played, followed by the distant crash of a gong. That ends the magnificent journey that is Flower Travellin' Band's Satori.

Now the question is, should you buy it for yourself? I think so. I think, even if it doesn't become a favorite of yours, you'll be glad that you own it if not for the simple fact that it holds so much relevance and importance among many serious music fans. It's still a fairly underground work, as well, which gives it a certain stigma, and I think all of those factors (including the music itself, of course) combine to make a very good case for owning this one. Expect the unexpected, and cherish the darkest moments, and you'll love Satori. What you mustn't do, however, is hold the album to some insanely high expectation. It's old, rough around the edges, yet at the same time, very much worth listening to.

Happy listening.

"Satori" (released in 1971) is the second album of FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND and probably the best Japanese rock album after a great BLUES CREATION album with CARMEN MAKI "Carmen Maki Blues Creation" (released also in 1971 - with fantastic blues guitars, sometimes similar to Led Zeppelin and with perfect vocal by Japanese Janis Joplin - Carmen Maki). Despite some little problems with the English vocals (typical for many Japanese bands) it is a great album. The vocal here is minimal and it is not so strange like for example on BLUES CREATION "Demon and Eleven Children" (released in 1971) and on FLOWER TRAVELLIN BAND' first album "Anywhere" (released in 1970 - with covers of Louisiana Blues and House of The Rising Sun).

Satori I - it starts with a scream, than we have a hard rock part with some short vocalization and a little bit of singing

Satori II - hard-heavy rock/oriental composition with hysterical vocal (my favorite part of the album), and than with some drum and tambourine solos and again heavy/oriental instrumental part

Satori III - it starts peacefully, than we have a harsh guitar and monotonous/oriental part and again a little bit of hard rock and the monotonous/oriental (but faster) part at the end

Satori IV - hard rock beginning with vocals (for around 4 minutes) and than a more bluesy, instrumental part with harmonica (for around 5 minutes) and again hard rock ending with vocals

Satori V - it starts with heavy guitar and great mesmerizing vocalization, than we have more bluesy part with fantastic guitar solo and again the vocalization and a hard rock ending

This album is mostly instrumental with some vocalization and little bit of singing. I must say that for me it is rather hard/heavy rock than heavy progressive album and maybe it should be in the Prog-Related section (but on the other hand the oriental influences makes it more progressive). It certainly has its own style. Something like instrumental BLACK SABBATH with the oriental influence. I recommend this album to the hard and heavy rock fans. If you like LED ZEPPELIN and BLACK SABBATH you will like "Satori" as well.