SATORI

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.