THE IDYLL PARTY

Scraping the most obscure barrels of history of the 1980s can yield some interesting results including some true surprises in the most unlikely of places. STUBBS was perhaps the first band from Japan to tackle the English Canterbury Scene sounds delivered by an entire movement set forth in the 1960s and blossomed in 1970s England. To say this band is obscure would be the understatement of the century as it doesn't even show up on well established databases such as Discogs. Virtually nothing is known about this band except that it released two albums in the mid-1980s amongst the world of new wave, noise rock and other punk-inspired bands that had dominated the decade in Japan.

STUBBS on the other hand was firmly planted in the 1970s with its inspiration being drawn from classic Canterbury jazz giants such as Hatfield & The North (from which it scored its band name), National Health and Egg. What little that is known includes the lineup of Kamon Ryo on bass, Konno Kazukiko on drums,- Kasai Ken on guitar, Yama[&*!#]a Kojiro on organ, piano andsynthesizer along with vocalist Yorino Runchiee. STUBBS released two impossible to find albums beginning with this cassette only debut titled THE IDYLL PARTY in 1984 followed by the sophomore cassette release "The Prime Moving Lumps" in 1985.

Given the nebulous nature of this release, it's hard to tell if any available info is correct but it seems that in addition to the lineup listed above, THE IDYLL PARTY also featured a guest appearance of British jazz musician Lol Coxhill who contributed winds on the track "With Music Language." Coxhill was a prolific jazz artist who released more than 40 albums and dabbled in the British Canterbury Scene by playing saxophone with Kevin Ayers on his album "Shooting At The Moon." Despite the complete obscurity of this album, someone still has uploaded it to YouTube where it can be sampled and experienced. This album's playing time almost reaches 50 minutes yet features only four tracks.

Primarily an instrumental affair with only the occasional wordless vocals of YIorino Runchiee punctuating the musical flow, THE IDYLL PARTY alternates between the laidback mellow moments of Hatfield & The North and more upbeat rock oriented segments that were more typical of National Health yet adds its own stamp of creativity strewn throughout. Hatfield & The North is the primary subject of focus here only with a more pronounced bass groove, emphasis on guitar textures and although the keys, organs, synths and piano are clearly out of the Mike Ratledge playbook, this band was slightly more aggressive in its delivery system. The music is in hero worship throughout its entire run but not without its own creative edge. The music flows quite nicely and the clever instrumental interplay made the musicians in STUBBS true masters of the Canterbury Scene sound despite releasing two cassette releases with poor production values.

Sounding more like a passionate love affair set to demo than a real album, STUBBS clearly displayed its astute knowledge of one of England's most revered branches of jazz-rock and delivered a satisfying and even intriguing set of four tracks. Where the band presented its most creative take on the classic Hatfield sounds was in military march drumming sections, heavy staccato keyboard movements, tape experiments, traces of funk, more modern rock guitar and soloing. If that really is Lol Coxhill on the final track "With Music Language" then he delivers a very lengthy wind (clarinet maybe?) solo before the track jumps into a percussion heavy frenzy with crazy guitar improvisation and a robust bass groove. This is by far the most energetic and rock oriented track however even it cedes to the more pacifying laid back Hatfield inspired keyboard Canterbury sounds even if the guitar refuses to accept the new developments.

STUBBS is a testament to a thriving Japanese underground scene that worshipped Western progressive rock and even though this long lost artifact is impossible to obtain in any tangible physical manner, the music presented here is nothing less than phenomenal. The musicians are as talented and professional sounding as the musical maestros of the original Canterbury Scene themselves. The drawback here of course is the shoddy production and the overt hero worship that keeps it from sounding completely original but for a completely unknown band from the Japanese underground to have released such a thing in 1984 is actually mind-blowing. Excellent release as far as the music is concerned with an equal enjoyment value but obviously not an essential release due to the nature of the recording. The band's two albums however MORE than deserve a proper release on vinyl, CD, remastered digital or whatever. This band really could've blossomed had it not been swimming upstream during the prog starved 80s. Fascinating release for sure.

3.5 rounded down