SHINGETSU

I'm of the opinion that this is one of the more important albums to come out of Japan. A nation that brought us so much great Psychedelic music in the seventies ends that decade in 1979 with a Symphonic beauty. A five piece band where the keyboardist really leads the way and we get mellotron on all but two tracks. The vocalist has a relaxed voice but can get passionate. The guitar is really good both acoustic and electric and that bass just bounces, big fan. We get some guest sax on track four along with a guest synth player. SHINGETSU means NEW MOON and the word beautiful came to my mind often while listening to this record.

And right off the hop that beauty is heard early on the opener "Oni" which might be my favourite track. The beauty is in the form of acoustic guitar here and those vocals arrive after a minute and are fragile. I like the contrasts on display during this 9 1/2minute track. "The Other Side Of Morning" continues the contrasts of mellow and fuller sections. The vocals and acoustic guitar again are gorgeous.

And how about the vocals on "Influential Street" where Bryan Ferry came to mind the way he vibrates almost. Not as big on this one but I am on the next one "Afternoon After The Rain" with the guest sax adding a lot. Organ here too and some majesty with the mellotron and more. "Fragments Of The Dawn" needs a mention for the mellotron flutes. Some multi-vocals or double tracked ones here as well makes this different. "Freeze" is awesome because it's dark and intense, a serious instrumental. More beauty on the closer "Return Of The Night".

This was an absolute pleasure to listen to and GENESIS are clearly their biggest influence although they were in no way a clone of their sound. Just some keyboard and guitar sounds brought them to mind once in a while. Easily 4 stars.