MISTY MOON

OUTER LIMITS from Japan started out as a six piece band although the keyboards, bass and guitar are all performed by two different musicians maybe because of availability or needing a more technical player I'm not sure but the violin, vocals and drums are all done by the same musicians throughout. This is their debut from 1985 and part of my complaint is that 80's flavour in the guitar, vocals and synths at times. This is especially strong on the title track which is the longest at almost 14 minutes.

Vocals are weak and in both Japanese and English. Some mellotron on a couple of tracks but not a lot and I would say the guitar gets a minor role with the violin and synths being the driving force along with the drums and bass. And there's some great sounding bass on here. I do like how they add samples like on the opener we hear a door slam shut then footsteps, heavy breathing and the phone being dialled quickly. Also the wind to open that long title track is cool. I just have a tough time with parts of those first four tracks but I feel it ends very strong with the last two songs.

All a matter of taste I suppose but a lot of people whose opinions I respect have given this 4 stars but I just don't get it at this point.