SPEED, GLUE AND SHINKI

Nearly an imitation of British rhythm and blues.

In a sense, this album may be of Joey Smith and his mate Mike Hanopol's. Surprisingly, all songs were written and composed by each or both of Joey and Mike, except for Don't Say No (composed by Shinki Chen) and Chuppy (composed by Shigeki Watanabe). In Don't Say No, Shinki's guitar can growl smoothly and charismatically(!) with beautiful scats plus drums, and Chuppy should have fantastic harpsichord sounds. Fundamentally this album is a double one, the first CD can be called Blues one and the second Psychedelic one. Inviting Mike Hanopol (bass, keyboard), Shigeki Watanabe (keyboard), and Hiroshi Oguchi (drums) as guest musicians, this EPONYMOUS work might have been a masterpiece. Indeed in Japan these songs were remarkably progressive in the early seventies, but their stance for music should push and emphasize bluesy colour, not each skilled play nor their unity. The psychedelic piece has Sun ~ Planets ~ Life ~ Moon,an absolutely psychedelic and progressive suite, or Song for An Angel with evolutionary battles with guitars and keyboards - regretfully the songs cannot harmonize well I feel. I guess that their making an imperfect trio should let themselves break up after releasing this work.

However, there is no suspicion this album could leave a clear footprint on Japanese psychedelic rock history. Exactly interesting one.

Well I got this album yesterday. (Bought on the back of my love for "Shinki Chen And Friends". It's still taking it's time to win me over. There's stuff I really love like "Red Doll", "Don't Say No" and "Chuppy". Other songs might take time to settle in. The Sun/Planets/Life/Moon suite is... probably best heard stoned. I'd rather people went for "Shinki Chen And Friends" album. It's funny having a tiger on the cover with an expression of "What's this??" and then a raging tiger picture on the inside cover. Maybe it does owe a debt to Cream, but I seem to prefer this to that actual band. So three stars so far. I might up it in a few weeks when I've heard much more from it.