K. Tanaka & Super Session ~ Japan

British Rock Live in Japan (1972)

It's 1972 Japan, but in reality, this album is pure Krautrock freakout city. You know the drill by now - think debut albums by Guru Guru, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream, etc... If you enjoy that sort of thing, then you will absolutely swoon for this one. If not - run... run... RUN FAR AWAY from it. I presume you all know by now where I stand on such music.

There are three tracks on the album - totaling close to 60 minutes! Most of the album are interpretations of various artists, and the other is a theoretical cover tune. The album opens with 'Trip To West Coast From Britan' (sic) and purports to honor The Grateful Dead, Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, Frank Zappa, and Uriah Heep. Well good choices for certain. Not that you'll recognize a single one of them here. Tanaka and his motley crew essentially destroy everything in its sight with a psychedelic rampage. Side 2 is a psychotic variation of Pink Floyd's 'Echoes', a composition that is already greatly enhanced with alternative substances, but this takes the idea to its logical extreme. This is followed by a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, and at this point they're pretty much putting the torch to the studio and igniting it in flames. As the AC astutely observes: "It all seems to be semi-improvised, driven by pummeling rhythms that sort of ebb and flow while the bass, guitar and organ converge and coalesce into one freaky jam after another. Even the most stoned-out-of-their-minds krautrockers would have been shocked by this level of depravity."

Ownership: 2016 Think! (CD). Papersleeve

4/14/17 (new entry)