Jiro Inagaki & His Soul Media - Head Rock. 1970 Japan

If you're at all familiar with the Japanese jazz scene of 1970, then Head Rock will come as no surprise. Albums like this were seemingly extinct at one point, until recent times have spotlighted the scene. Not that dissimilar from the film library albums coming out of Italy, Head Rock mixes jazzy instrumentation with psychedelic rock guitar and rhythms. The melodies are relatively safe, and this is no mindblower on the same scale as some of the Japanese albums from this era (British Rock Live in Japan, Genshi Kyodotai, etc...). But for grooving headphone bobbing moments, it's a pleasant ride.

LP: 2018 Columbia / Takt Jazz

Brilliant reissue with a thick gatefold cover. Originals, naturally enough, will cost you a mortgage payment - or 3. Best to stick with the reissues here I would think. There are 2 each for CDs and LPs. And while never cheap, at least affordable.

Jiro Inagaki and His Soul Media - Dosojin. 1972 Japan

We featured this title on the CDRWL a few years ago, and so it is with great pleasure to be able to bring it here to the UMR, now that we have a CD in hand. Dosojin is a collection of traditional Japanese folk songs, but in many cases distorted beyond recognition, and at times, very psychedelic. 

Ownership: CD: 2015 Nippon Columbia. Papersleeve.

1/5/12 (first listen / review); 6/18/15 (update)

The AC sums it up nicely: "The songs, arranged by composer Yasuhiro Koyama (who also penned one side of Toshiyuki Miyama's "Tsuchi No Ne", another of Columbia's "Adventure In Sound" albums (and also now reissued)), are all actually variations and elaborations on traditional Japanese "minyou", old folk songs known to people all across Japan for countless generations. The whole album flows very nicely, running seamlessly from solemn folky songs to fuzz-guitar and piano led progressive pieces and back again, always maintaining a deeply Japanese atmosphere."

6/18/15 (new entry)