Хоссэ ·
15-Мар-09 19:20
(спустя 6 часов)
Although « Nihonjin » is definitely a spacey album, the keyboards are only prominent on the opening notes and the synths are used sparingly throughout, for the occasional sound effect. The psychedelic atmosphere comes mostly from the guitars, electric sitar and drums, resulting in a sound somewhat reminiscent of PINK FLOYD’s “A Saucerful of Secrets”. The original LP, replete with weird sound effects, consisted of two epic tracks clocking in at 18 and 20 minutes respectively
his is a fascinating album, reminding me sometimes of Wish You Were Here era Pink Floyd (particularly the long instrumental sections of Shine On You Crazy Diamond) which is quite an achievement considering that this album was released in 1973, two years before Wish You Were Here. There are also similarities in places to Black Sabbath, with one of the guitarists grinding out a very Iommi like riff midway through "Too Many People" (using an electric sitar no less!) Nihonjin is also a fantastic track, culminating in a mantra-like freak out suddenly ending in an eerie Japanese bamboo flute solo. The band are very talented musicians, with the drumming and bass playing deceptively simple but highly inventive, anchoring the Gilmour-like soloing of the lead guitarist and the interweaving electric sitar lines of the 2nd guitarist (who cannot really be described as just a rhythm player). The vocalist's soft, almost pleading vocals (which are still capable of rising to a ravaged howl during the closing sections of Nihonjin) are very moving at times, relaying very simple heavily Japanese accented English lyrics which still tug at the soul.
