 Some
records are destined to be footnotes, or tangents, no matter how good
they are. There's "Far Out" by the band of the same name, which is
usually treated as a pre-Far East Family Band curiosity, instead of the
brilliant stand alone album it actually is. More to the point, there's
"Kirikyogen" (named after a theater actor, according to the liner
notes,) the first solo album by Happenings Four keyboardist Kuni
Kawachi, which is often treated as a lost Flower Travellin' Band album.
It's understandable, though: billed as "Kuni Kawachi and Friends," it
features FTB vocalist Joe Yamanaka and FTB guitarist Hideki Ishima on
every track, and both of those guys are hard to mistake for anyone
else. There's also "人間主体の経営と工事" ("Music Composed Mainly By Humans") to
consider, as it became Flower Travellin' Band's "Map" the following
year. But FTB's secret weapon...the thoroughly out there rhythm section
of Jun Kobayashi and Joji Wada...is absent, replaced by a mystery
bassist and drummer (seriously, I can't find any credit for those two
instruments anywhere.) So while much of FTB's signature sound is on
display in the superficial sense, closer examination reveals a very
different heart beating inside this black and white cover.
"恋愛墓地" ("Cemetery Of Love") is a good example: a somber but oddly
uplifting, sitar driven number that builds to a "House Of The Rising
Sun" style climax, it's tempered with light piano flourishes and a
incense drenched feel that is quite at odds with Yamanaka and Ishima's
usual output. Then there's the "Ramble On" rewrite of "女の教室"
("Classroom Of Women,") all bongos and sprightly acoustic guitar.
"男から女を見た科学的調査" ("Scientific Investigation") mixes third album Velvet
Underground with a driving, understated beat, placid toy xylophone, and
chiming guitars.
The title track actually prefigures the sound of FTB's "Make Up," heavy
keyboards and pounding interludes pointing the way. Ironically, one of
the songs that swings closest to the Flower
Travellin' Band aesthetic is also the one that deviates the furthest.
"タイム・マシーン" ("Time Machine") is a strange, strange track, oscillating
between a mournful, mechanical churn (with lyrics that consist entirely
of the title) and trippy, free form randomness (Ishima even works in a
sly reference to the theme from "The Twilight Zone.") It stops and
starts, stops and starts, two very different approaches balancing and
complimenting each other as they melt into one thoroughly odd track.
The faux military rhythm is just the sort of curveball Kobayashi and
Wada would throw in FTB, but the spaced out passages belong to Kawachi.
This song can really get under your skin if you let it.
Kawachi would make another album with this lineup, "Love Suki
Daikirai," then continue on a solo career that would see him scoring
television shows, only occasionally venturing out into the world of
rock 'n' roll. He also reportedly moved to Hokkaido to become a farmer
(!) "Kirikyogen," despite its excellence and all star lineup, all but
disappeared in the following years (vinyl copies sell for utterly
insane prices.) The album was even bootlegged, juggling the song order
and taking the title "Music Composed Mainly By Humans," but somehow
still managing to be very difficult to come by. Super Fuji has recently
reissued it in a cardboard, mini LP sleeve, complete with a remastering
job that sounds fantastic. Pick it up before it vanishes back into the
ether.
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Available at Amazon Japan
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