More musical fabulousness from Japan’s Masayoshi Takanaka. Track one, Oh Tengo Suerte, is also the first track on All Of Me. A number I love so much I want to get both of those albums!
A little later…
Well… Holy guacamole! Just listened to the entire album, in one pass. And my goodness, it’s amazing! First off the range is very wide. It’s all tinged with a ‘70s fusion vibe. And being predominantly instrumental, there’s a definite jazz aspect.
But it’s also all over the map in many ways. Perhaps the single best example of this is the pretty bonkers final piece, which starts and finishes with layered vocal harmonies and barely audible acoustic guitar, before barreling off into a Japanese prog-fusion wonderland both very like some kind of CTI thing, but also unlike anything else.
The musicianship is absolutely stunning. Unsurprisingly Takanaka is the star, on prominent display here. But, everything, the percussion, the drumming, the keys (other stuff: vocals, strings, horn solos, whatever), and very notably the bass, are all stunning.
More Masayoshi Takanaka, this time 1977’s wonderfully titled An Insatiable High.
I’m trying to buy these albums in the UK, but they’re largely ludicrously expensive (over £20 per album, and then some, with added shipping costs!). So in the meantime, YouTube is my saviour.
I’ve only listened to track one so far, but I loved that. So I’m hoping I’ll enjoy the whole thing. We shall see, I guess? I’m still totally sold on Rainbow Goblins, which I’m part way through my third listen to at present!
Sometimes a single track is so good it’ll make a whole album essential for me, and this is a case in point. The opening number on this 1979 compilation, Oh Tengo Suerte, is just sooo awesomely good, I simply must either track this album down on in some form, or find whatever album the track itself comes from. It’s my idea of musical perfection.
Some time later…
Ok, so having listened to more Takanaka, I’ve discovered Oh Tengo Suerte is the opening number on Takanaka’s 1976 solo debut recording, Seychelles. Which, it transpires, is an absolutely superb album. Def’ one for the collection!
Partly recorded in Brazil, Takanaka’s fourth album has lots of names I don’t recognise, and a few I do: Abe Laboriel, James Gadson, Jeff Porcaro, Greg Phillinganes and Paulinho da Costa amongst others.
Not listened to this one much yet. Just had a quick skip through to get a flavour. Very Brasilian… but I’ll return to it properly in few coarse!
A beautiful cover that really does convey the magic within.
I’ve always loved discovering new music. New to me, that is. I don’t care how old it is. And often I find I like older stuff better than contemporary stuff anyway.
Well, today is a blessed day, that way, as I’ve just stumbled upon the amazing 1981 album Rainbow Goblins, by Japanese guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka.
Masayoshi Takanaka, a new hero of mine!
I only found out about it today. And after listening to a few tracks on YouTube, I decided I had to buy the CD. I’ve ordered a copy via Amazon, and it was a bit pricey for a skint skinflint like me, (Jap import, over £20!). But it’s totally stolen my heart.
The vid’ that took me over the Rainbow.
Indeed, from the little else of Takanaka’s stuff I’ve heard since discovering this, I think I’ll be buying more of his music. But I’ll get to that later. For now I just want to testify to how much I dig this incredible album.
Apparently the album is a concept double album – very prog! – based upon a Children’s’s story, about seven ‘rainbow goblins’. The story, by an Italian (poss a Count!?), Ul de Rico, is where the cover art comes from. I’ve ordered a copy of that as well!
Katsu ‘Katz’ Hoshi.
I have to give an honourable mention to arranger Katsu Hoshi, for the strings, and – presumably? – the incredible orchestral Prologue, which sets up this dreamy album perfectly. Is the album credit, in the name ‘Katz’ Hoshi, a sly reference to Steely Dan’s Gary Katz, perhaps?
There’s even an English language spoken narration, by a chap called Roy Garner. For a Brit it’s particularly nice to hear an English narration from beyond these shores that isn’t an American or transatlantic accent. I feel right at home in rainbow goblin land!
This is my kind of place!
The music has a childish and delightfully goofy innocence at times. But as it’s all played by top notch sessionistas and jazz fusion musos, it also has a beautiful late 1970s – think Creed Taylor’s CTI, but filtered through a Japanese Teletubbies filter! – sophistication.
Man, I totally dig it! The music itself runs an appropriately broad and colourful gamut, from the orchestral opening, to the twinkling ambience of Rising Arch, or the hard jazz funk of Seven Goblins or Plumed Bird to the rockier edge of Thunderstorm, or the totally out there fusion of tracks like Rainbow Paradise, which morphs through several genres, and yet defies any single categorisation, this album is quite a trip!
Regarding the last category – ‘all over the map’ – after the nutty ‘goberins, goberins, goberins, goberins…’ vocal intro of Seven Goblins, The Sunset Valley is almost like the kind of music and melodies you might imagine hearing piped into a Japanese shopping mall in the ‘80s! Elsewhere there’s a bit of reggae (Just Chuckle), some Latin vibes… and the whole lot is sprinkled with disco fairy dust, from occasional grooves to the vocoder’d vocals.
As I’ve remarked already… simply astonishing!
Some of Takanaka’s ‘70s recordings feature US players, like Abe Laboriel, Harvey Mason and even the Tower of Power horns. But this amazing album is, I believe, an entirely Japanese affair. And these Kitty cats sure can play!
What a truly sublime and astonishing recording. I’ve definitely found a new love. Oh, and the album artwork is perfect! And how cute is that Kitty record label logo!? I can see that I need to dive deep down the J-Jazz-Fusion wormhole!
An Insatiable High, 1977
FURTHER EXPLORATIONS!?
Takanaka produced a ‘prequel’ White Goblin album, many years later. Might that be any good? I have no idea! But having listened to some stuff from his earlier albums, I’m pretty sure that I’ll really dig them, so his Seychelles, Brazilian Skies, and the sublimely titled AnInsatiable High all beckon, as does his 1979 compilation album All Of Me.
Takanaka’s 1976 debut, Seychelles.All Of Me, 1979.
Since adopting a FODMAP diet and embarking on my Stick Control Summer Challenge I’ve felt a more general urge to look into forming better life habits.
And in doing so I’ve discovered a few more YouTubers whose videos I’ve been finding helpful. There are actually quite a few. So I won’t list them all here and now.
I’ve already alluded to Rangan Chatterjee and Matt Walker (and I’ve even ordered a book by the latter, on sleep). But the one I’m talking about in this post is the ripped and fast-talking Bioneer!
His urge to parade his beefy torso is either quite funny, and/or borderline laughable/creepy. I wonder what the female joggers and dog walkers that pepper his videos make of him? I’m not totally sold on the info-dense jargon-saturated dialogue, either, which doesn’t always chime too well with the accompanying video.
But, actually, two things: 1) who cares? And 2) truth be told, I both admire his accomplishment – and he evidently takes pride in it! – and am myself, strangely, as I’m a real introvert, something of a closet naturist/exhibitionist! NB – Although The Bioneer is always taking his top off, he does keep his shorts/trousers on!
Anyway, I’ve watched and enjoyed a number of his videos recently. There are two things he really rates that I do want to incorporate into my daily routines: squats and hanging.
Squats are easy to get started on, as no equipment is required. Indeed, I’m planning to start ASAP. I’ve already tried the 30 for 30 thing (30 mins of squats for 30 days) a few times.
Hanging requires something to hang from. And, relatively recently, I removed a branch from a tree at the end of our garden that might’ve been perfect! But I kind of had to, as that’s where our new (old) shed is going to be.
Oh, and I love the quote at the top. Perfect advice for cultivating the art of practice in the pursuit of self-improvement.
PS – I thought it funny that when I typed ‘Misc’ at the top of this post, it came out as ‘Musc’, so I’ve let that stand. It seemed most apt!
‘Alcohol is God’s apology for making us self-aware’
I was wondering whether to bother with this or not. I’d enjoyed May’s Our Man In Japan, so I figured, why ever not? And I’m glad I did. It’s great!
May’s quest for La Dolce Vida looks to be going pretty well.
May looks fantastic! Has he lost a bit of weight? His current hair and beard combo is looking better than usual, with a touch of Lord Percy, aka Robert Plant. And he seems happy in himself. All this may sound a bit Hello! magazine. But I think it helps explain May’s enduring (poss’ even expanding?) appeal.
Tragically, watching this only accentuates how bone-crunchingly stupid Brexit is. It’s now much harder for ordinary folk like us to visit places such as those James enthusiastically explores. God how I hate Tories and their hordes of zombie enablers.
Today I brought the infill levels up between the sleepers, with earth from either side of where the shed is. I also popped over to Wisbech and bought four bags of large bark-chips, for a path along the southern edge of the shed/garden.
Raising the infill levels.
I also did a good chunk of my Stick Control Summer Challenge. I’ve been doing a page a day most days I’ve done it. I need to be doing more than one page a day to finish before next term starts!
Watching a video on YouTube, with Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Matthew Walker about caffeine and it’s effects on sleep.
Caffeine is, as they discuss, a psychoactive drug, and a stimulant. According to Walker caffeine is the second highest traded commodity after oil! I’ve heard it said before that coffee is the drug of capitalism/consumerism. If Walker’s claim is true, nothing could better illustrate the link between this drug and our self-medicating slave-driver culture.
‘Caffeine is a sleep disruptor, there’s no question about that,’ says Chatterjee. Two answers these guys give are de-caff, or, better still, no coffee, or caffeine – tea, inc. green tea, also contains caffeine – after midday. The third and more radical option is to go tee-total, and simply cut caffeine out altogether.
Just ordered a copy of this.
According to the very little skimming of Google I’ve just done on Walker, in light of this YouTube vid and re buying his book, he’s ‘in love’ with sleep. So am I! But I imagine his love for and knowledge about sleep are far healthier than mine!
One reason I love sleep is that it’s an escape from the constant and oppressive demands of waking life. And I suspect that both this basic fact about my love of sleep, not to mention my actual sleep habits themselves, are not as healthy as they ought to be.
Anyway, a very interesting and informative podcast style YouTube video, well worth watching. And I’m looking forward to reading Walker’s book.
There has been change, even if not discernibly so!
I didn’t take any more sleeper pics. Or rather, more accurately, I did. But they don’t show the progress I made. I basically levelled the sleepers better, and raised the soul with the spaces. Esp’ along the edge that’s going to be the footpath, along Ruben and Anne’s side (the left as you look away from the houses!).
I’m trying to maintain the FODMAP diet. And I’m convinced that my tummy is less distended than formerly. I’m not sure I’ve lost much if any weight. I just think I’m carrying a little less gas around in my guts! Sometimes it’s hard to be motivated over food choices. That’s when any diet is at greatest risk.
Today’s lunch. Sausage omelette (!?) and salad.
Today I made a three-egg omelette, with two Heck sausages (high meat content, no gluten containing cereals or dairy content!), fried in olive oil and chopped up. The orange cubes are Red Leicester cheese. I’m glad I can still have cheese, as I love it. I just have to keep portions small.
The salad was a leftover from yesterdays dinner. And speaking of leftovers, our dinner tonight was the remains of Satay #2, with the addition of rice, edamame beans and water chestnuts, some Thai red curry sauce and gluten free soy-sauce, all drizzled with lime juice.
Both lunch and dinner were, thankfully, delicious, nutritious, and FODMAP friendly.
I’ve even started to add some little bits of exercise into my daily routines. I’ve started doing timed squats. The idea is to work up to 30 days of 30 mins (in smaller bite sized chunks) squatting on flat feet. And I want to add some free hanging in to the mix as well…
I’m trying to cultivate other good habits. For example I’m doing a Stick Control ‘Summer Challenge’: trying to do at least a page a day of Stone’s ancient but venerable tome. Hopefully by summer’s end I’ll have finished the whole book?
