RARE RECORDS CATALOGUE
V.A.
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908. V.A./40 DAYS/ 40 Nights: “S/T” (Stratosphere Music) (Picture Disc: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Jacket: Excellent/ 3 Inserts: Mint). Hideously rare Japan only release that combined sound art and violent noise assaults by Pseude Code, MB, Masaki, Bene Gesserit, Borbetomagus, Un Department, Human Flesh, la Fondation, DDAA and Merzbow Lowest Music & Arts. Hideously rare compilation that came out way back in 1983. rarely turns up, here is a top copy with all the inserts enclosed. Price: 200 Dollars
909. V.A./ African Roots Act 1. (Wackie' Records – HA-LP-001) (Record: Near Mint/ Jacket: Excellent ~ Near Mint). Original first pressing of this rare echo drenched killer dub slide. Relatively lo- profile, vintage dub reggae titles from the Wackie's label is to call attention to those records' galvanic, true textures and reveal them as principal source for the type of gauzy, propulsive exquisiteness. The African Roots dub series began in 1977 when Clive Hunt - then living in New York and a key member of Wackie's session crew - kicked off with the initial volume, released on Five Arts label based in Bronx . The album carried a distinct Black Ark influence, audible in its use of drum machines and sound effects. The series was then continued on the main Wackie's label. Working with Jamaican musicians of the caliber of Jackie Mittoo, Clive Hunt and Leroy Sibbles, Wackie and co-engineer Douglas Levy created a recognizable studio sound and deployed it to startling and original effect. They continued to maintain an interest in mixing dub long after most Jamaican producers had abandoned the form. Subdued and hypnotic, musically more sparse than the others in the series - and therefore sounding more modern, “African Roots Act 1” offers the trademark combination of Wackie's originals and classic Studio One rhythms. Totally smoked out killer dub spliff rhythms that will keep you going for hours on a stretch. Fantastic music, and a first original pressing in top notch condition, this is the shit baby!!! Price: 160 Dollars
910. V.A./ ANGEL DUST – Music For Movie Bikers: “S/T” (Blast First – FU3LP) (Gatefold Jacket: Excellent/ Picture Disc: Near Mint). Fantastic compilation designed and compiled by the great Savage Pencil, aka Edwin Pouncey., a man of great musical taste and even greater eye for demented juices-oozing salivating high art. So basically you get the two embalmed into one, sleazy fuzz-a-delic teen trash 60s surf mayhem combined with eye-popping artwork all splattered all over the vinyl as a picture disc and the gatefold jacket. So what is the music like? Don’t let me cloud your judgment so let me give you a slice of the inner sleeve comments which sums it all up rightly: “Does it really matter that a sadistic speedfreak anthem like “Come to Satan” was actually written by a failed jinglesmith of some 50 years? Of course not. Does it matter that many metric bargeloads of fuzz and wah were played by bearded session hacks? Nah. Even if they were sitting down? Not even when they were sitting down. If you think about it, it is all very much the same as a pack of grubby vegetarians singing about lipstick and bunnies, or a bunch of well-heeled homosexuals shaking booty to egocentric urban ethnic babbling. You listen to this pointless schtick and get a few yucks – you’re money up on the deal. If you do mental gymnastics trying to sift some social or historical significance out of a patently empty genre like Angel/biker-movie incidental music, then you, bud, are deep in some shit. Stankey-ass shit. Spread it on a cracker and shoot up. Say Yo! To drugs” Right on, this is the attitude and the music. Massive!!!! Price: 70 Dollars
911. V.A./ ANTHOLOGY OF DUTCH ELECTRONIC TAPE MUSIC: “Vol.1. 1955 ~1966” (Composers' Voice CV 7803). (2 LP set: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Gatefold Jacket: VG++, has visible but repaired damage spot on the lower right corner where once a library seal was/ 8-page Booklet: Excellent). Containing works by a variety of Dutch composers such as Ton de Leeuw (Study 1957), Jan Boerman (Musique concrete 1959) Henk Badings (Cain and Abel 1956), Tom Dissevelt (Gamelan 1963/64), Peter Schat (The Aleph 1964/65), Ton Bruynel (Reflexes 1961) and many more. Includes bound-in 8-page booklet with a brief history in English of Dutch electronic music till 1966, written by Dick Raaijmakers. Hideously rare but amazing – if not one of the best LP's covering electronic and tape music – that came out decades ago and that since then has been elusive ever since. Rarely surfaces and it took me almost 5 years to get a spare copy of this one. Unlike many LP's that cover electronic music tout cour, almost no recordings focus on the early tape music experiments and even less document one of the most exciting scenes of experimentation being the Netherlands. This massive double LP set (113 minutes total) offers one piece each by pretty much every composer who completed a piece at any one of the Dutch electronic music studios between 1955 and 1966. It contains some awe-inspiring and very early pieces, running the gamut from Hans Kox's dynamic electronic organ studies to Berend Giltay's looping white-noise blast precision tape edits. This set is so awe-inspiring and stupefying that it is almost too much to take in at once... but ultimately proving to be the be-all/end-all in documentation of the early Dutch “scene”. It also focus on the different schools active within this one little scene and the set also shed some clarity on the differences in approach and execution between the Studio of the Netherlands radio Union (Kox, De Leeuw); Studio of Delft Technical University (Boerman, Spek and Escher); Philips Studio (Badings, de Leeuw & Raaijmakers); Studio of Utrecht State University (Weiland, Kox, Schat & Dissevelt); Studio of Ton Bruynel and the CEM Studio Bilthoven (Eisma, Gorter). Just amazing. Volume one is the hardest one of the two volumes to track down. Just never turns up. Here is a nice copy, 2 vinyl's are mint, only the front jacket has some slight damage. So don't think twice it is alright. Highest possible all time recommendation. Price: 250 Dollars
912. V.A./ ANTHOLOGY OF DUTCH ELECTRONIC TAPE MUSIC: “Vol 2. 1966 ~1977) (Composer's Voice – CV7903). (2 LP set: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Gatefold Jacket & Booklet: Excellent ~ Near Mint). This is the second volume of the Anthology of Dutch Electronic Tape music. Vol.2 of a set of two. Compositions by Jacob Cats, Jos Kunst, Thomas arras, Victor Wentink, Louis Andriessen to name a few. Includes bound-in 8-page booklet with a brief history in English of Dutch electronic music from 1966 till 1977. A third volume was never issued. Well, one of the holy grails of electronic tape music is this hideously rare beyond belief 2 LP set that documents Holland's electronic tape experiments. Extensive liner notes by Dick Raaijmakers. Unlike the first volume that focused on the closed studios, Volume 2 focuses on the open studios.Ｉuse “closed” in the sense that the composer works alone, tucked away in a studio as opposed to “open” in the sense that the composer links up with other forms of music production, other media and closely related forms of education, science and technology.  So with that in mind, the electronic composer wanting to “open” his studio and expand his horizons will have either to modify his art or to shift his position as an artist, so he will have to change his attitude towards electronic composing in studios using tape or he has to exalt the processing of sound using tape to the level of language processing for a new modern type of music. So it is this new wave that upsurged from 1966 on that this volume focuses on and it shows only but stunning results. So we have tape documentary music, tape collages and assemblages, tape montages, electronic tape compositions, radiophonic excursions, tape music as a political weapon, music for soundtracks and computer tape music. Very exciting it all sounds and actually is. I have searched high and low for finding a second copy and I doubt another one will cross my path within the next decade. Of all the electronic music/ musique concrete gems tucked away in my private stash, this one is definitely one of the best ever discs I have ever put my ear to. Primitive, analogue, tape slicing experiments that will leave you begging for more, keeping you wondering why there is so little stuff like this available. It will definitely blow most of the electronic music you have ever heard straight out of the water. Killer material and hideously rare. Necessary complement to the first volume, totally awe-inspiring and jaw dropping music. Price: 250 Dollars
913. V.A./ “Anthology of Dutch Electronic Tape Music – Vol2 – 1966~1977” (Composer's Voice – CV7903) (2 Record Set: Excellent, has some minor paper scuff marks that hardly affect the playing / Fold Out Jacket & Booklet: Excellent, has some minor storage wear, especially around the corner's edges - most dealers and sellers would grade this as mint but I am strict so EX all way round) Well, one of the holy grails of electronic tape music is this hideously rare beyond belief 2 LP set that documents Holland's electronic tape experiments by composers such as Jacob Cats, Tera De Marez Oyens, Jos Kunst, Gilius Van Bergeijk, Frans Van Doorn, Thomas Arras, Simeon Ten Holt, Victor Wentink, Louis Andriessen, Peter Smith and Tony Van Campen. Extensive liner notes by Dick Raaijmakers. I have searched high and low for finding a second copy and I doubt another one will cross my path within the next decade. Of all the electronic music/ musique concrete gems tucked away in my private stash, this one is definitely one of the best ever discs I have ever put my ear to. Primitive, analogue, tape slicing experiments that will leave you begging for more, keeping you wondering why there is so little stuff like this available. It will definitely blow most of the electronic music you have ever heard straight out of the water. Killer material and hideously rare. Lesser copy that the copy listed above so a reduced price for a true rarity. Highest recommendation. Price: 175 Dollars
914. V.A./ THE BOMBAY CONNECTION: “Vol. 1 – Funk From Bollywood Action Thrillers 1977 ~ 1984” (Normal Records – BC-001LP) (2 LP Set: Near Mint/ Heavy Duty Gatefold Jacket: Mint). Majestic compilation of delirious Indian beat sounds. In this heavy-duty volume, one gets submerged into funky bell-bottomed sounds of Indian action film music from the 1970s and 1980s. This was the golden era of Indian sleaze funk, almost all of films that bombed at the box office in their time and that are therefore hardly remembered, even in India. But the music breathed out sleazed up boogie down demented funked up funk. Massive compilation housed in a heavier than like gatefold jacket. Super duper shit. Price: 95 Dollars
915. V.A./ THE BOMBAY CONNECTION: “Vol. 2 – Bombshell Baby of Bombay – Bouncin’ Nightclub Grooves From Bollywood Films 1959~1972” (Normal Records – BC-002LP) (2 LP Set: Near Mint/ Heavy Duty Gatefold Jacket: Mint). Majestic compilation of delirious Indian beat sounds. In this heavy-duty volume, one gets submerged into mainly the world of S.D. Burman, who was strongly influenced by the folk music of India’s Northeastern states where he grew up. But it was the music of his son R.D. Burman that refueled Bollywood and made it blast off into demented and hybrid galaxies of Indian rock and roll, making it blast off like a space shuttle with fire in the hose. R.D. gathered around him some of the finest innovators and his electronic effects Indianised the rock sound that had so captivated the rest of the world. Occasionally Pancham sung his own tunes, showing off a unique vocal style that combined Louis Armstrong growling with primeval sexualized grunts. Next to that, constructed walls of sound pop up, using more than 100 musicians playing brass, wind and percussion instruments and Indian instruments as dhols, sitars and tablas, making it a hybrid and totally enchanting listening experience. Massively compiled collection of psyched out swing moves that sound as if they could have been beamed down from Mars. It totally rocked my little miserable world…. Price: 95 Dollars
916. V.A/ “ Bright Young Museum Workers” (Japan Record – 28JAL-15 – 1984) (Record: Mint/ Jacket: Mint/ Obi: Mint). Comes with the insert. Here is a disc that you will be acquainted with if you are desperately trying to complete your Kudo Tori discography. This mid-eighties compilation of obscure New Wave Tokyo bands harbors two tracks (total of 10 minutes) by the short-lived outfit Paris, whose line-up was enriched with the multi-talented Kudo Tori. Like the name might suggest, the group ventures into a new-wave-esque take, infused with the necessary Japanese and Kudo idiot-avant-la-lettre take on French perfume drenched traveling chanson. Quite a weird mix and hard to pin down. The other groups, such as Chirdren, Quotations, …explore other mid-eighties weird pop and new wave infested territories. This disc is quite rare and should appeal to lovers of Tori Kudo, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, and other oddities. Rarely seen outside Japan. This disc is a sample copy in mint condition. Price: 40 Dollars

917. V.A./ CHICAGO BLUES – A Quarter century: “S/T” (P-Vine Records – PLP9022~25) (4 LP Set: All Near Mint/ Individual jackets: All Near Mint/ Box Set: Near Mint/ 12-paged Illustrated Booklet: Near Mint). Originally released in 1981, this tremendously massive overview on Chicago blues is really something to wrap your ears around. Each side of each LP is dedicated to a theme. Disc 1: Side A is called “Big Road To Chicago and assembles Johnny Shines, Floyd Jones and Moody Jones. Side B is “5 Long Years At Steel Mill” with contributions by Eddie Boyd, J.T. Brown, Memphis Minnie, Little Brother Montgomery and Memphis Slim. Disc two, side A was named “Chicago Blues Is Killing Me” and sees Baby Face Leroy, John Lee Henley, J.B. Lenoir and John Brim hollering away at the moon there were side B “Just Blowing” consists out of tracks by Louis Myers, Big Walter Horton, Little Willie Foster, Junior Wells and Earl Hooker doing their thang. Disc 3, side A is “Down Home Child Grown Up” with Sunnyland Slim, Lee Jackson, Arbee Stidham and Homesick James riffing way; Side B is “rather Fight Than Switch” with Buddy Guy, Shakey Jake w/ Magic Sam, Jesse Fortune, A.C. Reed and Ricky Allen in action. The last disc consists out of side A's “Hard Times Follow Me” and puts together tracks by Fenton Robinson, Mighty Joe Young, Earl Hooker, Lonnie Brooks, Reggie Boyd and Andrew Brown. The last side is entitled “Sing The Way I Feel” and has compositions by Koko Taylor, Big Moose, Big Mac, Detroit Jr., Booby Rush and Buster Benton. All is recorded in mono as it is supposed to be and the material was all put down on tape in between the mid fifties to the mid sixties. Great 4 LP set filled with even greater music that will have you butt shaking and drinking hard liquor all summer long. Comes quite cheap as well. This is the good stuff. Price: 70 Dollars

918. V.A. CULT GS 7 INCH BOX VOL. 1: “Cult G.S. 7-Inch Box: Vol. 1 – Red Box” (10 seven inches: all Mint/ Jackets: All Mint/ Inserts: Mint). Completely vanished 10 x seven inch box set, compiling some of the greatest GS artifacts to come out mid-sixties Japan . All seven-inches come in their original picture sleeve and are pressed on pristine vinyl quality. Edition of only 500 copies released some years ago that dried up completely. This one contains the following seven-inches: The Dynamites “Tunnel Tengoku b/w Koi wa mou Takusan” (so bloody great); The Gullivers “Aka Ke No Marie”; The Edwards “Cry Cry Cry b/w Koi No Nikki”; The Beavers “Nakanaide b/w Saten No Yoru”; The Rangers “Akaku Akaku Heart b/w Sally No Hitomi”; The Spiders “FuriFuri b/w Monkey Dance”; D'Swooners “Mickey's Monkey b/w Sonata of Love”; The Mustang “Gerupin Rock b/w Mustang Baby” (massive!!); Lind & Linders “Ha Ha Ha b/w Four Days Love” and the Youngers “My Love My Love”. The box contains all impossible to retrieve singles out of the golden GS era. The birth of Japanese psychedelia. Highest recommendation. Price: 155 Dollars
919. V.A. CULT GS 7 INCH BOX VOL. 2: “Cult G.S. 7-Inch Box: Vol. 2 – Blue Box” (10 seven inches: all Mint/ Jackets: All Mint/ Inserts: Mint) Completely vanished 10 x seven inch box set, compiling some of the greatest GS artifacts to come out mid-sixties Japan. All seven-inches come in their original picture sleeve and are pressed on pristine vinyl quality. Edition of only 500 copies released some years ago that dried up completely. This one contains the following seven-inches: The Lizard: “Devil baby”, The Phoenic: “Ai Suru ra ra ra”, Micky Curtis & Samurai “Taiyo no Pataya”, Gary walker and the Carnabeats “Cutie Morning Moon”, Terrys “Bara no Omoide”, The Dynamites “Koi wa”, The jet Brothers and the Fighters “Lonely Prayer”, The Half Breed “Strange Day Dream”, the Four Nine Eight “Hoshi ni Tsugeyo”, The Love “Icarus no Hoshi”. The box contains all impossible to retrieve singles out of the golden GS era. The birth of Japanese psychedelia. Highest recommendation. Price: 155 Dollars
920. V.A. CULT GS 7 INCH BOX VOL. 3: “Cult GS 7-Inch Box Vol.3 – Yellow Box” (10 seven inches: all Mint/ Jackets: All Mint/ Inserts: Mint) Completely vanished 10 x seven inch box set, compiling some of the greatest GS artifacts to come out mid-sixties Japan. All seven-inches come in their original picture sleeve and are pressed on pristine vinyl quality. Edition of only 500 copies released some years ago that dried up completely. This one contains the following seven-inches: The Cougars “Teku Teku Tengoku”, The Blue Impalas “Taiyo no Tsurugi”, The Mops “Omae no Subete o” (the heaviest fuzz assault track ever recorded, heavy demented Japanese fuzz psych that will leave yr brain all over the place. Non-LP track and original copies of this single alone exceed the 300 dollar mark), The Spirits “Ningyo no Namida”, The Youngers “Koi o Oshiete”, D'Swooners “Please Please Trina”, The Lions “Suteki na Elza”, The Dynamites “Mannatsu no Yoru no Dobutsuen” (wicked all way through), The Genova “Sayonara Saharin”, The Rangers “Hoshizora no Koibito”. The box contains all impossible to retrieve singles out of the golden GS era. The birth of Japanese psychedelia. Highest recommendation. Price: 155 Dollars
921. V.A./ EASY RIDER: “S/T” (ABC Records – YZ-8009-AB) (Record: Excellent/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Obi: Near Mint/ Insert: Excellent). Rare Japanese press of this soundtrack. Comes with always missing obi and insert. Music is also mind-numbingly great. Don't Bogart That Joint My Friend,……Indispensable. Price: 40 Dollars
922. V.A./ The EAST VILLAGE OTHER: “S/T” (ESP Records – ESP-1034) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint). Legendary and much sought after ESP Records compilation album that only assembled previously unreleased cuts by most notoriously the Velvet Underground with a track that is only to be found on this disc. Other artists include luminaries such as Gerard Malanga, Alan Ginsberg, Tupi Kupferberg of the Fugs, Andy Warhol, Ed Sanders, etc. legendary and totally essential. Top copy and original pressing. They do not come any better than this copy here. Price: 160 Dollars
923. V.A./ Experimental Music of Japan 1969 (Victor - VX99) (Record: Excellent/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Obi: Near Mint/ Insert: Near Mint). Well it is hard to believe, but here you have a copy of the much rumored but hardly ever seen Japanese electronic music disc. A couple of lists ago I had the first of the series up for sale and here you have the almost never seen second one in the series. Records documenting those early days of composers avidly splicing tape, trying to figure out those new studio technologies and setting out to map deep space by means of all obliterating bleeps, whooshes, static hissing and white noise are almost impossible to locate. First of all, they were all released in tiny quantities by major labels that regarded the stuff to have little and no commercial potential. In a way it was a tax deduction post on which young and eager composers could create sonic havoc. Next to that, a heavy-duty art-collecting crowd rapidly snapped up copies since prints and silk screens of up-coming adorned most of the discs and coming modern art big names such as is the case with this disc. And the copies that didn’t sell were simply taken out of rotation and destroyed. The music on the other hand is just gorgeous and on of the best electronic experiments ever to be entrusted to vinyl. It is even far better than the first one of this series and sounds more radical and right up in your face. Recorded in the NHK studio (established in 1954, 4 months before the German Cologne Studio) it documents never before or elsewhere released sonic experiments by oncoming mavericks such as Moroi Makoto, Mayuzumi Toshiro, Maki Ishii and Shibata. The compositions here on display date respectively from 1969 (Mayuzumi), 1968 (Ishii), 1968 (Moroi) and 1968 (Shibata). All tracks were recorded and conceived in the legendary NHK studios. This disc contains one of the best electronic music pieces to my ears. Just splendid stuff, only that these babies are hideously rare. Highest recommendation and possibly the best record on this time list. Top-notch copy. SOLD
924. V.A./ FILLMORE – THE LAST DAYS: “Fillmore – The Last Days” (Warner – P-5055~7W) (Boxset: Excellent/ 3 Records: Mint/ 7-Inch: Mint/ 2 Booklets: Mint/ Poster: Mint) Stellar 3 LP box set on green Warner label that documents the closing days of the legendary Fillmore West live venue w ith performances by SF finest like the Grateful Dead, Santana, Hot Tuna and the incinerating guitar signature sounds of Scandinavian guitar gunslinger sex symbol Jorma Kaukonen, lysergic Quicksilver Messenger Service, etc. Legendary to say the least and quite indispensable document. The box is hard to come by these days especially total mint condition and w ith all the inserts present and in immaculate condition. First of all this box contains 2 detailed booklets, there w ere regular issues only have one booklet. First there is the US booklet, detailed w ith full color photographs splattered across its pages. A fully translated Japanese version of the booklet, adorned w ith totally different pictures of the artists involved, accompanies this edition. N ext to that there is the total mint w ith no pinholes poster by Mouse and Kelly ( w hich is hideously rare on its o w n account), the extra 7-inch record that is al w ays lacking. In short, this box is more than complete, total mint condition and the box itself has no ripped corners or any other defects. Most perfect copy to have ever crossed my path. Stu nningly great on all fronts. And dead bloody cheap…….Price: 85 Dollars
925. V.A./ FREE DIMENSION: “S/T” (RCA – CKAY-27134) (Record: Near Mint/ Booklet Jacket: Near Mint). TOP COPY, original 1973 Italian press. Featuring tracks by Brainticket, NADMA, Living Music, Perigeo (some musicians include Mandrake / Umberto Santucci / Enzo Scoppa / Giovanni Tommaso / Joel Vandroogenbroeck / Franco D'Andrea / Pietro Pirelli etc). Original Italian pressing on the RCA Italiana label from 1973. Ultra-obscure Italian psychedelic folk / Italian prog funk jazz / Krautrock oddity based around an early '70s music festival headlining the above 4 bands and featuring 32 musicians! Really amazing music on here from the deeply psychedelic folk rock of Living Music to the spaced-out Krautrock meets indian percussion and electronica of Brainticket. Some heavy-duty grooves with an experimental funk rock twist courtesy of Italian prog outfit, Perigeo, featuring very deep clavinet solos and hard jazz horns on Grandangalo and cosmic sitar meets acid folk percussion sounds tumbled up with almost Ghedalia Tazartes typed weirdness all in one and brilliantly executed by the totally under documented N.A.D.M.A. Heavy rarity that is almost never surfaces and which is quite unknown to most people. A shame, this baby burns like no other. Price: 450 Dollars
926. V.A./ FREE IMPROVISATION: “New Phonic Art/ Iskra 1903/ Wired” (Deutsche Grammophon 3 LP Box). (Mint condition). Legendary three LP box set. “Deutsche Grammophon was prepared in 1974 to allot three Improv groups an album each on an absorbing three LP set. Guitarist Derek Bailey, trombonist Paul Rutherford and bassist Barry Guy move together like facets of a turning mobile sculpture in the superbly integrated trio Iskra 1903, recorded during a concert series in Berlin in 1973. New Phonic Art provide French clarinetist Michel Portal, trombonist Vinko Globokar and percussionist Jean-Pierre Drouet with an alternative improvising context to their thorny involvement with Karlheinz Stockhausen's “Intuitive music”. They make vivid, dramatic music with Argentinean pianist Carlos Roque Alsina. The real surprise in the box is Wired, recorded in 1970. Canadian Mike Lewis plays sustained Hammond organ, Karl-Heinz Bottner interjects guitar and ocarina voicings, American Michael Ranta adds sparse, clangorous percussion and homemade plucked instruments. Supervisor Conny Plank contributed live electronics. Trimmed from two hours 20 minutes, it's a spellbinding meditation, a long hidden adjunct to Krautrock's finest atmospheres and evocations” (Julian Cowely – The Wire). Hugely influential box, top condition. A MUST!! Price: 300 Dollars
927. V.A/ GAGAKU – BUKKYOU ONGAKU – BIWA-ON: “S/T” (Victor – VP-3006-3007) (2 LP Set: Mint/ Outer Cloth Bound Box: Mint/ Inner Cloth Bound Book: Mint/ 64 Paged Bound Book on Heavy paper fully illustrated: Mint). Bloody rare collection in mint condition, original 1971 issue. Let me start of by saying that is 2 LP box is heavy, music wise as well as weight wise since it simply has a volume of 2.3 KG!! Eye-pooping collection that focuses on – like the title already suggests – at esoteric Japanese traditional music, in this case being Gagaku, Buddhist ritualistic music and Biwa escapades. The set begins with excursions in the sacred realms of Gagaku. Gagaku is the most ancient still living music form on earth and remained unchanged for 2 centuries long. Gagaku or Court Music, is performed mainly on Imperial ceremonies and is extremely mind lifting music that will take you farther than the best La Monte Young record ever will. The origins of Gagaku go back to ancient Chinese court music, which absorbed influences of Indian, Persian, Korean, Manchurian and Indo-Chinese music. However, today the music, in addition to its function as sacred music, is also being pursued as a highly refined art form itself. The instruments employed consist out of wind instruments (fukimono; ex. Sho, Hichiriki, Komabue, Ryuteki, Kagurabue), string instruments (or hikimono such as So, Bi wa and Wagon) and percussion instruments (or uchimono, ex. San no Tuzumi, Kokko, Taiko, Shoko), creating an other worldly atmosphere, unlike any other musical style. Superb. Excellent condition and very old recording. This is hardcore minimal music that even makes La Monte Young look like a rookie when being compared. If you come out unshattered and with your mind not yet complete zoned out, you get treated to a heavy set of Buddhist monks recitating and humming away while bashing away on gongs and other percussive rattles and shakes. Eerie vocal exclamations and shamanistic induced music recordings make up for their trip. Although some of their drone-filled recitations are deprived of any musical accompaniment, the whole affair does not fail to resonate out an intoxicating musical vibe. One can certainly say that their vocalizations are trance inducing and filled with sudden tempo changes, alterations in style, sped up with circular breathing and tonal irregularities and oddities that make this set a challenging listening experience. The Buddhist Music section is as intense as the Gagaku parts and it creates a sheer intense listening experience, balancing between environmental sound recordings, religious sonic attacks and minimal music excursions. It's these ritualistic stompings and hushed bits of chanting that stand amongst the highlights of this incredible field recording document. The trance inducing sounds generated by monks is just intense, almost hypnotic in nature. Featuring skillful and moving polyphonic passages as well as many stripped down instrument accompanied sections and fully fletched percussion bashing with vocals that leave me time and time again in total awe of their haunting qualities and totally beautiful delivery. So in a way this music is sheer heaviness. But that is not all, the third section sheds some light on Biwa music and again you will be kicked in the butt by its power. Mercurial string batterings, heavy fretting, recitations, wailing against the moon, volcanic ragged and iconoclastic pre-punk moves, etc. Once you have lived through this set you will have to pick your jaw off the floor. One of the best sets ever devoted to the subject, this one just never turns up. Much acclaimed but seldom seen, this baby is a monster. Highest recommendation. SOLD
928. V.A./ GASHO ONGAKU NO RYOIKI. Featuring amongst others Takehisa Kosugi, Takemitsu Toru, Takahashi Yuji, Yuasa Yoji, etc.: “S/T” (Victor – SJX-1067~73) (7 LP Set: Near Mint/ Cloth Bound Box Set: Excellent/ 48 Paged Illustrated Booklet: Excellent). It seems Kosugi Takehisa related items are mushrooming all over the list this time around. Here we have another obscurity for you, released here in Japan in a tiny edition way back in the mid seventies. Ultra rare item and first copy I see for real. These babies just never ever turn up and are only referred to in hush voices in dark hallways. Great ultra rare 7 LP box set that came out in 1975. The whole set is comprised out of compositions by some of Japan's finest avant-garde composers who each wrote new compositions especially for this release that were to be executed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus. The end result is baffling and had me floored, stupefied and mesmerized. I had never expected choral music to be such a challenging and mind blowing listening experience as on display on this box. The box is literally filled with highlights but my personal entrance point was Takehisa Kosugi's contribution “South No. 5”, which comes close to sounding like insect hissing and chirping descending from the heavens, a plague of ghost like cave dwelling locusts to infest your dreams. Hard to believe this is merely voices at work, sounds at times like electronic music or musique concrete. Compelling to say the least. Other tracks sound like wild esoteric Buddhist chanting as if Magma had invaded the local monastery. On other pieces Akira and Osorezan era Geino Yamashirogumi spring clearly to mind. Still these are all first impressions since it will take me a couple of weeks to fully come to terms with the richness buried within this set. In all mind bending great stuff, austere and esoteric at the same time and a chilling listening experience. Highest possible recommendation and nowhere else available so take your chance and hold your piece forever. Rare beyond belief and bound to not surface again for years or decades to come. Massive original pressing!! Price: 700 Dollars
929. V.A./ GENYA-SAI: (TV Man Union – GNS-1001-2) (2 LP Set: Disc One – EX; Disc Two – VG++, has some visual marks but plays close to EX/ Fold Out Jacket: VG++, has edge wear and a fractured spine in the middle of about 2,5 Cm) Woooow, baby, here is another heavy scorcher for ya! Without a single doubt, this one takes place amongst the select club of true Japanese rarities, one of those discs that never surface but are nevertheless much rumored about. First of all I guess you all know this disc is usually in the 800 to 950 Dollar range. However, this copy is not perfect but plays excellent, one of the two LP7s has some visual marks but they hardly affect the sound. The jacket has some edge wear and a partly – about 2,5CM in the middle – fractured spine. Still a great copy and a keeper nevertheless. Maybe I make it sound worse than it is but what the heck…..Legendary and historical recording that took place during three days in August 1971 as reaction against the scheduled enlargement of Tokyo's Narita International Airport and subsequent expatriation of the farmers inhabiting the land. The festival brought together an amalgam of people, such as farmers, street beatnik hippies, student radicals and underground outsider musicians. This recording depicts the heated up atmosphere of the festival with its ideological arguments, angry insults and doomsday desperation hovering over the event. Ho wever, some staggering recordings by legendary artists were recorded for posteriori and are all included here, making hard core music addicts and scholars of Japanese underground history quiet delighted. Released privately in 1971 in a tiny minuscule run, the disc collects a great selection of material and without a doubt the most insane piece of music on it is the side-long contribution by Takayanagi Masayuki and his New Direction Unit, flooding the gates of hell with his sonic assault that shook up farmers and student radicals alike, both parties failing to get a grasp on this sonic whirlwind of unrelenting power and soul scorching dementia. Other wild contributions are delivered by the Takagi Mototeru Trio, another prime example of Japan 's kerosene fuelled fire-music that whipped out the tails of any Mig fighter or B-52 that happened to cross the stratospheres high above the festival grounds. But that is not all, another staggering recording to appear on this record is the right in your face sonic assault performance by the first ever recorded ear imploding performance by Haino Keiji's Lost Aaraaff unit, radical politically charged folk duo Zunokeisatsu, the heavy blues hitters DEW and Blues Creation, delivering wailing and electrically heated up performances, balancing on the verge of sheer riot, chaos and collective frustration. But that is not all, also the interactions, comments, verbal fights of student radicals, farmers and locals add as a great document to fully illustrate the heated up atmosphere of the festival. Listening to this, one comes to fully understand that Woodstock was for pussies. Great disc for a cheap price, ultra rarity…... Price: 420 Dollars
930. V.A./ GOZIRA SPECIAL DINNER (Gozira Records – GZ-666) (Record: Near Mint/ Fold Out Poster: Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint). Original Gozira Records LP, comes with rare poster and never ever offered before. Hideously rare compilation released in 1983 in an edition of 300 to 500 copies that document the short-lived activity of Tokyo 's greatest punk label ever. Gozira Records w as one of the first independently run labels to emerge during the early days of the Tokyo punk scene. The label got erected in the summer of 1978 and w as active only during the span of one single year, until the fall of 1979 and briefly again in 1983. Lead by Higo Hiroshi of the Mirrors, Gozira Records w as responsible to release during it all too short period of activity six seven-inch single releases. Out of this collision of energies with his band the Mirrors, the S-Ken Stu dio got erected in the middle of 1978. The studio acted as a base of operations for the budding Tokyo Rockers Movement. In the w ake of the S-Ken Stu dio the independent label Gozira Records got itself started. Due to some extent it w as rather inevitable to commence the label. For Higo there was no other alternative but to release music he adorned. Despite the scarce preparations and primitive approach, the w hole operation embarked under the initial impetus of “ra w po w er”. The lo w degree of experience Higo beheld to w ards it all w as not regarded as a problem. Instead it w as part of the punk-like mentality and the “do it yourself” attitude that w as omnipresent amongst the participants. The flip side of the coin w ere the unavoidable restrictions operating autonomously brought w ith it such as the unavoidable limitations as far as recording costs, pressing expenditures, product circulation to w ards retailers, etc. Apart from these financial related restrictions, the actual organization and daily operation of the label w as also labor consuming, due to its w as a rather primitive w ay of handling and coordinating the overall activities. This ho w ever didn't prevent Gozira Records from unleashing some highly interesting titles. On this compilation of unreleased tracks and live material, contributions by such pioneers as Mirrors, Tsunematsu Masatoshi, Flesh, Mr Kite, Pain and Maria 023 can be found. The real Tokyo Rockers. Rare as hell. Mint condition and over the top brilliant, this is where the current scene got their inspiration from. Price: 150 Dollars
931. V.A./ GREASY TRUCKERS: “S/T” ( Liberty Japan – LLP-03075~6) (2LP Set: Excellent/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent/ 6-Paged Insert: Excellent). Legendary 2 LP set, this being the original Japanese pressing of that day. legendary 1972 concert experience that helped to catapult the careers of Man and Hawkwind. The Greasy Truckers Party took place at The Roundhouse, London on February 13th, 1972 in front of an audience of more than 2000. The party was seen as the final gathering of freaks, hippies and anarchists. The concert bill also featured the under-rated band Brinsley Schwarz (featuring Nick Lowe and future Rumour members Bob Andrews and Brinsley Schwarz), pioneers of the Pub Rock genre and freak extraordinaire Magic Michael. The concert was staged to raise funds for the Greasy Truckers organization, who raised funds for various local causes such as homelessness, advice on dealing with being busted for possession of cannabis and other mind altering substances and other social issues. double vinyl album was split into two, with one half mainly taken up by Wales' answer to Quicksilver Messenger Service – Man, and with the second half split equally between proto-pub rockers, Brinsley Schwarz and communal cosmic guerrillas, Hawkwind. In between we also get a prolonged ‘song' by Magic Michael, a local ‘head' and oddball of the kind that, in them days, was valued for their naïve aesthetic. For me, side four of exclusive live Hawkwind material stands heads above the rest of the album because it is so fantastically charged up an affair. Although only two songs, they were both such consistent representations of the band at one of its many early peaks and capable already then in whipping up a inter-galactic storm. Brilliant and fabulous album, this being the rare Japanese pressing. Lovely. Price: 120 Dollars
932. V.A./ GUITAR WORKSHOP – incl. TAKAYANAGI MASAYUKI MASS PROJECTION: “S/T” (Teichiku Union Records – UPS-2015-J) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Jacket: Excellent). Bloody rare 1st original pressing renowned for the bloody fierce racket by Takayanagi Masayuki & New Directions unit. Together with “Independence” and “Profile of Jojo” (his stint with Abe and Eclipse not taken in consideration) one of the rarest and hardest to locate Takayanagi artifacts is this “Guitar Workshop” compilation of unissued tracks by some key figures of the Japanese free jazz movement. But before I go of ranting, let’s get one thing out of the way. There are two pressings of this disc in circulation, the late eighties version with hideous jacket design which is quite common and can get bought for about in between 30$ ~ 50$ worth of cash (although I have seen some scammers promoting that 1980s version as original on eBay…and getting due to customer ignorance big $$ for it) and this original 1970 pressing, which just almost never surfaces. This one here is of course the 1st original 1970s pressing in alternate jacket, very appealing artwork and not as appalling as the 1980s reissue. Four different jazz man pass the revue here, being Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Ryo Kawasaki, Yoshiaki Masuo and finally Masayuki Takayanagi with his Mass projection, which opens up the gates of hell as far as sheer disintegrating all pulverizing free jazz rumbling power that shatters the sound barrier and obliterates all in its path. This Mass Projection session was recorded at almost the same time as the “Independence” album with the same core members so you know you are in for a treat. 1st time ever I have an original copy of this monster so better not sleep on this one, top copy so….. Price: 425 Dollars
933. V.A./ GROUPS SOUNDS WORLD TOP HITS: “S/T” (Philips – FS-8014) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent but has 5 cm tear on back/ Obi: Mint). Glorious real time compilation, shedding some light on some of the key GS groups. What makes this compilation so special apart from the obi is the fact that groups like the ones featured here – being the Spiders, the Carnabeats, The Jaguars, The Mikes, The Savage and the Lind and Linders bring forth incendiary renditions of cover tunes such as “Flowers of San Francisco”, “Daydream Believer”, “Theme from the Monkees”, “Somebody To Love”, “Summer Wine”, “Let’s Live for Today”, “I Dig Rock and Roll Music”, “Okay!”, “Zabadak!”, “Holliday”, “Massachusetts”, “Hello, Goodbye”, “Twinkie-Lee” and how could be missing “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. I myself am turned into a massive Group Sounds fan this past year. After having amassed all the heavy Japanese psych artifacts in their original press such as both Taj Mahal Travelers, Too Much, Speed Glue & Shinki records, all of the FTB with 1st issues obi’s, all Blues Creations 1st presses, Sato Masahiko & Sound breakers, Keiantaiheiki, Food Brain, all Hiro Yanagida related discs like Milk Time, all Tenjosajiki related OG presses, Far Out, Dema, Helpful Soul both albums, Powerhouse, Rallizes OG releases, and whatever else you can throw at me…. It finally began to dawn on me that Japanese psychedelic music wasn’t confined to those only. Hell, by then they were already far removed from their own psychedelic psyche, it was already too late and degrading on the spot, detoriating, getting worn out before anyone even noticed it…so I became to realize that real Japanese psychedelic music was hidden deep within the GS psyche, there is where it was all to be found. So from now on, GS is where I will focus my personal collection efforts to and I hope you at one point will be able to grasp a glimpse of that all too short wave’s place in the lysergic sun. The real core of Japanese psychedelic music is hidden within all things GS…it might be a hard nut to crack for you, but trust me, that is where it is at… Price: 90 Dollars
934. V.A./ 78 CONCERT - HARU ICHIBAN: ( Bellwood Records – SKD-1045) (Record: Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Insert: Near Mint/ Obi: Near Mint). Released in 1978. Extremely beautiful copy of this totally vanished and utterly rare folk/ acid folk live compilation with cuts by Tomokawa Kazuki. Recorded over the span of three days in May 1978 at the grounds of Tennouji Temple in Osaka, the event drew in folk-nicks such as Tomokawa (stellar performance), Idou Takao, Aoki Tomoko, Shiba and other deviant folk manglers. Great document of times long gone and the Tomokawa piece alone is already worth every penny. Getting almost impossible to find these days. Strongly recommended. Price: 120 Dollars
935. V.A./HEIKEBIWA: “Heikyoku” (Philips – PH-7511~2) (2 LP Set: Near Mint/ Slip Case Box set: Near Mint/ Inner Gatefold Jacket: Near Mint/ Attached 14 paged illustrated booklet: Near Mint). Sometimes I even wonder why I keep on throwing pearls before the swine. This music is so unhip it will make you unpopular with your so-called friends within a couple of nano-seconds. Probably the whole of my list is compiled out of highly unpopular sounds. But then what do I care, I just trust my own ears and don’t give a fuck about what hipsters and taste makers try to force down my throat. So allow me to indulge myself in defending this unhealthy music policy. What we have here is three of the most – now deceased – biwa players of the last century, being Inokawa Kouji, Toizawa Masatomi and Mishina Masayasu. Here they perform a collection of narratives, songs and rites with biwa, a twentieth-century apparition of the medieval biwa hoshi. The representative pieces brought together here were recorded in diverse circumstances during the past decades leading up to the early 1970s. Most of the recordings here document performances for small groups of researchers and give the listener a sense of the strength of voice that those performers retained well into their eighties as well as illustrating the variety of vocal types and delivery styles. All is comprised out of extremely long and epical pieces, making this 2 LP box set a valuable addition to your collection if interested in field recordings, sounds from times long gone and extinct. This comes with the highest possible recommendation. Just beautiful early 1970s issue housed in a slip cased type box complete with box and 2 LP’s, this is definitely the shit, forget all the stuff writers and magazines hype you to, take a plunge into these deep unchartered waters and marvel at the beauty on display. Be warned though, it will alienate you from your closest friends because those morons will have nit a clue of what treasure cultural well you just have gained access to. Price: 100 Dollars
936. V.A./ HUNGARIAN ELECTRONIC MUSIC: “S/T” (Hungaroton – SUPX-11851) (Record: Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Insert: Near Mint). Stunningly hard to come by but jaw-dropping great LP documenting Hungarian electronic music as recorded at the Electronic Music Studio of the Hungarian Radio. All selections were recorded between 1972 ~ 1976. Original Hungarian press, just a massive collection of eerie sounds that seem to have originated in a vacuum outside of this world. Fantastic disc compiling tracks by pioneers like Zoltan Pongracz (1972 & 1975); Peter Eotvos (1968), Ivan Patachichi (1976 & 1975) and Mate Victor/ Peter Winkler (1975). Original 1979 pressing filled with ear watering vintage electronic sounds out of this scarcely documented scene. Simply one of the best discs in the field. Price: 275 Dollars
937. V.A./ KOSMISCHE MUSIK: “S/T” (Ohr Records – OMM-2/56.027) (2 LP Set: Excellent/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent/ Attached 4-Paged Booklet: Excellent). Classic and much in demand Krautrock & Kosmische Musik 2 LP set that threw together various artists of the Ohr label roster such as Popol Vuh, Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel, Tangerine Dream and as bonus a sidelong unreleased track of Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze. All tracks are killers, spacey cosmic psych jams that will crack your skull wide open. Rare these days and hard to come by in such a nice condition as this copy here. Price: 300 Dollars
938. V.A./ Macaroni Western Theme Grand Prix Album: “S/T” (RCA Japan – SX-73) (Record: Near Mint/ Heavy Gatefold Sleeve: Near Mint/ Obi: Near Mint/ Attached Poster-like inner sleeve: Near Mint). Top copy. Some more deranged Ennio Morricone infested twangy guitar rumbles and disoriented soundscapes….lovely Japan only deluxe edition…. Price: 55 Dollars
939. V.A./ Macaroni Western Thema Dai Senshu: “S/T” (RCA – SRA-9139~40) (2 LP Set: Mint/ Gatefold Jacket: Mint/ Obi: Mint). Original Japan only 1973 issue. Comes in fabulous gatefold sleeve. The contents are comprised out of classic spaghetti western themes composed by such luminaries such as Morricone , Montenegro , Attanasio and Pagano and executed by each of their respective orchestras being E. Morricone E La Sua Orchestra; Orchestra Di L. Pagano; Orchestra Di M. De Basi; Orchestra di Bianco; H. Montenegro and His Orchestra, R. Ortolani E La Sua Orchestra and Orchestra Di G. de Angelis. So the whole is filled with echoplex twangy guitars, tumbleweed infested horn sections, eerie dust drained choruses, lonely harmonica lines and other desert infested lonely tunes. Just sheer fantastic and comes in a Japan only jacket. First time I have a copy to spare. Highest recommendation! Price: 65 Dollars
940. V.A./ MAMY BLUE: “S/T” (Atlantic – L-6035A) (Record: Mint/ Heavy Cardboard Gimmick Gatefold Jacket: Mint/ Obi: Mint). Hideously rare instrumental album featuring Too Much and the Warner Beatnicks!! Yes, another footnote in the annals of Japanese rock, who could have thought it would have come so far? Too Much and psych rockers the Warner Beatnicks rummaging through exotica and easy listening moves? You betcha, kayokyoku instrumental lounge vibes executed by psych heads….so if you expect fuzz rippers and brain flippers you will be disappointed. However, if you are into easy listening and exotica moves, this one is a rarity you cannot say no to. Price: 125 Dollars
941. V.A./ “Mushi – Kaeru – Semi - - Insects – Frogs – Cicadas” (CBS Sony – 20AG-72) (Record: Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint/ 4-Paged Booklet: Near Mint). TOP COPY!! A stellar filed recording album filled with insect song, frog blearing and other winged creatures, all recorded in Japan in 1975~1976. Listening to this marvel late at night, it comes over like the audio equivalent for one of Toho film studio's monster movies soundtracks. Filled with the sound of six-legged soloists and amphibians it all sounds like weird electronic compositions. High and screeching sounds interact with their natural environment, often escalating into full-orchestrated cacophony of different species chirping away in the late night setting. It all get counter-balanced with the barking of various frog species, each a track of its own before they all wander off into full frontal blearing and ushering out mating calls. These sounds were eerily beautiful, yet unsettling as they vibrated the air with such ubiquity that their origin was impossible to pinpoint. The sounds these frogs and cicadas make have some similar qualities to the Morse code or “noise stations”, and like The Conet Project is both bizarre and fascinating. The sound frogs and of cicada-like whining and chirping, displays a wide variety of drones and clicks that could be from some Taj Mahal Travelers concert, INA GRM tape music or Pierre Henry experiment with tape loops. Utterly fantastic and mind lifting. Price: 70 Dollars
942. V.A./ MICHIGAN BRAND NUGGETS: (Belvedere Records – TY8-7100 MONO) (2 Records: Excellent/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent). Over the top exhilarating fuzz drenched mind torcher of a compilation album that comes housed in a stunningly designed jacket and is filled to bursting with raw Michigan nuggets from late sixties and early seventies. Four sides of unadulterated mayhem which are topped of with the MC5's blowtorch take on garage psych, a track on each side. Fred Sonic Smith definitely ruled. So bloody awesome. Other conspirators on this compilation are amongst others Bob Seager & The Last Heard, Underdogs, Human Beings, Question Mark & The Mysterians, Rationals, Amboy Dukes and others. This set rocks like no other and should appeal to those who love their garage psych with a sniff of uncut kerosene mixed with Methamphetamine. Took me ages to dig up an extra copy. Fantastic all way through. Price: 150 Dollars
943. V.A./ MINIATURES: “S/T” (Pipe Records – PIPE2) (Record: Excellent/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Poster: Near Mint) Completely vanished compilation filled with one minute contribution of luminaries such as Robert Wyatt, Ron Geesin, David Cunningham (Flying Lizards), kevin Coyne, Pete Seeger, 1/2 Japanese, Gavin Bryars, Metabolist, Bob Cobbing & Henri Chopin, Ralph Steadman (yes him!!), Trevor Wishart, Robert Fripp, Fred Frith, Residents, Ollie Halsall and many many others. In total, the disc is comprised out of 51 tiny one-minute masterpieces that will seriously derange your head. Comes with the poster. Released in 1980 and even now it sounds absolutely mesmerizing. Great all way round. Price: 30 Dollars
944. V.A./ MUSICA ELECTROACUSTICA ESPANOLA: “S/T” (Circulo De Bellas Artes) (Record: Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint/ Insert: Near Mint). Top copy. Rare original Spanish pressing that came out in 1987 and which documented the sadly overlooked Spanish electro-acoustic music, spanning a period in between 1961 up until 1987. Featured composers are Juan Hidalgo (1961!!!!!), Andres Lewin Richter (1963), Mauricio Sotelo (1986), Ramon Gonzalez Arrayo (1985) and Juan Pagan (1986). Original Spanish 1987 pressing shedding some light on an electronic music scene always shrouded in the shadow of the other major European scenes. However sonic and music wise it is as exciting or even more compelling than those European heavy weight scenes. Splendid compilation that finally attempted to pull all of these great Spanish composers out of their cultural isolation in a vein attempt to bring them into the myopic line of vision of other US and European scholastic crowds. Maybe now after 21 years of cultural isolation one free soul out there might be marveled at the grandeur of their musical creations, bound to shatter your mind into a zillion pieces. Fantasmagorically great. Price: 200 Dollars
945. V.A./ Musique Concrete: “S/T” (Ducretet-Thompson/ Nippon Disuku Kabushikikaisha – NGC-100) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Tip Back Cover: Near Mint). Top copy!! Original 1st Japanese pressing of 1958, housed in tip back jacket and adorned with Japan only jacket art. Impossible to get this 1958 1st Japanese pressing. This pressing containing groundbreaking works by Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer and Philippe Arthuys. Impossible to get in such a top condition as this copy here. Historical important and a milestone recording. A total must if experimental music is something you live by. Price: 500 Dollars
946. V.A./ MUSIQUE EXPERIMENTALE (BAM – LD-5872) (Record: Near Mint/ Fold Out jacket: Near Mint) Rare French omnibus album that compiles some works by Luc Ferrari (Tautologos II), Andre Boucourechliev (Texte II), Francois-Bernard Mache (Volumes), Romuald Vandelle (Crucifixion) and Michel Philippot (Ambiance II). All was recorded at the legendary French GRM Studios under the direction of Pierre Schaeffer. The disc itself was released in 1976 although that the material presented here dates from the late fifties and early sixties, the golden age of electronic experimentation. Getting scarcer with the minute. Price: 125 Dollars
947. V.A./ NI HON EIGA ONGAKU – Original Soundtrack Best 12”: “S/T” (Cine Disc – M-3002) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint? Gatefold Jacket: Excellent). Rare Japanese movie soundtrack compilation that came out in June of 1973. Contains tracks from the following films: “Hi Wa Shizumi Hi Wa Noboru”; “Seiboki”; “Yakusoku”; “Kokyou”; “Sakura no Daimon”; “Kokotsu no Hito”; “Matatabi”; “Yasashii Nipponjin”; “Kanashimi no Bella Donna”; “Konketsuji Rika”; “Goyouki” and “Hachigatsu no Nureta Tsuna”. The music to these films – many of which have not seen a full swing soundtrack – is totally awe-inspiring with compositions by Nina Rota, Takemitsu Toru, Mitsu Hiroshi, The Ventures and other musical luminaries. There where side 1 focuses on cinematographic scores loaded with melancholy and nostalgic undertones, side 2 is where the surprises lie buried. Opening up with a slow burning funky guitar number and switching between nonsense conversation snippets, the music shifts back and forth between Japanese female vocal tinted erotica courtesy of Midori Maki and Ishikawa Seri, fuzzed out sleaze psych, spoken weird, funky oddball butt shakers and female late sixties folk tracks. The Midori Mako track is utterly sexy and erotically charged. She only released a handful of singles and the contribution you find on this LP. Rarely offered LP that will introduce you to another side of Japanese cinematographic sonics out of the late sixties and early seventies. Highest possible recommendation. Price: 200 Dollars
948. V.A./ Ni Hon no Minzoku Ongaku Dai-10-kan: “Bugaku – Ennen” (Victor – SJL-2193~5-M) (3 LP Set: Near Mint/ Box: Near Mint/ 16 paged Booklet with cover imprinted gold ink on black heavy textured paper: Near mint/ Obi: Mint). Lavishly illustrated and high fidelity recording box set that focuses this time round on Japanese traditional, rural and imperial Court dance and Court music. Extremely beautifully packaged and illustrated box set that sheds some light upon rural folk music and dances of Japan, recorded all in remote villages, the music on display was and is on the brink of extinction due to the 20th century making vast progress in order to bring modernity to the far outback and dragging along in its wake the demise of century old native expression forms. This set forms one in a series of 13 sets that Victor Records released in 1975. Each set came out in an edition of 1000 copies but I am afraid that about 50% was taken out of circulation and melted down due to depressive sales. The music it beholds is just breathtakingly great. All recorded in mono of course, the sound, rituals and dances give a glimpse upon rural traditions held in temples, courts and palaces scattered over the archipelago, this time all focused on ritualistic music in favor of the Emperor and his household. It contains snippets of Gagaku music, minimal percussive excursions, eerie vocal exclamations, loads of wind instruments, various field recording snippets, primitive taiko and percussive rattles, and so much more. An awesome set.  The box is filled with rural oddities, shamanistic induced music recordings, spoken word intersections, filed recordings and so much more. This was the real underground Japan , a sonic slab of historical recordings that you didn't even knew existed in the first place. This box (one in a series of 13) was released in 1975. It hardly had any commercial potential whatsoever so it is not surprising that copies are scarce these days. Here you have an excellent copy of such a set, a 3 LP box filled with voices from a distant and long gone past. Hard to come by, especially in such pristine condition. Price: 90 Dollars
949. V.A./ Ni Hon no Minzoku Ongaku DaiDai-11-kan: “Bugaku – Ennen” (Victor – SJL-2193~5-M) (3 LP Set: Near Mint/ Box: Near Mint/ 16 paged Booklet with cover imprinted gold ink on black heavy textured paper: Near mint/ Obi: Mint). Court dance and Court music. This is the accompanying and follow-up volume to the previously mentioned set and together they form a coherent assembly of various forms of Court music and its accompanying dances. Extremely beautifully packaged and illustrated box set that sheds some light upon rural folk music and dances of Japan, recorded all in remote villages, the music on display was and is on the brink of extinction due to the 20th century making vast progress in order to bring modernity to the far outback and dragging along in its wake the demise of century old native expression forms. This set forms one in a series of 13 sets that Victor Records released in 1975. Each set came out in an edition of 1000 copies but I am afraid that about 50% was taken out of circulation and melted down due to depressive sales. The music it beholds is just breathtakingly great. All recorded in mono of course, the sound, rituals and dances give a glimpse upon rural traditions held in temples, courts and palaces scattered over the archipelago, this time all focused on ritualistic music in favor of the Emperor and his household. It contains snippets of Gagaku music, minimal percussive excursions, eerie vocal exclamations, loads of wind instruments, various field recording snippets, primitive taiko and percussive rattles, and so much more. An awesome set.  The box is filled with rural oddities, shamanistic induced music recordings, spoken word intersections, filed recordings and so much more. This was the real underground Japan , a sonic slab of historical recordings that you didn't even knew existed in the first place. This box (one in a series of 13) was released in 1975. It hardly had any commercial potential whatsoever so it is not surprising that copies are scarce these days. Here you have an excellent copy of such a set, a 3 LP box filled with voices from a distant and long gone past. Hard to come by, especially in such pristine condition. Price: 90 Dollars
950. V.A./ NI HON NO HOROGEI: “Fushidan Setsukyou” (Victor – SJX-2063~8) (5 LP set: Near Mint/ Cloth bound and covered box set: Near Mint/ 24 –paged Booklet: Near Mint). The “Ni Hon no Horogei” series that Victor put out in the mid-seventies is certainly my all time favorite collection of deranged filed recordings, weird cultural oddities all graced with insanely luxurious packaging. Such an elaborate project of in total 6 box sets could only be generated in a bubble infested economy, when record companies still had some time and money to waste on glorious projects that had absolutely no commercial potential whatsoever. These sets were mainly produced out of a documentary perspective and ended up mostly in the racks of libraries and research institutions. Very few copies hit the streets and the one that did were largely ignored by the public, following in most boxes being withdrawn and eventually melted down again. This set here focuses on a long lost tradition that rooted within some minor esoteric Buddhists sects, a tradition that is now totally extinct. The 5 LP's focus on a string of Buddhist priests rendering recitations and giving comments on communal affairs before an assembled crowd. Although most of their drone-filled recitations are deprived of any musical accompaniment, the whole affair does not fail to resonate out an intoxicating musical vibe. One can certainly say that their vocalizations are trance inducing and filled with sudden tempo changes, alterations in style, sped up with circular breathing and tonal irregularities and oddities that make this set a challenging listening experience. The most renowned of these priests was definitely Sobue Shounen, who is depicted on the box's cover. Sobue was born at the beginning of the 20th century (around 1905) and passed away in the early eighties. His vocal recitations are just awe inspiring and have an almost tribal feel attached to them. Just brilliant and totally jaw-droppingly great. Apart from the aural splendor that is splattered over the 5 LP's, the box comes with a detailed and picture filled booklet, forming a welcome accompanier to music. It gives a stunning photographic testimony to a Japan that no longer exists, rural town's people and assorted anthropological marvels. Next to that the heavy cloth covered box is massive to behold and a stunning piece of outsider art. Hideously rare and extremely adventurous as far as its contents are concerned. Should appeal to anthropologists, Japanophiles, lovers of the occult, esoteric Buddhism thrill seekers, lovers of field recordings and collectors of exquisite artifacts. Highest possible recommendation. Price: 120 Dollars
951. V.A. NI HON SHUNKA KADO: “S/T” (FuransuShobo) (3 red colored Flexi discs: Near Mint/ 24 nude picture cards: Near Mint/ 24 erotic Shunga cards: near Mint/ Outer Slipcase Box: near Mint). Hideously rare erotic artifact that bundles songs with erotic art, 24 cards depicting Edo era Japanese Shunga and 24 picture cards depicting round breasted nude Western girls of the mid-sixties. The picture cards definitely breath out that early seventies heavily loved sleaze cheap trash like sleaze aesthetic as it depicts on one side cheap Western nude pin-up ladies and 3rd grade motel strippers in their natural unaltered beauty. These picture cards get flanked by zoomed out and accentuated fragments of Japanese Shunga prints, erotic woodblock gravures out of the 18th and 19th century, and nicely counterbalanced the Western cheap sexy tackiness of the grainy pictures that gets catapulted into art these days. Just lovely time piece that will have you mesmerized. In total you will have two times 24 picture cards to loose and wet yourself over. Extremely sleazy artifact that ever so rarely sees the light of day. Top notch condition and first time ever I can offer a spare. Eastern sleaze meets oriental shunga. Stunningly beautiful depraved visual artifact in like new condition. If erotica are your thing (as they should be) this one comes with the highest possible angelic recommendations. SOLD
952. V.A. “OZ DAYS LIVE” (2LP Set: Mint/ Inserts: Mint/ Outer Paper Bag: Mint/ sealed copy) – with Taj Mahal Travelers, Minami Masato, Acid Seven and Hadaka no Rallizes aka Les Rallizes Denudes. Without a single doubt, this bloodsucker of a disc is THE holy grail of the Japanese early seventies lysergic psych scene, together with Speed Glue & Shinki, Sato Masahiko & Soundbreakers and People/Ceremony. Privately released in a tiny edition on the OZ Days label way back in 1973, the record was and is till this day the only legitimate recording on vinyl to feature the Rallizes and Acid Seven. Each of the four bands has a whole site to their disposal onto which they were allo wed to open up the sonic floodgates to Valhalla. This set is an original copy, the 2 LP set is unplayed and the inserts are untouched since the day it came out in1973. Only the paper outer bag is a reproduction, identical to the original and this is due to the fact that a tiny dead stock of a dozen coverless copies was unearthed upon clearing out the former OZ offices some years back. So the paper bag is an identical reproduction, which means that it is clean, unripped and un wrinkled, unlike most of the surviving original outer bags. The bag is identical to the original and is made out of the same textured paper. The records and the inserts are the real stuff (original) and were not touched since the day the rolled of the pressing plant in 1973, so a more virginal and mint copy of this disc is unlikely to cross your path ever again. (unlike many other surviving copies that have been molested and roughly manhandled by scruffy hippie listeners over the years). The music on the other hand is completely stellar, mind boggling and just ja w droppingly great, leaving you, the listener, gasping for air on several moments while spinning this disc since your vital organs will just forget to function properly upon being exposed to this archeological sonic gem. Kosugi's clitter-clatter Fluxus induced ramshackle psychedelic drone unit the Taj Mahal Travelers put do wn a stunning outer worldly and almost transcendental performance, there where the Rallizes venture into an ephedrine soaked sub-linear universe of ear ripping feedback and slo wed do wn stroboscopic madness. Acid Seven is the  A boot version of the Taj Mahal Travelers and the Rallizes sides was briefly put up for sales some years back, housed in an extremely ugly jacket and an inferior sound quality. Not the case here since the original version sounds so much better, it is after all the real deal. As you might expect, these babies do not come cheap and resurface in lists for 1000 dollars or more and they are in those cases not even mint copies. This copy here will not be as expensive due to the outer jacket. But apart from that everything is as original as can be and in brand ne w condition. Fair sale price, so act smooth, s wift and quick for this one since such as chance is unlikely to cross your record collecting path within the follo wing decade. Needles to say hideously rare. Totally mint and sealed copy, what can you possibly ask more for? Julian Cope's guidance? Forget it….make up your own mind and enjoy the music as well as historical and archeological value of this earbleeding artifact. Price: 950 Dollars
953. V.A. Panorama de Musique Concrete: “S/T” (Club National Du Disques – CND15-16) (2 LP set: VG++ ~ Excellent/ Gatefold Jacket: VG++ ~ Excellent). Hideously rare original 1958 pressing!! Works realized in the studios of Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) containing compositions by Pierre Schaeffer, Pierre Henry, Michel Philippot and Philippe Arthuys. Rare first edition and one – if not THE – most mythical record documenting the early stages of musique concrete. Rare beyond belief 1958 pressing. Price: 300 Dollars
954. V.A. Panorama of Musique Concrete 1 LP: “S/T” (Ducretet-Thompson – DTL93090) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Tip Back Cover: Near Mint). Top copy!! Original pressing containing groundbreaking works by Pierre Henry, Pierre Schaeffer and Philippe Arthuys. Impossible to get in such a top condition as this copy here. Historical important and a milestone recording. A total must if experimental music is something you live by. Price: 200 Dollars
955. V.A./ Percussion de Strasbourg” (Philips - SFX-8577) (Record: Mint/ Jacket: Mint). Japanese edition of the legendary silver Philips series (Perspective 21ieme Ciecle), this one comes w ith a w hite-coated jacket instead of the regular silver ones. Great disc depicting experimental w orks by Tona Scherchen, Alain Louvier and Georges Aperghis. This Japanese issue w as released in 1974. Great all w ay round. Price: 30 Dollars

956. V.A./ RECOMMENDED RECORDS SAMPLER – New Music Double LP: (Recommended Records – RR8) (2 LP Set: Near Mint/ Gatefold Sleeve: Near Mint/ Outer Plastic Sleeve with Glitter Silver lettering: Near Mint). Original 1982 pressing of this benchmark compilation disc containing music never else available by such luminaries like Art Zoyd, The Muffins, Heiner Goebbels, Amos, Conventum, Hector Zazou, This Heat, The Residents, Stevie Moore, Ron Pate, Picchio Dal Rozzo, Robert Wyatt, Vogel, FAUST, Art Bears, Stormy Six, The Homosexuals, Joseph Racaille, Feliu Gasul, The Black Sheep, Univers Zero, Aksak Maboul w/ Honeymoon Killers, The Works, Henry Cow and Decibel. Price: 85 Dollars

 
957. V.A./RENKINJUTSU: “Alchemy Noise Omnibus” (Alchemy Records – ARLP-009) (Record: Excellent ~ Near Mint/ Jacket: Near Mint) Very early Alchemy Records release and their first omnibus release they did.. The crème of the crème of the Kansai noise scene is present with Hanatanatshi, Sakevi, Null, High Rise and Hijokaidan with John Duncan. The three High Rise track is drenched in late night biker amphetamine punch of over the top distorted fuzz mayhem and is from the same period as their illustrious PSF debut LP. Hearing it now again makes me realize that they were the ultimate hardcore psychedelic speed freak band. Narita's guitar is all over the place and makes Blue Cheer pale like choir boys in comparison and Nanjo's bass and vocals are completely washed away and sound like he is singing from out of his grave with the coffin nailed shut. The drums by Ujie are again a stark reminder that he was the best drummer the band ever had, vicious, hard and speeded up without almost never bothering to use his cymbals. They certainly were at the peak of their powers during those early eighties hazy days. But Narita steals the show, playing with enough greased sonic dementia to blot out the rays of the sun for decades to come. Hijokaidan's collaboration with John Duncan on the other hand is totally sick Recorded in August of 1985, the band went to play a session at the apartment of ex-LAFMS member John Duncan, who was at that time living in Machida. John performed using an effects-altered short-wave radio, Mikawa on signal generator and microphone and Jojo Hiroshige manipulated a cassette recorder. The sonic outcome is similar to the nuclear fallout and the vaporized radioactive sonic outcome they produce cools enough to condense and solidify all exposed to its vaporizing power and make you suck large amounts of dirt into the fireball. Hanatarashi on the other hand is more demented, retarded and mentally insane in their approach to sonic terror without ever dropping their primitive, grinding performance-noise spiked up with broken tape machines playing backwards, screaming, the sounds of junk being dropped from great heights, and endless amounts of absolute chaos. It all comes off as the sound of a man going insane in a small room on his own trying not to cut his arm off with shards of metal flying about. Gism's front man Sakevi's contribution is a cut-up hypnotic affair, interlocking with loops, tapes and pre-recorded radio voices, making it a claustrophobic listening affair like the BBC air-raiding the airwaves on automatic pilot after the atomic blast has incinerated all life on the planet. Null's contribution is another affair, sucking you into a void of a black hole, developing sonic atoms that convert kinetic energy of gas and dust into heat and x-rays. In all a massive compilation of material that is nowhere else available. Highest recommendation. Price: 150 Dollars
958. V.A./ ROCK ‘N' ROLL JAM '70 (Flowers, Mops, Golden Cups & Happenings Four): “S/T” (Express – EP-7744~5) (2 LP Set: Excellent/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent). Top Copy!! Holy Cow….we never stop digging up holy grails that never ever surface – at least not within the last decade and this monster is one of those much rumored but hardly ever seen artifacts. Original 1970 pressing!! One of the greatest Japanese psychedelic rock artifacts around but sadly enough impossible to lay your hands upon. It took me 7 years to secure my own copy. But finally a spare copy up for grabs. In short, this is a clash of the titans kind of record as far as Japanese psychedelic rock is concerned, stuffed with alchemical friction. Released in 1970, it sees the Mops, Happenings Four, the Flowers and the Golden Cups live in action as recorded in 1970 as part of a live super session. The 1st side opens up with compositions by the Mops and they already set the tone for the record to elapse in. Wailing demented fuzz guitar zooms in and out of focus, agitated vocals by Hiromitsu deliver a sense of teenage angst driven by PCP and an unnerving urge to split wide open the minds and bust the skulls of the assembled crowd. Side 2 is reserved for the always brilliant Happenings Four group. Grooving their way through a few cover tunes and getting assisted on some tracks by members of the Mops and the Flowers, the Happenings Four and Kuni Kawauchi again prove to be one of the finest bands of that era. Whether you like their music or not, they managed to great success to transgress styles and fashions and dabble with various styles o music, each executed to perfection. Here they drive through some cover tunes and make them sound sparkling fresh again, infusing them with warm organ sounds and unheralded lyricism. Side three is reserved or Japan 's finest, the Golden Cups – again in various settings – and the sound they churn out is impregnated with a warm fuzz buzz and cool licks. But the real treat is of course the live showcase of the Flowers, spearheaded by Yuya Uchida and chanteuse Aso Remi. Psychedelicised with distortion and echo, desert fried psyched out drones of sitar evolving into transcendental rock; a roar of distorted, color-saturated wah-wah riffage and acid-frazzled fierce and idiosyncratic garage/psych, they spewed out wave after wave of fuzz-wah blitz guitar sounds. Yuya's shamanic exhortations hover over sulphur clouds of lysergic madness. It all reaches apotheosis in an electrifying take of some Big Brother and Led Zeppelin intoxications of sound ending in hypnotic euphoria. A hollow of a murdered explosion, it is sensational. After sitting through it, my guts are knotted up and I am crazed and clawing for more, tumbling back into the same soaring image as time seems to stop entirely. This disc will pulverize your lobes and turn you're your floor to wormwood, a desultory vortex of swirling sound, dillitated fuzz creating an existential vertigo. Bloody rare psychedelic artifact in top condition. Just never surfaces…….Price: 700 Dollars
959. V.A. Roku Dan Kara Chidori Made – Koto Meikyoku No Subete: (CBS Sony – SOJH-2) (Record: near Mint/ jacket: Near Mint/ Horizontal Obi: near Mint). Stunning collection of classical Koto songs, housed in a “washi” textured sleeve with obi. Beautiful music housed in stunning washi textured paper, a monster in my book! The music is not of this planet and instead is beamed down from out of another solar system. These classic koto tunes have a totally disarming effect, they just soothe the listener into a meditative mindset. The classic tunes are executed by some of the finest old skool players and included performances by such virtuoso string caressers such as Yonekawa Fumiko, Kiku Hara, Tsune Hatsune, Ogiwara Masagin, Uehara Masaki and accompanied bloodcurdlingly beautiful singing by Yonekawa Fumiko and Takahashi Sadaharu. This one comes highly recommended and should appeal to field recording addicts, classical music buffs, adventurous music freaks and people whose musical tastes are not dictated by mundane music magazines. Rare edition housed in stunning jacket and 1st time ever I could dig up a spare of this classic. Highest possible ever recommendation. Price: 60 Dollars
960. V.A./ SHADOW MUSIC OF THAILAND: “S/T” (Sublime Frequencies LP) (Sealed Copy). Fabulous Lp only release on the always exciting Sublime Frequencies label. Again I have to borrow the words of my dear friends of Aquarius to do justice to this release, so here we go: “Another super limited lp installment in Sublime Frequencies' ever expanding collection of fantastic and mysterious world musics. It's unclear, why a few releases have been vinyl only, and if the shelf-life of the last Sublime Frequencies lp was any indication, these won't last long at all. So what is Shadow Music Of Thailand? Well, it's Thai pop heavily influenced by UK instrumental rockers The Shadows of course. More specifically it's a strain of sixties Thai guitar pop heavily influenced by Western music, rock, garage and especially surf. The guitar being the most obvious influence. So here we have a collection of some of the most notable purveyors of "Shadow Music": The Son Of P.M., P.M. Pocket Music, P.M 7 / Jupiter and Johnny Guitar. You may have noticed the recurring P.M., well that stands for Payong Mukda, one of the most prolific composers and performers of the time and the music genius behind all of those P.M. groups. On first listen, the Shadow Music here doesn't sound all that different than much of the Thai Pop we've heard before on other collections, and no doubt there is some overlap. But keep listening, and all sorts of strange and unique little sonic flourishes reveal themselves. Really, where else can you hear gamelan percussion with super fuzzed out ? And The Mysterions style organ and wailing surf guitar? From groovy garage rock to shimmery surf, lots of organ, and plenty of gamelan, vibraphone, xylophone, gorgeous vocals, strange harmonies, mysterious melodies, but it's those guitars, it buzzes and howls, chugs and twangs, woven into all of the songs here, creating this strange hybrid, Thai Pop, Bollywood, surf rock, blues rock, latin, soul, all woven into a wild groovy psychedelic fuzzy funky garage folkpop that will totally hit the spot for fans of exotic grooves and wild and wonderful sounds. LIMITED ONE TIME PRESSING OF ONLY 1500 COPIES. 180 gram vinyl, super thick, gatefold sleeve, full color with tons of original Thai artwork and extensive liner notes.” (AQ) Spot on and grab them while they last, you know how spun out of control their previous LP editions have become so no time to lull around, get them while they last. Price: 50 Dollars
961. .V.A./ SHIZEN TO ONGAKU NO 48 JIKAN – ’70 Zen Nippon Folk Jamboree Jikyou Rokuon”: “S/T” (King Records – KR-7018~9) (Records: LP 1 is Excellent; LP 2 has quite some marks so VG+ but plays with only some surface noise/ Gatefold Jacket: Excellent ~ Near Mint). So seen the condition a bloody cheap price for otherwise the rarest disc of the Folk Jamboree series. Hardly if never surfaces. In short It is a fabulous aural document giving some insight into the highlights of the 2nd Folk Jamboree festival. Next to sonic assault and extremely left wing politically motivated happenings, such as the Genyasai festival, there were also festivals organized whose main potion consisted out of folk music. A prime example is the Zennippon Folk Jamboree, an annually staged festival that ran successively between the years 1969 ~ 1971 in the Gifu province at the lakeside of a town called Sakashita-Chô. These events went down in the history of Japanese folk music as one of greatest happenings and were also important in the history of Japanese rock. Like in so many developed countries, these festivals characterizing a transition period between the sixties and the seventies provided the perfect outlet for many youngsters launching themselves into the whirlwind of the anti-Establishment movement. The advocated stance of saying “No” to the existing system became a fashionable outlet, which changed the face of pop culture for good. The Folk Jamboree was such an event that responded to the anti-Establishment movement. Set up by the Nakatsu Kawa Rô-on Company, it received the general cooperation of URC Records, a stronghold in the sub-cultural side of pop music. Albeit the organization’s well meant intentions, a rumor started circulate at the time of the first staged Jamboree saying that the festival was a sham that tried to imitate the Woodstock festival The claim was as ludicrous as implying the opposite by uttering that Woodstock was a pastiche of the Jamboree and the unfounded critique soon evaporated into thin air. The first Folk Jamboree turned out to be the last public happening where big names Okabayashi Nobuhiko and Takaishi Tomoya shared the same stage and it also provided the setting for the last ever appearance by the all-legendary Jacks. Despite of the pouring rain around 2500 people showed up for the festival. To them, folk was mainly a movement with subsequently leftist political tendencies, an essential characteristic only the first Jamboree embodied and which got symbolized with the gathered crowd singing “Tomo Yo” of Okabayashi Nobuhiko at the beginning and at the ending of the festival, a song that was often sung in unison at political meetings of that time. However, except for the second Folk Jamboree, the character of the event changed gradually. The popularity of Okabayashi who was regarded as a spearhead figure of the movement, reached its peak and the biggest political target of that time, the “Anpofunsai” or the U.S. – Japan Joint Security Treaty got renewed without any major difficulties or opposition. The political character of the event became little by little less distinctive and instead the inclination towards the artists’ musical directivity came to be regarded as something of importance. Folk started underwent a gradual transition from a movement that strove against the media towards a musical expression tool of the media, going from underground to mainstream. This deterioration of the Jamboree even became more apparent at the time of its third edition in 1971 (Third Annual Jamboree; 7th ~ 9th of August), which was undertaken on a far larger scale than the 1970 one. The political influence of the Jamboree had lost its importance and instead the festival evolved towards a more socially accepted musical happening. Still, some hardliners who had experienced the previous renditions of the Jamboree couldn’t cope with the progression towards a more sociable acceptable mainstream music happening and occupied towards the last stage of the festival the main stage and started an involuntary polemic about the true nature of the event. This anecdote remains a colorful footnote in the annals of Japan’s folk movement that illustrates the changing of the times. Special memorable moments of this 2nd Folk Jamboree that make this et worthwhile are amongst others the blistering live appearance of the Happy End, Okabayashi Nobuyasu’s politically motivated songs, Itsutsu no Akai Fusen’s ear waxing songs, Endo Kenji’s appearance, etc. A marvelous and valid aural document totally essential if you are hungry to try and get a grasp on Japan’s musical legacy. Price: 45 Dollars
962. V.A/ SOKYOKU – SHAKUHACHI: “S/T” (Victor – VP-3012-3013) (2 LP Set: Mint/ Outer Cloth Bound Box: Mint/ Inner Cloth Bound Book: Mint/ Obi: Mint/ 64 Paged Bound Book on Heavy paper fully illustrated: Mint). Bloody rare collection in mint condition, original 1971 issue. Let me start of by saying that is 2 LP box is heavy, music wise as well as weight wise since it simply has a volume of 2.3 KG!! Eye-pooping collection that focuses on – like the title already suggests – at esoteric Japanese traditional music, in this case being koto and