People - Ceremony / Buddha Meet Rock (1971)
Ceremony / Buddha Meet Rock
Style: Psych-Rock
Label: Lover Creation
Psychedelic rock from Japan. Vinyl release from 1971, from what I hear it's extremely hard to find, but has been reissued. This is the original vinyl rip.
I’m not sure if these guys actually existed as a performing band, or if they were only a studio super-session project. Guitarist Kimio Mizutani had previously [or simultaneously, or shortly after?] played with Love Live Life + One and Masahiko Satoh’s Sound Brakers . At any rate, their sole album, the concept piece ‘Ceremony – Buddha Meet Rock’ [Teichiku, 1971], is an absolute classic. The album came with extensive liner notes elaborating on the intended meaning for each track – the whole album flowing more or less as a conceptual whole. As the title would suggest, it was an attempt to fuse a Buddhist-influenced spiritual vibe into an innovative oriental form of hypnotic psychedelic progressive rock. It’s all quite unique and doesn’t sound like any preceding groups that I’m aware of, though some bits are like a much less-heavy Flower Travellin’ Band circa ‘Satori’. It’s a bit jazzy in places, hinting at some of Stomu Yamash’ta’s work with Come to the Edge. There’s lots of nice fuzz guitar leads and overall, a very sanctified vibe that makes this a deep but groovy experience. Following this , Mizutani recorded his equally great solo album. - Aural Assault
One of the gems I discovered after reading Julian Cope's Japrocksampler, this is up there with Satori in the canon of 1970's Japanese psychedelia. Original vinyl copies of this go for $5,000.
http://www.mediafire.com/?5u1tkokhrom