An excellent shot of Ai Takano, the timekeeper for Japanese psychedelic ‘group sounds’ band The Carnabeats. The band was well-known for their numerous covers from the catalog of English rock band The Zombies.
As I’ve said before, of the many excellent aspects of my “job” here as a writer for Dangerous Minds is that I get to share things I love with all of you groovy readers. As I’m a huge fan of Japanese art and culture my show and tell for you today is some prime sounds from little-known Japanese psychedelic and garage rock bands from the 1960s and 1970s. I can say with complete confidence that you’re going to want to carve out some time to listen to The Voltage covering Sam and Dave’s “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and The Spiders’ out-of-sight riff on John Lee Hooker’s 1962 “Boom Boom” as well as original jams from some of Japan’s lesser-known vintage rockers.
The Voltage was one of many bands associated with “group sounds” (or simply “GS”) music genre in Japan and the band demonstrated a strong affinity for classic Motown, recording numerous musical homages to artists like The Temptations, Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett throughout their career. Though I’m a sucker for bands putting their own unique spin on vintage hits, I always love digging up different sounds from around the globe that mirrored more famous genre-defining moments in better-known geographical locations. Such as Japan’s vibrant interpretation of the psychedelic and garage rock movement that was flourishing in the 60s and 70s in the United States. Though it’s a little difficult to imagine a happening psyche-rock scene in Japan without the proper party-favors (drugs were and still are very illegal there) you’d never know that the bands you’re about to hear in this post were kicking out groovy, LSD-free grooves such as The Flowers (who later became “The Flower Travellin’ Band)” like their rambling fifteen-minute instrumental from 1969 “Opera Yokoo Tadanori Wo Utau” that gives “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” a run for its money.
Like you perhaps, I’m also a huge fan of the super-psyche rock trio, Speed, Glue & Shinki that featured the wizardry of guitarist Shinki Chen who before he even turned 21 was already commonly referred to as the “Japanese Jimi Hendrix.” The band itself at times also channels one of my other beloved heavy metal staples, Black Sabbath so it’s no wonder I can’t get enough of them. As I’m quite sure that you’re going to dig the shit out of the bands in this post I’d highly recommend picking up the 2015 release Kaminari-Nineteen Japanese Garage Monsters or The Definitive Collection of Group Sounds (Japanese Garage & Psychedelic Bands) 1965-1971 released back in 2000 that contains a staggering 122 songs from several of the bands included in this post. And though I’ve written about them previously on DM, I don’t want to get called out for not including The Mops so I included the fucking impossibly heavy track “Illjanaikada” below along with many others and some sweet vintage images of what it looked like to be a rock star in Japan all those decades ago.
Dig the FUZZ!
Speed, Glue & Shinki.
The Dynamites.
The Spiders.
The Voltage.
The Carnabeats.
The Out Cast.
Speed, Glue & Shinki ‘channeling Black Sabbath on the track ‘Stoned Out of my Mind,’ 1971.
The Voltage and their cover of Sam and Dave’s 1966 classic, ‘Hold On, I’m Comin’.’
The Spiders covering John Lee Hooker’s ‘Boom Boom.’ The Spiders covered other bands like The Beatles and The Spencer Davis Group during their career.
The Carnabeats, ‘Chu! Chu! Chu!,’ 1968.
The Out Cast’s cover of a 1964 hit song by British group The Mojos, ‘Everything’s Alright.’
The Dynamites raucus single ‘Tunnel to Heaven.’
The Flowers just before they became the ‘The Flower Travellin’ Band’ and their fifteen-minutes freak-out ‘Opera Yokoo Tadanori Wo Utau’ from 1969.
The Mops’ epic sludge-fest, ‘Illjanaikada’ from the band’s 1971 album of the same name.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Fuzzed-out Japanese psych band The Mops cover The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, and The Animals
Classic Japanese punk band ‘The Star Club’ covering Sham 69,The Clash, & the Ramones