Nirvana Symphony - Toshiro Mayuzumi

Nirvana-Symphony

Toshiro Mayuzumi/NHK Symphony Orchestra with Chorus conducted by Wilhelm Schüchter

Time Records 58004

1962

I haven't done a post on any classical records although I do have a few hundred of them.  Mostly this is because I feel unqualified and have nothing I want to say about them.  I took a musical appreciation class in college and took music performance classes in grade school, but my formal musical knowledge is rudimentary at best.  There are some classical records I really love, but what am I going to say about Bach or Mozart that doesn't make me sound like an idiot?  I like and listen to all kinds of music now that I'm old, but I have always been a rock guy and that's never going to change.  That's how I approach all music, not so much in terms of "it has a good beat and you can dance to it," but rather as a visceral and emotional experience.  Classical music typically requires concentration and effort to fully appreciate whereas I'm generally just along for the ride.  Nonetheless I am going to take a crack at this record because it did make a big impression on me when I heard it.  I only became aware of this album last year when I read the memoir of Bob Dylan's former girlfriend Suze Rotolo.  She rhapsodized about the album which she heard in the early 1960s while she was dating Dylan.  Intrigued, I tracked down a copy of the album.  The Japanese version of the album has been reissued and is easy to find, but I opted for a vintage copy of the American edition because it features cover art by Yoko Ono.  I have to admit my listening experience was not as profound as the one Rotolo described in her book, but I'm not a spiritual guy.  I would say my experience was more akin to psychedelia than religion.  Mayuzumi composed the Symphony in 1957-1958 at which time he was also a prolific film composer (I am a fan of his modernist score for Mizoguchi's "Street of Shame.")  Modernism definitely informs this album, Mayuzumi even cites Schoenberg and Varèse in his liner notes.  I think film soundtrack music is also an influence, there is a program music aspect to parts of it.  However the work is most strongly influenced by traditional Japanese religious music, in particular Buddhist temple bells.  Mayuzumi went so far in his bell fascination to name his three movements "Campanology I, II and III."  "Campanology I" is titled "Suramgamah" which is the name of the Buddhist sutra sung by the chorus in the piece.  It begins slow and ominously like the soundtrack to an old horror film or a gloomy gothic romance.  The orchestra simulates the chiming of a temple bell and the music is heavy and atmospheric punctured by sharp instrumental spikes.  It has an other-worldly feel to it that is appropriate for a spiritual journey to Nirvana, although it might just as well be the soundtrack for a journey to hell since the music is so foreboding.  It gradually gives way to a more sedate passage with languorous bell chimes that announces the beginning of the sutra sung by a male chorus.  The music that accompanies the chorus consists largely of bell sounds and the sutra is soothing and mesmerizing.  Eventually the sutra abruptly shifts tone becoming more staccato and urgent boosted by slashing string notes and percussive effects ultimately becoming quite dramatic before petering away into "Campanology II" which is titled "Mahaprajnaparamita."   It is a short instrumental piece featuring sedate orchestral passages in a more Western modernist style punctuated by bits of bell type sounds.  It evolves into a drone (which I wished lasted longer) that rises to a crescendo to end the piece.  Side two opens with "Campanology III" titled "Finale" which begins with a Buddhist chant with minimal accompaniment once again typically bell-like.  The chant is polyphonic and hypnotic (Mayuzumi compares it to a Gregorian Chant in his liner notes which I think is apt.)  It is followed by a cacophonous orchestral flurry that simulates the ringing of multiple bells.  This section is extremely dynamic and powerful and I find it the most compelling music on the record particularly when the chorus joins in with the orchestra.  It gradually transitions to a more sedate passage of elongated string notes and the chorus slowly chanting producing a very pleasing drone sound.  The bell sounds return and the music swells building to a roaring climax that gradually ebbs away to the sound of chiming bells as the piece concludes.  I'm basically just crudely describing what I hear, but it is quite a musical journey.  I can easily understand why Rotolo was so taken by it.  When I listen to it late at night it does seem to have a magical almost transformative quality and I do find myself emotionally engaged by it in a manner that I rarely experience listening to modern classical music perhaps because of Mayuzumi's experience as a film composer.  I'm not a Buddhist nor am I religious, but when I was younger I read a bunch of books on Zen Buddhism so I do have some idea about what Mayuzumi's intentions are, but I think even someone who hears the word "Nirvana" and only thinks of Kurt Cobain would be engaged by this music.  As a dumb rock guy, I am not really doing this work justice, but I do believe it can be enjoyed the way rock fans enjoy progressive rock or even psychedelic rock.  It takes me on a trip.  Recommended to fans of Györgi Ligeti who dig Quicksilver Messenger Service.

Heavy Rocks - Boris

Heavy Rocks
Boris
Sargent House SH 059
2011

I'm a fan of Henry Rollins' radio show broadcast locally on KCRW.  I have been listening to him since he was on the regrettably defunct Indie 103.1 ten years ago.  I'm not a big fan of his music although I like it okay, but as a record buff he blows me away.  He's a much more adventurous and energetic music collector than I am.  He has introduced me to a lot of records and artists I probably never would have otherwise heard such as Boris.  I'd read about the band but they didn't sound like my cup of tea and I never bothered to check out their music.  Then I heard them a few times on Rollins' show and I loved their heavy sound.  I started buying their albums and became a fan.  Of the Boris albums that I have, this is my favorite, the aptly titled "Heavy Rocks."  It is sometimes referred to as "Heavy Rocks II" since Boris released another album called "Heavy Rocks" in 2002.  It is a double album and although the cover looks like a plain purple sleeve in my pictures, it is actually embossed with pictures of the band and text listing credits and song titles - I just could not figure out a way to photograph it so they were visible.  Side one opens with the ferocity of "Riot Sugar" which is driven by a juicy metallic riff and lots of loud guitar noise.  The lyrics (sung in Japanese but translated on the inner sleeve) are rather sweetly crooned in contrast to the violent music.  It is an example of one of my favorite things about this band which is their blending of noise and pop in their sound. "Leak-Truth, yesnoyesnoyes-" is an odd ball title for a song that I don't understand at all, maybe it loses something in translation.  It is another noisy rocker reminiscent of Dinosaur Jr. particularly in the contrast between the low key vocal and the rocked up guitar noise.  I presume that "GALAXIANS" was inspired by the spaceship shooting arcade game although the lyrics are typically cryptic.  It is energetic and punky with lots of lightning fast riffing and electronic sound effects.  "Jackson Head" continues in a similar vein with a compelling hard rock attack embellished with electronic noise.  The lyrics are truly weird bordering on surreal.  In contrast to the relentless intensity of side one, the second side begins quietly with the folky intro to "Missing Pieces."  The song gradually acquires noisy overlays although it maintains its slow pace until it explodes into several minutes of speaker shredding cacophony at the song's climax which gradually ebbs away and the folky tune reappears.  The lyrics are strikingly poetic even though I remain clueless about what they are trying to say.  The subdued, introspective sound continues with the brief instrumental track "Key" which stops abruptly just as it is getting interesting.  The third side commences with the hard-rocking "Window Shopping."  The band kicks out the jams with high speed riffing and screaming guitar feedback.  The song is listed as an instrumental but there is some dialogue in it as well as someone repeatedly crooning "doo doo doo." "Tu, la la" is one of my favorite tracks.  It is a rocker with dreamy vocals that sounds like over-caffeinated shoegaze.  I'm once again flummoxed by the lyrics but I still love the song. The fourth side opens with "Aileron" which begins with a deceptive calmness before erupting into the usual wall of sound.  The song is mostly a thunderous dirge overflowing with throbbing bass lines, pounding drums and soaring feedback.  As you might expect from the title, the lyrics do evoke flight although it is more of a psychedelic self-fulfillment/love song.  The album concludes with the raucous instrumental "Czechoslovakia" which features ear-pummeling heavy riffing and irresistible rock drive.  It gives the album a satisfying high energy finish.  I'm not much of a metal guy nor am I into noise-rock but I adore Boris.  They manage to combine the energy of metal and the thrilling power and dissonance of noise with pop values resulting in some of the most dynamic and exciting rock music I've ever heard.  The lyrics tend to be pretty abstruse, but since they sing in Japanese, they are easy to ignore.  I play this record a lot and it never fails to get me going.  Recommended to people who think it would be cool if My Bloody Valentine jammed with Einstürzende Neubauten. 

Playboy & Playgirl - Pizzicato Five

Playboy & Playgirl
Pizzicato Five
Matador OLE 333-1
1999

This is the American vinyl version of the album that was released in Japan as "The International Playboy & Playgirl Record" in 1998.  As was generally the case back in the 1990s vinyl fans were screwed by the record company.  The Japanese version of the album contains 13 tracks as does the Matador CD version.  The vinyl contains a mere 5 of them (plus two instrumental versions and an alternate vocal version not on the original album) running a little over 30 minutes so there was plenty of room to have included a couple more cuts.  I was such a big fan of the band that I bought both versions, but I wasn't happy about it.  I developed an attraction to Japanese pop culture in college when I became interested in Japanese cinema which expanded into an interest in manga and pop music when American record companies started releasing it in the 1990s.  Pizzicato Five with their dynamic retro style was one of my favorite Japanese groups.  By the time this record was released the group was a duo featuring vocalist Maki Nomiya and founding member Yasuharu Konishi who played multiple instruments, wrote the songs and produced the record.  The album opens with "La Dépression" which is a percussion driven song with a childish vocal from Nomiya lamenting the lack of desirable boys.  Like practically all their songs, it is sung in Japanese.  The band increases the tempo for the frenetic "The International Pizzicato Five Mansion" which did not appear on the original album.  It is a synth driven instrumental version of "A New Song" which is the next song on the album.  It features a duet with Nomiya and guest vocalist Hisashi Kato.  The vocal version features some of the synth work from the instrumental version but it is largely driven by horns.  I like it better than the instrumental version.  I love the song so I'm not all that upset about having back to back versions of it, but I'd greatly prefer to have more of the songs from the original album instead.  The side concludes with an instrumental version of "Week-End" which appeared with vocals on the original album.  The lack of a vocal track places the focus on guest performer Shin Kawano's piano runs which are admittedly exciting, but I'd still rather hear the vocal.  Side two opens with the best song on the album "Playboy Playgirl" which is one of my all-time favorite Pizzicato Five tracks.  The propulsive cut is an urgent invitation from Nomiya for the playboy of the title to take her out for a night on the town for some dancing and kissing.  The song has a 1960s sound to it which puts it over the top for me.  The group slows down for "I Hear a Symphony" which bears no resemblance to the Supremes' classic hit.  It is heavily orchestrated and sounds like a cross between sophisticated 60s pop and soft-rock.  The song celebrates the conversations between lovers which it describes as being like a symphony of love.  The group shifts gears again for the swinging "The Great Invitations" which is sung as a duet with Masumi Arichika.  It is an odd song in which the singer dreams of her imminent death and begins to fatalistically muse about the transience of life which she compares to a movie she saw on a plane while she also comments on how happy her lover has made her and hoping that she won't make her lover cry.  Maybe it loses something in translation.  The record concludes with the jazzy "Drinking Wine." On the original album the song has actual lyrics sung by Nomiya and guest vocalist Makoto Saito.  On this version Nomiya and Saito merely croon "doo doo doo" in place of the words.  I don't speak Japanese so I don't miss the words very much, but it seems like a weird decision to me to substitute this version instead.  I suppose it does emphasize the beauty of the song a little more and enhances its mellow vibe, but I prefer the original.  As a collector I can see some appeal in having some differences in the tracks on the vinyl record and the CD especially since I bought them both.  If I was supervising this release I would have issued it as a double record featuring the complete original album with the three alternate tracks added at the end as bonus tracks.  At the very least I would have made it proper album length with a few more cuts. Musically though I have nothing to complain about.  I enjoy all the songs and the record has a consistent vibe despite the variety of styles and tempos employed in the music.  It sounds good any time of the day and its enthusiasm and energy always perk me up.  It is also a nice party record if you don't mind having to flip it over every 15 minutes.  If you aren't a vinyl nut, you probably ought to just pick up the CD.  Recommended to fans of Bertrand Burgalat.