Tracklisting:
1. Metempsychosis (4:47)
2. Entering / Times (15:54)
3. Kokoro (9:11)
4. Parallel World (30:08)
i. Amanezcan
ii. Origin
iii. Zen
iv. Reality
v. New Lights
vi. In The Year 2000
Album review http://www.hippy.com/review-409.html
Just when I thought I knew Far East Family Band through albums like Nipponjin (1975) and Tenkujin (1977), they gave us Parallel World, which is their third album. Like their previous album, Klaus Schulze was given a hand (in the mixing department), only this time around his influence is even stronger. The three guys handling the synthesizers here (Fumio Miyashita, Akira Ito, and Masanori Takahashi aka. Kitaro, the famous New Age star of the 1980s and 1990s) are given an even bigger role here. And don't be scared off by the fact Kitaro is here (since he is often written off as New Age fluff), because this is mega-trippy music that sounds like it was done under the influenced of LSD and/or pot.
For this album, they went to Richard Branson's Manor Studios in Oxfordshire in the hopes of getting this album released on Virgin Records. Sadly Virgin rejected it, deeming it too lengthy (which I find a bit hypocritical, after all Virgin didn't have a problem releasing Klaus Schulze's Timewind, and it's almost an hour long). But MuLand, their Japanese label had no problem releasing it.
The album starts off with the short "Metempsychosis", which is basically drummer Shizuo Takasaki's time to shine, with a bunch of electronic effects in the background. Without a doubt the shortest piece on the album. The next piece is "Entering/Times". It starts off with lots of electronic effects that sound like something Schulze would do, before the rest of the band kicks in, with Fumio Miyashita (who also plays guitar), Akira Ito, and Kitaro giving us some great spacy synthesizers. The occasional wordless voice pops up as well.
The next piece is "Kokoro", which is a Pink Floyd-like ballad, sung in Japanese that's more typical of their other albums. But the album's real shining glory is the 30 minute title cut. Divided in to suites, probably to hide the fact it's so lengthy, it consists of a lengthy jam, at first the band gets a bit funky, while you get plastered with lots of spacy synths (Moog, string synths, even the Mellotron rears its head from time to time). I just love the bass work from Akira Fukakusa, as he's playing away, the synthesizers go off the deep-end. You even hear someone yelling "Free Your Mind". Eventually the bass work and drumming ends, leaving the synthesizers to be totally center stage. At this point you hear some references to Zen Buddhism, while you hear lengthy string synth drones, and that Mellotron rearing it's face. I am just utterly blown away by this cut!
It's no doubt that Parallel World is not only the best album Far East Family Band ever done, it's one of the all time great electronic and prog rock albums. This is truly a recommended album to those who enjoy prog and the Schulze-end of electronic music.
Album review: PHROCK
This is without a doubt the best album FAR EAST FAMILY BAND has ever done. Unlike other albums where the band focused mainly on ballads influenced by PINK FLOYD, on "Parallel World" they decided to merge the prog rock style of the time with electronic music in the vein of Klaus SCHULZE.
And just like their previous album, "Nipponjin", this album was also produced by SCHULZE, and you could swear he actually played on the album (he didn't). All the synth duties here are Fumio Miya[&*!#]a (who also played guitar and sang), Akira Ito, and Masanori Takasaki (who we all know as the future New Age star of the '80s and '90s, that is KITARO).
For "Parallel World", the band went to England to record at Richard Branson's Manor Studios to strike a deal with Virgin Records. Unfortunately Virgin rejected the album (their loss), so it was left released only in Japan. Let's say this new electronic direction for the band was an excellent move as they produced their ultimate masterpiece. Here you get "Metempsychosis" which shows the band in a more experimental setting, complete with synth drones and percussion.
"Entering" and "Times" will fool you for SCHULZE's own works, Shizuo Takasaki's drumming often reminds me of Harald Großkopf (WALLENSTEIN member who was often found playing on SCHULZE's albums), and it's packed with same kind of space electronic effects found on a SCHULZE album.
It's the presence of guitar (from Fumio Miya[&*!#]a and Hirohito Fukushima) that separates this from a SCHULZE album. Then you have "Kokoro", which harkens back to their earlier works. This is basically a slow ballad, sung in Japanese that could easily fit on "The Cave: Down to the Earth". This is the only song like this on "Parallel World".
And then you get the 30 minute title track that is just so amazing that it totally justifies the five star rating I give this album! Here the band goes on a lengthy jam, with the Akira Fukakusa's bass dominating with tons of killer synths, lots of great spacy string synths and Moog.
After about halfway through this piece, the bass and drums gives away to straigh-up synth experiments. Somewhere you hear some chanting and references to Zen Buddhism.
There are some truly mindblowing use of Mellotron that pop up on occasions, and this one synth solo I am pretty sure none other than KITARO is responsible for.
I can't believe this album, it's hard to believe that a guy whose later music is often dismissed as New Age fluff (KITARO, that is) is on this album. Truly a wonderful album and if the description of this album sounds good to you, find a copy (by Proghead).
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