Mad sounds from the late 60s world of Japanese pop – a mindblowing, ear-opening batch of singles we never would have gotten our hands on otherwise! The music here feels like sounds coming out of some backroom jukebox in a Nikkatsu "new action" film – or maybe the kind of offbeat pop that Quentin Tarantino might throw into a soundtrack – but there's also a much deeper range of sounds going on than you might expect, with wonderfully clever instrumentation, and lots of surprisingly heartfelt passages in the vocals! And sure, the language might be a barrier – but there's a really universal sense of appeal to this music – a variant of 60s soul and pop, focused through a different sort of lense – and the instrumentation alone is great – with wicked guitars, Hammond, and other garagey touches! As usual with Ace, the whole thing's supported with nicely detailed notes that tell the whole story behind these wonderful lost gems (we like this one even better than the fab first volume) – and titles include "Namida No Go Go" by Emy Jackson & Blue Comets, "Koi Gurui" by Chiyo Okumura, "Tokyo No Hito" by The Peanuts, "Warui Kuse" by Kazumi Yasui, "Boy & Girl" by Akiko Wada, "Namida No Mori No Monogatari" by Akiko Nakamura, "Saike Na Machi" by Reiko Mari, "Bazazz No 1" by Kayoko Ishuu, and "Furi Furi 5" by Linda Yamamoto. CD

Mad sounds from the late 60s world of Japanese pop – a mindblowing, ear-opening batch of singles we never would have gotten our hands on otherwise! The music here feels like sounds coming out of some backroom jukebox in a Nikkatsu "new action" film – or maybe the kind of offbeat pop that Quentin Tarantino might throw into a soundtrack – but there's also a much deeper range of sounds going on than you might expect, with wonderfully clever instrumentation, and lots of surprisingly heartfelt passages in the vocals! And sure, the language might be a barrier – but there's a really universal sense of appeal to this music – a variant of 60s soul and pop, focused through a different sort of lense – and the instrumentation alone is great – with wicked guitars, Hammond, and other garagey touches! As usual with Ace, the whole thing's supported with nicely detailed notes that tell the whole story behind these wonderful lost gems (we like this one even better than the fab first volume) – and titles include "Namida No Go Go" by Emy Jackson & Blue Comets, "Koi Gurui" by Chiyo Okumura, "Tokyo No Hito" by The Peanuts, "Warui Kuse" by Kazumi Yasui, "Boy & Girl" by Akiko Wada, "Namida No Mori No Monogatari" by Akiko Nakamura, "Saike Na Machi" by Reiko Mari, "Bazazz No 1" by Kayoko Ishuu, and "Furi Furi 5" by Linda Yamamoto. LP, Vinyl record album