A record with a cover that references the Beatles, but a sound that's very different overall – as Japanese combo Happenings Four take the tunes in lots of weird and wonderful directions! The record's maybe much more psychedelic than the original recordings by the fab four – lots of fuzz and distortion at times, and some especially cool use of piano – which gets jazzy at times, but with offbeat twists and turns that further keep things interesting – as does the use of organ on a few of the cuts! The arrangements are great – hardly respectful of The Beatles' originals at all, and really opening up the tunes – to serve up fantastic unusual versions of "Drive My Car", "Don't Let Me Down", "Lady Madonna", "Fool On The Hill", "Ticket To Ride", "She Loves You", "Penny Lane", "Yesterday", and "Revolution". LP, Vinyl record album

A key showcase of some of the fantastic groups who were starting to shape the sound of jazz on the Japanese jazz scene at the start of the 60s –a set that's a nice contrast to the first volume in this series, which featured all of the different musicians jamming together! Here, leadership is the focus – as each number has the musicians showing of the way that they were moving Japanese instrumental music past some of the more mood-based styles that were still pretty dominant in the mainstream, and instead taking very strong lessons from the 50s American wave of players who revolutionized the sound of jazz with hardbop! Nearly every player here is at the start of their career, but about to unfurl music that would shape Japanese jazz for decades to come – and titles include "Late At Night" played by the combo of pianist Masao Yagi, "With A Feeling Of Love" played by tenorist Akira Miyazawa, "Four On Six" by guitarist Shungo Sawada, "For Singers Only" by pianist Norio Maeda, "What's Now" by pianist Keitaro Miho, and "Alone Together" by altoist Sadao Watanabe. (Jazz, Japanese) LP, Vinyl record album