An album with a very striking cover, but which features music done for the more warm-tinged program Mu – a 70s drama represented here by a really great range of different themes! The mix of modes is great – one tune might have a playful Fender Rhodes solo, another a more serious koto line, and another might have groovy use of sitar, or slide guitar, or other inventive instrumentation – all to illustrate the different scenes and characters in the show! There are slight moments of sentiment, but the music is never sappy at all – and in a way, the whole thing really reflects the way that the Japanese listening scene was so strongly influenced by Euro soundtrack styles of the late 60s and very start of the 70s. All titles are in Japanese, and the set is instrumental throughout! (Soundtracks, Japanese) LP, Vinyl record album

Warmly jazzy grooves from this late 70s Japanese combo – one who are more like a fusion group than some of the more standard city pop acts – in part because they've got two different guitarists in the lineup, each of whom get a different channel in the mix! Haruto Kawabe is on one channel, and Motoki Ichizaki is in the other – both soloing strongly at points, but stepping aside to allow plenty of room for the lead vocals of Masako Takasaki – who sings throughout the record, in a warm voice that works perfectly with the electric instrumentation! Shinnoichi Shimizu plays keyboards on the set too – and titles include "Jump", "Usou", "AM 4:00", "Goodbye Again", "Crystal Magic", and "One Night Affair". LP, Vinyl record album

Performances of Italian serenades and pieces by Schubert, Mozart, and Godard by the Japanese tenor. LP, Vinyl record album

A really lovely little record from Japan – one that's got some slight elements of bossa nova in the backings, but also some European elements too – with a moody vibe that's really wonderful, and very much in keeping from the image on the cover! There's a strong current of melancholy that really makes the whole set shine – and the light vocals of Kazumi Yasui are somewhere in the late 60s territory of Nico and Astrud Gilberto, and almost given some Verve-like backings on the record from Kawachi Kunio, Makoto Kawaguchi, and others! Vocals and song titles are all in Japanese, but the record's got this universal appeal that's very different than so many other records of this type from the time. LP, Vinyl record album