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

A great blend of funky jazz and wooden flute – the Japanese shakuhachi reed instrument, blown by Kifu Mitsuhashi here – then mixed with some larger backings that almost have a CTI Records sort of groove! The approach is similar to some of the best 70s projects from Hozan Yamamoto – and like those, updates older Japanese styles with just the right dose of jazz – never getting in the way of the soulful lines from the lead instrument, but also really warming things up nicely with Fender Rhodes, bass, guitar, and drums – in wonderful arrangements put together by Kiyoshi Yamaya. Titles include "Yagi Bushi", "Yosakoi Bushi", "Hokkai Bon Uta", "Kuroda Bushi", "Otemoyan", and "Mamuro Gawa Ondo". LP, Vinyl record album

Keyboardist Soichi Noriki is at the top of his game here – combining warmer fusion modes from a few years before with some of the city pop styles on the Japanese scene of the early 80s – an approach that's topped with vocals from Yurie Kokubu on a few of the album's key cuts! Most of the set is instrumental, and has this soulful fusion glide that's great – Noriki on Fender Rhodes, Hammond B3, and a host of other keyboards – getting support from guitarists Toru Tatsuki and Hirotsugu Nakai, each of whom play in a different channel of the mix – in a combo that also features Haruo Sakai on tenor, alto, and soprano sax! Yurie sings on "You Need Me" and "Do What You Do" – and other tracks include "Rag Box", "Go Over The Hill", "Black Duck", "Anyway", and "Cozy's Melody". (Jazz, Japanese) LP, Vinyl record album