Sweet sounds from a real golden age in Japanese music – a time when the scene had picked up plenty of influences from the US scene, but was carefully crafting some great styles of their own! The music here has touches of jazz, fusion, soul, and AOR – but there's a special balance that's a bit different than American chartbound material of the time – tight, but never too slick – and with a great ear for allowing the more interesting sides of the music to come forth in all the best ways – so that although catchy, the tunes aren't just going slavishly for a hook or a hit! There's a lot of resonance in the instrumentation with some of the scene that had Japanese jazz musicians working with American fusion players – but the overall approach is maybe more soul-based overall. An even deeper set than the first volume – with titles that include "Kanpoo" by Yumi Murata, "Hidari Mune No Seiza" by Tetsuji Hayashi, "Yubikiri" by Eiichi Ohtaki, "Vibration" by Kimiko Kasai, "Pink Shadow" by Bread & Butter, "The Tokyo Taste" by The Sadistics, "Blind Curve" by Momoko Kikuchi, "Skyfire" by Eri Ohno, and "Rainy Saturday & Coffee Break" by Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station. CD

Sweet sounds from a real golden age in Japanese music – a time when the scene had picked up plenty of influences from the US scene, but was carefully crafting some great styles of their own! The music here has touches of jazz, fusion, soul, and AOR – but there's a special balance that's a bit different than American chartbound material of the time – tight, but never too slick – and with a great ear for allowing the more interesting sides of the music to come forth in all the best ways – so that although catchy, the tunes aren't just going slavishly for a hook or a hit! There's a lot of resonance in the instrumentation with some of the scene that had Japanese jazz musicians working with American fusion players – but the overall approach is maybe more soul-based overall. An even deeper set than the first volume – with titles that include "Kanpoo" by Yumi Murata, "Hidari Mune No Seiza" by Tetsuji Hayashi, "Yubikiri" by Eiichi Ohtaki, "Vibration" by Kimiko Kasai, "Pink Shadow" by Bread & Butter, "The Tokyo Taste" by The Sadistics, "Blind Curve" by Momoko Kikuchi, "Skyfire" by Eri Ohno, and "Rainy Saturday & Coffee Break" by Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station. LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet sounds from a real golden age in Japanese music – a time when the scene had picked up plenty of influences from the US scene, but was carefully crafting some great styles of their own! The music here has touches of jazz, fusion, soul, and AOR – but there's a special balance that's a bit different than American chartbound material of the time – tight, but never too slick – and with a great ear for allowing the more interesting sides of the music to come forth in all the best ways – so that although catchy, the tunes aren't just going slavishly for a hook or a hit! There's a lot of resonance in the instrumentation with some of the scene that had Japanese jazz musicians working with American fusion players – but the overall approach is maybe more soul-based overall. An even deeper set than the first volume – with titles that include "Kanpoo" by Yumi Murata, "Hidari Mune No Seiza" by Tetsuji Hayashi, "Yubikiri" by Eiichi Ohtaki, "Vibration" by Kimiko Kasai, "Pink Shadow" by Bread & Butter, "The Tokyo Taste" by The Sadistics, "Blind Curve" by Momoko Kikuchi, "Skyfire" by Eri Ohno, and "Rainy Saturday & Coffee Break" by Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station. LP, Vinyl record album