''In a Model Room'' is the debut album of Japanese band

P-Model P-Model (also typeset as P-MODEL and P. Model) was a Japanese electronic rock band started in 1979 by members of the defunct progressive rock band Mandrake. The band has experienced many lineup revisions over the years but frontman Susumu Hiras ...

. It was an electronic pop album, released in 1979 under the label, Warner Bros.

Background

By 1978,

Susumu Hirasawa is a Japanese musician and composer. In the fifth year of elementary school, Hirasawa took up the electric guitar, inspired by the surf and instrumental rock bands he heard on the radio and on TV, later joining his junior high school's band. ...

, guitarist and vocalist of Mandrake, one of the few Japanese

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

bands at the time, was unsatisfied with the style the band worked in, feeling that progressive rock had lost its social relevance and became solely for entertainment. By then, Mandrake's only achievements were a devoted but extremely niche following by fans of Japanese progressive rock fans (who, by Hirasawa's estimate, totaled at only a few hundred people), and bit parts on releases by an all-synth band they'd befriended. Around this time, the punk rock/ new wave movements started in the west; experiencing these new forms of presenting concepts and visuals through music via promotional videos; most of the band went through a drastic change in outlook towards music, and started to write songs and gradually change their look accordingly. Mandrake had turned into a half-hearted band and, after declining an offer to sign with

Victor Music Industries , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ente ...

, Hirasawa decided to "abort" Mandrake, characterizing it as the defeat to commercialism. The band's final live performance was a three-hour show at the

Shibuya Jean-Jean was a small theatre in Shibuya in Tokyo which was open from 1969 to 2000. It was the site of regular performances by Takahashi Chikuzan until his death, regular performances by Nobuo Nakamura of '' The Lesson'', and live appearances by Noriko Awaya ...

, meant to be the symbolic burial of Mandrake's aborted body. On

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

1979, the members of the band held a meeting to decide how they would reform. Bassist Tohru Akutu, still attached to progressive rock, decided to depart from the band. The instruments which "emitted a pretentious grandeur" (most of them painted in dignified colors like purple, gold and burgundy) were either repainted in bright colors (like yellow, light blue and pink) or sold off to buy ones more adequate for what the band envisioned. It was decided that their name would be changed to something that evoked the new development of a mass-produced industrial good.

Composition and Production

Most of the songs on the album were created by Mandrake late in the group's existence, which allowed for a quick debut release. The songs show a tendency for complex compositions and unusual time signatures. The lyrics reflect on the sociopolitical issues of Japan at the time, during the

Japanese post-war economic miracle The Japanese economic miracle refers to Japan's record period of economic growth between the post-World War II era and the end of the Cold War. During the economic boom, Japan rapidly became the world's second-largest economy (after the Unit ...

, and were influenced in part by

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final ...

. ''In a Model Room'' was produced by Masahide Sakuma, keyboardist of the new wave band

Plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their Plasticity (physics), plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be Injection moulding, moulded, Extrusion, e ...

with studio experience from being in the progressive rock band , who agreed to do so on the strength of the album's first track. Described by Hirasawa as "an honest man who acted with a life-sized air of cleanliness", Sakuma was swiftly trusted by the band, who were cautious with making their debut. Producing for the first time outside of his band, Sakuma went on to become a renowned session producer. The instrumentation is a mix of standard punk with electronic devices for mechanical tones: A Roland CR-68 drum machine does simultaneous beats alongside a standard drum kit; the Maxi-Korg 800DV synthesizer was used for a unique blipping noise, dubbed by the music press as a "musical stapler". P-Model came to argue with Warner-Pioneer, Sakuma and engineer Makoto Furukawa daily over their instruments: The band picked them because they felt a rough sound was crucial to their theme, the production thought it all sounded bad. Ultimately, P-Model compromised on most aspects of the recording. Hirasawa re-recorded the album (with the exception of "Sophisticated") in 1999 as ''Virtual Live-1 -Model Live at Roppongi S-Ken Studio 1979'.

Legacy

In 2007 ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

Japan'' ranked it at number 52 in its list of the 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time and '' Snoozer'' ranked it at number 125 in its list of the 150 Greatest Albums of Japanese Rock 'n' Roll.

Polysics is a Japanese Techno/Electronic Music band from Tokyo, who dubs its unique style as "technicolor pogo punk". It was named after a brand of synthesizer, the Korg Polysix. The band started in 1997, but got their big break in 1998 at a concert in ...

covered "The Great Brain" for the 2007 album Karate House and have performed "Art Mania" live. A cover of "Art Mania" using Kagamine Rin is included on the ''

Hatsune Miku , also called Miku Hatsune, and officially code-named CV01, is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official moe anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise bu ...

sings NEW WAVE'' cover album.

Track listing

The

figure Figure may refer to: General *A shape, drawing, depiction, or geometric configuration *Figure (wood), wood appearance *Figure (music), distinguished from musical motif *Noise figure, in telecommunication *Dance figure, an elementary dance pattern ...

of "Art Mania" is a modification of a

phrase In syntax and grammar, a phrase is a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adjective phrase "very happy". Phrases can consi ...

from the 1952 Poly e Seus Modernistas song "Turista" (written by ), based on a 1963 cover by

The Atlantics The Atlantics are an Australian surf rock band founded in 1961. Initially, the band line-up consisted of drummer Peter Hood, bassist Bosco Bosanac, Theo Penglis on lead and rhythm guitar, and guitarist Eddy Matzenik. Matzenik was replaced by ...

. "The Great Brain" is a reworking of a section of the 1973

Mandrake A mandrake is the root of a plant, historically derived either from plants of the genus '' Mandragora'' found in the Mediterranean region, or from other species, such as ''Bryonia alba'', the English mandrake, which have similar properties. The ...

song (officially unreleased at the time, credited to Fumiyasu Abe when released on 1997's ''Unreleased Materials vol. 1''). "White Cigarettes" contains an interpolation of the

Arabian riff "Arabian riff", also known as "The Streets of Cairo", "The Poor Little Country Maid", and "the snake charmer song", is a well-known melody, published in various forms in the nineteenth century. Alternate titles for children's songs using this m ...

(believed to originate from a 17th century traditional

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n song, published as part of various other compositions by various other musicians over time). Two other songs were considered for the album: The Hirasawa-penned and the Tanaka piece . The former, at times part of Mandrake setlists, was considered too heavy and "not the sound you want out of a pink album"; it was later recorded, with new parts by Tanaka, for '' Landsale''. The latter was first publicly released as BGM for the end credits of the ''Photon-1'' video in 1989.

Personnel

; P-Model -

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

Arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

s *

Vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

, Jacket Design *Yasumi Tanaka -

Combo organ A combo organ, so-named and classified by popular culture due to its original intended use by small, touring jazz, pop and dance groups known as "combo bands", as well as some models having "Combo" as part of their brand or model names, is an ele ...

, Synthesizers,

Sequencer Sequencer may refer to: Technology * Drum sequencer (controller), an electromechanical system for controlling a sequence of events automatically * DNA sequencer, a machine used to automatically produce a sequence readout from a biological DNA sam ...

Backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

*Sadatoshi Tainaka -

Drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, Drum machine *Katsuhiko Akiyama -

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, Synthesizer, Backing vocals ; Staff *

Masahide Sakuma Plastics, or The Plastics, were a short-lived Japanese new wave band who rose to prominence in the late 1970s and early 1980s. originally issue #4 Audimat (in French). Their music was a major influence on Japanese pop music and their songs have ...

- "Switchist", Production *Tomonari Sassa - Direction *Makoto Furukawa -

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, Mixing *Kozo Kenmochi, Kenji Konno & Ryuichi Suzuki - Assistant Engineering *Yūichi Hirasawa -

Lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

Art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

*Hideki Namai -

Photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

*Special Thanks to: Hisaaki Katoh, Nobumasa Uchida, Yūichi Hirasawa, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Daiji Okai, Sunshine City Gals, Ms. Shirota

Release history

*"Roomrunner" is included on the ''GET THE PUNK -J PUNK & NEW WAVE 1972～1991-'' various artists compilation. *"Art Mania" is included on the ''ROCK is LOFT　-Purple Disc- ～SHINJUKU LOFT 30th Anniversary～'', ''TECHNOLOID -JAPANESE 80's NEW WAVE SAMPLER-'', ''Rock NIPPON～Selected by Hiroshi Tsuchiya'', ''KING SONGS of NEW WAVE'' and ''SAKUMA DROPS'' compilation albums. *The album's singles were reissued on CD on paper sleeves to replicate their original packaging with the band's other Warner-Pioneer released singles as part of the

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when Tower Records ...

exclusive ''Warner Years Singles Box'' box set in 2012.

References

External links

IN A MODEL ROOM
a
NO ROOM - The official site of Susumu Hirasawa (P-MODEL)
*

a

{{DEFAULTSORT:IN A MODEL ROOM 1979 debut albums P-Model albums Japanese-language albums Warner Music Japan albums