''Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll'' is a book written by author and musician

Julian Cope Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician and author. He was the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes and has followed a solo career since 1983 in addition to working on musical side proj ...

and published by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

on 3 September 2007.

Overview

The 304-page hardcover book is a companion piece to Cope's 1995 book on

Krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...

, ''

Krautrocksampler ''Krautrocksampler: One Head's Guide to the Great Kosmische Musik - 1968 Onwards'', written by the musician and writer Julian Cope, is a book describing the underground music scene in Germany from 1968 through the 1970s. The book was first publis ...

'', and covers in extensive detail the

post-war In Western usage, the phrase post-war era (or postwar era) usually refers to the time since the end of World War II. More broadly, a post-war period (or postwar period) is the interval immediately following the end of a war. A post-war period c ...

democratizing and westernizing of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, plus a detailed 28-page analysis of the

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

scene from 1951-69. The first part, about the 1960s, was described by

Simon Reynolds Simon Reynolds (born 19 June 1963) is an English music journalist and author who began his professional career on the staff of ''Melody Maker'' in the mid-1980s. He has since gone on to freelance and publish a number of full-length books on music ...

as a "prequel to the book proper". The unusual relationship between Japanese experimental theatre and rock music is carefully explained in the 14-page essay 'J.A. Caesar and the Radical Theatre Music of Japan'. There are also detailed biographies of the bands Taj Mahal Travellers,

Flower Travellin' Band was a Japanese rock band that was formed in 1967. They were connected to Japan's counterculture movement and noted for their mixture of early heavy metal with psychedelic and progressive rock. They received wide acclaim from critics but fail ...

, Les Rallizes Denudes, Far East Family Band and

Speed, Glue & Shinki was a Japanese Heavy psych power trio supergroup formed in 1970 by guitarist Shinki Chen, and record producer Ikuzo Orita. Orita had previously produced an LP featuring Shinki Chen; who was considered the Japanese equivalent of Jimi Hendrix. T ...

Reception

Simon Reynolds found ''Japrocksampler'' to contain some extraneous material and wrote that "a certain windy ponderousness of phrase and tone creeps into the prose now and then". But Reynolds also argued, "If Cope's exaltation of Les Rallizes Denudes seems like mystique-building covering up simple underachievement .. elsewhere his evocations ..are enticing and convincing."

Helen Zaltzman Helen Zaltzman is an English podcaster, broadcaster and writer. She produces the linguistics podcast ''The Allusionist'', the entertainment podcast ''Answer Me This!'', and the ''Veronica Mars'' recap podcast ''Veronica Mars Investigations''. ...

praised it in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' as exhaustive but said that "one senses that despite his intense interest in the subject, Cope is padding out his material because there were simply not enough bands in the movement with which he is concerned. ..Though fans will no doubt relish the jaunt through the Archdrude's mind, less committed readers may be put off by his tendency to pomposity, repetition and leaden pace."

Michel Faber Michel Faber (born 13 April 1960) is a Dutch-born writer of English-language fiction, including his 2002 novel ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. His latest book is a novel for young adults, '' D: A Tale of Two Worlds'', published in 2020. His ...

wrote, "Cope's descriptions are tantalising but no replacement for hearing the music itself, so the book's usefulness depends on whether it inspires you to rush off in search of lassic albums ..Less adventurous readers may simply enjoy the anecdotes about a host of chancers, mad idealists, Buddhist gangsters, Monkees clones ..and bonafide geniuses." Faber said that Cope's "lack of affinity with folk or the subtler forms of jazz causes him to ignore or sideline many of Japan's most distinctive artists." But Faber still argued that it was the best book on Japanese rock music available. Sam Jordison praised the book as "utterly wonderful" and said, "Before reading it I knew nothing about this subject. ..Now,I know even less than before." Jordison stated that "part of the pleasure of the book is his unbounded enthusiasm for the strange arcana he has dug up."

References

{{reflist Books by Julian Cope Books about rock music 2007 non-fiction books