''Anywhere'' is a 1970 album by Japanese rock band Flower Travellin' Band. It was their first release under the Flower Travellin' Band name and the first to feature the classic line-up of Joe Yamanaka,

Hideki Ishima is a Japanese musician, known primarily for his work with Flower Travellin' Band and for creating the sitarla instrument. A guitarist and sitar player for nearly forty years, he now exclusively plays the sitarla, an instrument he invented in ...

, Jun Kozuki and Joji Wada.

Overview

Following the release of '' Challenge!'', Yuya Uchida dropped all the members of Yuya Uchida & The Flowers, except drummer Joji Wada, recruited guitarist

, vocalist Joe Yamanaka and bassist Jun Kozuki, and formed the Flower Travellin' Band as a band that would appeal to international audiences. ''Anywhere'' was made to emulate the band's previous release '' Challenge!'' by mainly consisting of cover songs and nude cover art, before releasing their first original album, ''

Satori ''Satori'' () is a Japanese Buddhist term for " awakening", "comprehension; understanding". The word derives from the Japanese verb '' satoru''. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, ''satori'' refers to a deep experience of '' kenshō'', "seeing ...

'', shortly after. The cover was taken early in the morning at a former garbage dump in the seaside area that would later become

Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge (Tokyo), Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built for defensive purposes in the 1850s. The land was dramatically expanded during the late 20th centur ...

. It was used as the cover for

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 ...

's 2007 book '' Japrocksampler''.

Reception

Musician and author

included ''Anywhere'' at number 28 on his list of the top 50 albums of Japanese rock, as found in his 2007 book '' Japrocksampler''. He wrote that those who dismiss it as a covers album have never heard it, "For its grooves contain such monstrous modifications that each track leaves the starting block a full metre lower than the hoary jalopy originals." Cope explained that the band dissolve the 4/4 rhythm of "

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

" into an "ambient metal assault", while their version of " House of the Rising Sun" delivers "the proto-'

Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by the English rock band Led Zeppelin, released on 8 November 1971 on the band's untitled fourth studio album (commonly known as ''Led Zeppelin IV''), by Atlantic Records. Composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy ...

' shock-of-a-lifetime." Eduardo Rivadavia of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

rated the album 3 out of 5 stars, describing the music as a "unique mixture of progressive daring, psychedelic eccentricity, and muscular, heavy rock austerity".

Track listing

Credits

* Joe Yamanaka –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

* Jun Kozuki –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

* Joji Wada –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Tadataka Watanabe - producer * Yuya Uchida - producer * Norio Yoshizawa -

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

* Tatsuo Umetsu - engineer * Masaichiro Fukami - artwork * Kishin Shinoyama - photography * Makoto Saito - photography

References

{{Authority control Flower Travellin' Band albums 1970 debut albums 1970s covers albums Philips Records albums