''Made in Japan'' is the third album by Japanese rock band

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 ...

, released in 1972.

Production

After meeting

Lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

at the

Expo '70 The or Expo '70 was a world's fair held in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, between 15 March and 13 September 1970. Its theme was "Progress and Harmony for Mankind." In Japanese, Expo '70 is often referred to as . It was the first world's fair ...

festival in

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Flower Travellin' Band were invited to visit Canada. While there, the group recorded ''Made in Japan'' with Lighthouse keyboardist

Paul Hoffert Paul Matthew Hoffert, LLD, CM (born 22 September 1943, in Brooklyn, New York) is a recording artist, performer, media music composer, author, academic, and corporate executive. He studied mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto. ...

helping produce. Vocalist

Joe Yamanaka , better known as , was a Japanese singer and actor. He is known for both his work with Flower Travellin' Band and as a solo musician; singing at a vocal range of three octaves. As an actor, he appeared in many television shows and movies, such ...

later stated that the process was very easy, with everything flowing well. Due to George Wada becoming ill with

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, Canadian drummer Paul DeLong plays on some tracks on this album. The lyrics were written by Yoko Nomura, the wife of the band's manager, who translated conversations she had with the group and their ideas into English. "Heaven and Hell" was written by Yamanaka in Japanese and she translated it. The song "Hiroshima" is a re-imagining of "Satori Part III" from their previous 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 ...

''. The introductory first track is an advertisement for a concert at Stanley Park Stadium in Toronto by Flower Travellin' Band,

Emerson, Lake & Palmer Emerson, Lake & Palmer (informally known as ELP) were an English progressive rock Supergroup (music), supergroup formed in London in 1970. The band consisted of Keith Emerson (keyboards) of The Nice, Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars, producer) ...

Bob Seger Robert Clark Seger ( ; born May 6, 1945) is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded with the groups Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throu ...

and

Teegarden & Van Winkle Teegarden & Van Winkle were an United States, American musical Duet (music), duo, composed of Skip (Knape) Van Winkle (electronic organ, organ pedal bass, singing, vocals) and David Teegarden (musician), David Teegarden (drums, vocals). Formed ...

, with a clip of " Lucky Man" playing in the background. "Hiroshima", "Heaven and Hell" and "Aw Give Me Air" were covered by Cult of Personality, 9, and punk band Pulling Teeth respectively, for the 2000 ''Flower Travellin' Band Tribute'' album.

Reception

Musician and author

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 ...

included ''Made in Japan'' at number 18 on his list of the top 50 albums of Japanese rock, as found in his 2007 book ''

Japrocksampler ''Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll'' is a book written by author and musician Julian Cope and published by Bloomsbury on 3 September 2007. Overview The 304-page hardcover book is a companion piece to C ...

''. He described the record as "proto-metal of the

Amon Düül II Amon Düül II (or Amon Düül 2, PronunciationAmon Düül are a German rock band formed in 1968. The group is generally considered to be one of the pioneers of the West German krautrock scene. Their 1970 album ''Yeti'' was described by British m ...

variety, replete with acoustic

Tony Iommi Anthony Frank Iommi Jr. (born 19 February 1948) is an English musician. He co-founded the pioneering Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and was the band's guitarist, leader, primary composer, and sole continuous member for over ...

sms and mucho Satanic raga", "Aw Give Me Air" as retaining the "proto-metal Devilish chord changes" of ''Satori'' but "more Asian than demonic", and "Heaven and Hell" as musically "pure

Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

". Both Mason Jones of ''Dusted'' magazine and 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 ...

claimed that following ''Satori'' was a difficult task and that ''Made in Japan'' was "doomed to fall short of expectations," respectively. Both reviewers also cited the same three songs, "Kamikaze", "Hiroshima" and "Spasms", as the highlights and being on par with the band's best work. Although he felt it inconsistent, Rivadavia called the album "pretty darn good!" and gave it a 3.5 star rating out of 5.

Track listing

Personnel

Flower Travellin' Band *

–

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 ...

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 ...

–

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 ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

* 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 ...

Additional musicians * Paul DeLong – drums Production and design * Yoko Nomura – lyrics * Flower Travellin' Band –

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 orchestr ...

* Ikuzo Orita – producer *

– producer * Yuya Uchida – producer * Gilbert Kong – mixing * Kiyoshi Sunamori – artwork * Yoshio Niwano – artwork * David Ohashi – photography * Toyo Nakamura –

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

* John & Yoko Nomura – supervision

References

{{Authority control Flower Travellin' Band albums 1972 albums Atlantic Records albums