Far East Family Band - 1974 - The Cave Down to the Earth

Far East Family Band

1974

The Cave Down to the Earth

01. Undiscovered Northern Land (2:53)
02. Birds Flying To The Cave (4:33)
03. The God Of Water (1:53)
04. Saying To The Land (8:22)
05. The God Of Wind (2:21)
06. Moving, Looking, Trying, Jumping (1:40)
07. Wa, Wa (0:48)
08. Mystery Of Northern Space (5:56)
09. The Cave, Down To The Earth (8:18)
10. Four Minds (5:55)
11. Transmigration (11:03)

Hirohito Fukushima / vocals, guitar
Fumio Miyashita / guitar, keyboards, producer
Akira Ito / keyboards
Masanori Takahashi aka "Kitaro" / keyboards, percussion
Akira Fukakusa / bass
Shizuo Takasaki / drums

With:
Mitsuo Miyamoto / string arrangements

The true debut from Far East Family Band. Far Out is often thought of as a FEFB album, but in reality was a totally different band with only Fumio Miyashita in common. The Cave is their actual debut, released in 1975. The original LP came with a gimmick cut-out cover (both front and back) as well as an insert showing the band members and their equipment (obviously inspired by the back photo of Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, I noticed Austrian prog band Eela Craig did a similar photo shoot on their 1976 album One Niter on the back cover). The Cave was their only all-Japanese language album, and if you've heard Nipponjin, you'll learn real quickly that album was largely an English language version for the international market when The Cave was strictly for the Japanese market. Of course, "Four Minds" and "Transmigration" was removed on Nipponjin to make room with "Nihonjin" from the Far Out album with extra electronic and Mellotron treatment.

I noticed the band hadn't really honed their electronic skills at this stage of their career. The way it seems is that Akira Ito stuck with organ, while Kitaro stuck with synth effects. Fumio Miyashita apparently included lead synth, but he was mainly a guitarist and vocalist (Hirohito Fukushima also provided extra guitar). It seemed their encounter with Klaus Schulze was the big reason why their next album of all-original material, Parallel World, took a much stronger electronic approach. They apparently had some American named "Bob (USA)" playing flutes, including a shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) giving it that nice Japanese feel, particularly "Saying to the Land".

Much of The Cave, with the different in language is basically the same. Of course, "Four Minds", not on Nipponjin was more of a ballad, maybe the kind of ballad that might not appeal to everyone, while "Transmigration" is more in prog territory. So if you enjoy Nipponjin and want to hear these songs in their original Japanese language, then go for this album.

The album is a concept album as "The Cave" is arriving onto our planet, and the group is generally celebrating the beauties of nature. Obviously heavily influenced by Floyd (From AHM to DSOTM era), the group lays down some very credible ambiances that even Floyd could've pulled off. Of course, the similarities are no accident, because the guitars often sound like Gilmour's, while some keyboards layers could easily have been from Wright. The album glides smoothly, but not unnoticed, because they are enough delightful moments to make you forgive them for their too-obvious influences. And as if to prove me wrong the closing track, the 11-min Transmigration shows more Moody Blues vocal harmonies over a pedestrian Floyd soundscape, the whole thing underlined by a Mellotron and ending on newborn's crying before picking up again (hey Nick Mason is on drums, right?) only to have a siren warn us that the album is over.

This album will draw Klaus Schulze's attention and he will collaborate with FEFB on their next album (a rehash of the first two albums' highlights for the European market) Nipponjin and again for Parallel World. In the meantime, this album often gets overlooked, but it fully deserves the proghead's attention, as much as their Far Out release. I rounded this album to a fourth star, for I always liked this one, even if it is far from perfect.