Monday, September 19, 2022

The Mystery Kindaichi Band - 1977 - The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke

The Mystery Kindaichi Band 
1977
The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke



01. Kindaichi Kosuke No Theme 3:30
02. Yatsuhakamura 4:34
03. Kamen Butokai 4:08
04. Honjin Satsujin Jiken 3:59
05. Gokumontou 3:36
06. Akuma No Temariuta 4:35
07. Meirosou No Sangeki 4:44
08. Akuma Ga Kitarite Fue Wo Fuku 3:28
09. Mitsukubitou 4:34
10. Inugamike No Ichizoku 4:30

Alto Saxophone – Shuzo Sunazuka (7)
Alto Saxophone – Takeru Muraoka (7,9)
Bass – Hideaki Takebe (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9)
Bass Clarinet – Noboru Yoshimura (2)
Bassoon – Yoshihiko Yamashita (7)
Biwa [Chizuken Biwa] – Masako Hirayama (2)
Chorus [Female Chorus] – Corporation Three (1)
Contrabass - Hiromi Kawabata, Yoshio Watanabe (6,9,10)
Drum [Okawa] - Hiromitsu Katada (8)
Drum [Tsuzumi] - Hiromitsu Katada (5)
Drums – Hideo Yamamoto (1)
Drums – Jun Moriya (2,4,5,7,8)
Drums – Kiyoshi Tanaka (3,6,9)
Flugelhorn - Shin Kazuhara (8.9)
Flugelhorn - Susumu Kazuhara (7)
Flute - Michiko Sakabe, Takashi Asahi (7.8)
Flute - Takeshi Shinohara (9)
Flute [Noukan] - Kohei Nishikawa (8)
French Horn - Koji Yamaguchi , Yasuhiro Okita (8)
Guitar – Kimio Mizutani (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,1)
Gut Guitar – Sadanori Nakamure (6,9,10)
Harp – Keiko Yamakawa (10)
Keyboards – Kentaro Haneda (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
Koto – Kimiko Yamauchi (4,8)
Percussion – Tadaomi Anai (2,3,4,5)
Percussion – Younosuke Segami (1,6,7,8,9)
Piano - Hideo Ichikawa (6,9,10)
Saxophone - Takeru Muraoka (6)
Shinobue - Tahachi Mochizuki (2)
Solo Vocal - Kayoko Ishu (2)
Solo Vocal - Kazuko Kawashima (6)
Strings - Akira Nishiya Group (6,7,9,10)
Strings - Tadaaki Ohno Group (1,2,3,5)
Trombone - Eiji Arai Group (1,2,3,5, 6,7)
Trumpet - Akira Miyashita, Koji Hadori, Masanobu Arao (1,2,3,5)
Trumpet - Koji Hadori, Masanobu Arao, Yasuhiro Okita (6,7)
Tuba - Shuhei Kubo (7)
Vibraphone - Teiko Koshino (10)
Vocals - Kayoko Ishu (3)
Whistle - Takashi Kodama (9)
Xylophone - Isao Kanayama (7)
Yo - Hiroshi Imafuji (5)


The Mystery Kindaichi Band's The Adventures of Kindaichi Kosuke, originally released in 1977. The "imaginary" soundtrack to the cult detective book series by writer Seishi Yokomizo is on many DJ want-lists. Arranged by soundtrack master Kentaro Haneda and featuring a mysterious group of the best '70s Japanese Funk musicians, the album is pure undiluted disco funk. Writer Seishi Yokomizo is an institution in Japan. He could be compared to Agatha Christie with his series of novels based on the adventures of detective Kosuke Kindaichi. The fictional character was born in 1946 with Yokomizo's first novel in the series and solved mysteries until the late '70s under Yokomizo's pen before the death of the writer in 1981. Yokomizo' s novels have been a prime source for film and TV scenarios, so when, in 1977, Japanese label King Records decided to record a concept album based on the Kindaichi novels, it made complete sense. The writer was slightly surprised though. The concept album was arranged by pianist Kentaro Haneda, a key TV and film composer who has worked on many anime films and is also famous outside of Japan for composing the music for the video game Wizardry. For the album, he assembled a supergroup of some of the best Tokyo funk and city pop musicians. The long list includes jazz pianist Hideo Ichikawa who played on the 1971 Joe Henderson In Japan album, drummer Jun Moriya, who is on Joe Hisaichi's cult Wonder City Orchestra album (1982), percussionist Tadaomi Anai who played with disco singer Eri Ohno, trumpeter Koji Hadori who' s featured on Haruomi Hosono's Pacific album (1978). Also present on the album are saxophonist Takeru Muraoka who plays on many Tatsuro Yamashita cult albums including For You (1982) and Spacy (1977), Kimiko Yamauchi (koto) who's on Akiko Yano's landmark 1976 album Japanese Girl (WWSCD 017CD/WWSLP 017LP) , and last but not least, French hornist Koji Yamaguchi who plays on Yazuaki Shimizu's Kakashi (1982). Together they lay the funk on ten instrumentals filled with pure disco and funk breakbeats, making the album one of the highly-coveted Japanese LPs on international cratedigger scene. Remastered from the original tapes. Faithfully reproduced original artwork; Artwork by renowned illustrator Ichibun Sugimoto. New introduction by Anton Spice. Also present on the album are saxophonist e LPs on international cratedigger scene.

A captivating listen from beginning to end, this imaginary soundtrack by extremely talented session musicians, each one a master at his or her craft, evokes mystery straight from the pages of the cult detective novels which served as its main source of inspiration. The unmistakable flair of each disco drenched funk track, with hooks reminiscent of grindhouse blaxploitation and police detective serial scores, are all performed with skill and detail that can only come from mid 70s Japan. With engaging and tight arrangements, this soundtrack stands as a unique document of cultural fusion that is an absolute joy. Very highly recommended!

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