© 2012 Lawrence Tuczynski
| Title: | Psychedelic Sounds Of Japan |
| CD Label: | RPM |
| CD Number: | Retro-880 |
| Music Performed by: | The Mops |
| Music Composed by: | Various |
| Number of tracks: | 13 |
| Running time: | 43:41 |
| Number of discs: | 1 |
| Year of release/manufacture: | September 28, 2010 |
| REVIEW |
March 31, 2012 Originally released in 1968 as Victor Japan SJV-356, this compilation by RPM records in 2010 is quite good and gives an insight as to how Japanese youth interpreted the psychedelic movement here in the US. The Mops sound like a well honed garage band like many that popped up and had a hit or two here in the US during that period. The tracks come complete with fuzz guitar sounds. I did find some of their choices for material to cover a bit odd because they don't really fit the "psychedelic mold". Tracks such as "Light My Fire", "San Franciscan Nights" and "The Letter". While they were popular at the same time as many psychedelic tunes, I personally never considered them to be psychedelic records. I would also say the same pretty much holds true for the two Jefferson Airplane tracks on this disc although the Jefferson Airplane members were into the California drug scene at the time. The tracks may well have been inspired by drugs but lack the fuzz guitars and organs prevalent in true psychedelic tunes of the time. Even though this disc and a few others on this site have nothing to do with "Monster Music", they are Japanese discs that appeared during the time period of the soundtracks and other music on this site and are interesting as a historical look into Japanese music of the time. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this disc and The Mops interpretations of of some popular US songs of the time. You can find out more about this and other releases at the Cherry Red/RPM Records web site at: http://www.cherryred.co.uk/rpmshout.asp |
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Psychedelic Sounds Of Japan - The Mops
Bonus Tracks |