The Genius of Kiyoshiro
Havergill Milk | nyc | 11/12/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"RC Succession was a group formed in 1968 by Imawano Kiyoshiro and some high school friends. They were probably aiming to sound more soul-like as they were big fans of Stax and Otis Redding, but without any electric instruments around, they created a strange and totally original style of acoustic rock or "Hard Folk". This album is the last of three (and one collection of singles/B-sides called "Hard Folk Succession") of their acoustic period, and possibly the best album ever by them.
Originally recorded in 1974, the band had been dumped by their management and without a record label they were in limbo for a few years. In '74 the Tower of Power were in Japan at the time of the recording and the producer brought them in for a couple of tracks on this album including the 1st one "Okurimono". The album starts out with a superb "Hard Funk" piece. There are a few very RC-like "Hard Folk" songs as well. No matter how good the album was, the record executives couldn't tell the difference anyway, and the album went out of print after finally being released in '76. After a "fan" petitioned to get it back into print, it came back out in '79. Every song on this album is brilliant. Kiyoshiro is as original in style as anyone. I highly recommend this CD. Make sure to get the Hagakure Re-Master for the best quality. One of the 10 greatest Japanese albums EVER!"
Review of Single Man(1976)/Rc Succession
R. | R | 09/07/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
""Rc Succession" as well as "Happyend" in which Hosono participates presented the different space of the 70's of the Japanese rock in this album.
It is unexpected that production music in Japan of 70's does a singing voice like Thom Yorke.(track7,10...)"
