Harumi - 1968 Psychedelic Music

Harumi - 1968

Today you're escaping to 1968! 

Harumi was a Japanese singer/song writer who came to the US in 1968 to put out one of the wildest, if unheralded albums of the 60s.   Producer Tom Wilson assembled a psychedelic collection of pop, Eastern folk, and experimental music and production techniques, with sounds, textures, and atmospheres that incorporated everything from strings and horns to Japanese folk instruments to vibraphones and plenty of guitars and drums and organ.  As to how it sounds: at times the phasing on the guitars and drums nearly turns the album into a self parody, but the melodies tend to save the day.

As for Harumi's voice....  It's a thin voice that's at times strained past its breaking point when Harumi reaches for a high note.  It's the sort of voice that neither makes nor breaks a song. Where the melody carries the tune, the song works. When the song could benefit from a singer of distinction, it fails.

Of the 13 tracks on these two albums, 11 are of conventional length pop songs. I've made this part of the album available for separate download. They are terrific, phased out, psych rock and orchestrated pop.

The last two tracks make up the second LP of the double album. They are 'experimental" meaning that while they naturally pique your curiosity, they ultimately disappoint. 

"Twice Told Tales of the Pomegranate Forest" and "Samurai Memories," are 24 minutes and 18 minutes long, respectively. These two have plenty of cosmic spoken word by Wilson, hip New York Dj 'Rosko' and Harumi, and on the past by his parents and his sister. The first of these, the longer one, is a bit difficult to take with its slow pace, minimal orchestration, and nearly nonsensical story. The second one, with its discotheque go-go boots beat and orchestration, phased sounds, and Japanese language, is a bit easier to listen to at first, but ultimately likely to strain anyone's patience.  

 

1.Talk About It  *****
2.First Impressions ***
3.Don't Know What I'm Gonna Do ***
4.Hello ***
5.Sugar In Your Tea ****
6.Caravan *** 1/2
7.Hunters Of Heaven **
8.Hurry Up Now **
9.What A Day For Me **
10.We Love ***
11.Fire By The River ***

Sides 1&2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OBCBI4L4

Sides 3 & 4 
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HV30V8A7

12.Twice Told Tales The Pomegranate Forest *
13.Samurai Memories **

My Rating System

My rating system:

***** - Hey Jude, Blowin' In The Wind, and so on.

**** 1/2* - Near great

**** - The sort of song you find yourself humming to yourself, long after the song is over

*** - Good. Just good.

** - competent, but otherwise boring/bland or simply too derivative

* - Unlistenable. Attempts to force yourself to listen simply fail, as your mind wanders

Timon

Today you're escaping to 1968! 

The first album I've made available on the site is one not available anywhere else on the net, mainly because it doesn't exist - yet.

Timon is a singer/song writer who became better known in the 70s when he renamed himself Tymon Dogg, started playing the violin and began hanging out with Joe Strummer of the Clash. (For those interested in his later work, check out a high quality fan created site: http://www.tymondogg.net/)

However, before all that, he wrote some terrific acoustic guitar driven melodies. Unfortunately, he only managed to have two singles released  during this era of his career. Fortunately, one of them, "The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane" was placed on the Nuggets II box set, which inspired me to track down as many mp3s of his in existence. This led to a rather short, 7 track album that I've cobbled together (with help from Tymondogg.net) that I've uploaded here:

Link:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R608UJMP

Review:

Track Listing (Song ratings are 1-5 stars)

1) I am Not Important ****
2) Rambling Boy ***
3) Seagull ***
4) And Now She Says She's Young ****
5) I'm Just a Traveling Man ***
6) The Bitter Thoughts of Little Jane ****
7) Who Are You? ***

The first track, "I am Not Important" is a lofi recording of just Timon with his acoustic guitar. Basic open E and A chords, with a simple repeated lead. Yet it sounds magical. Seagull and Who are You are recorded in a similar vein, and Timon's plaintive vocals are a stand out for each.

The rest of the album is made up from the singles Bitter Thoughts/Rambling Boy and And Now She Says She's Young/I'm Just a Traveling Man, meaning that these tracks are polished studio efforts. They're backed with strings/brass, but none of them are overproduced. In fact, to give you an idea of the quality of the studio recordings, Bitter Thoughts features future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page on guitar and John Paul Jones on bass. 

As to what is so intriguing about Timon, I think the lyrics to The Bitter Thoughts Of Little Jane say it best:

The bitter thoughts of Little Jane
are locked away
and will remain
unspoken
Been let down
And kicked around
been sent away
without her token

Chorus: 
But she'll find her place
she'll find a head to pound on

Never cries
or even tries
so no-one really knows 
she wants to die
been too long
on her own,
she's growing old
she's growing cold
 
Chorus

Peter's playing
with his trains 
And Sally kisses
her dolls again 
Andrew plays
at wild cowboys
But Little Jane
she's got no toys 

Chorus

All the vibe of Alice Cooper at his most twisted, but with a surreal backing of pretty pop balladry...

Download the heck out of this.