加藤和彦
うたかたのオペラ
Warner Pioneer (Japan) 1980
K-12001W (LP+7”) w/insert.
sleeve : EX+
media : EX+/EX+(some slightly noises.)
This is a solo album released in 1980 by Kazuhiko Kato, a pioneer of the Japanese music scene who formed The Folk Crusaders in the late 60s and Sadistic Mika Band in the 70s. The album was recorded in West Berlin before the fall of the Wall, and was fully backed by the YMO team including Haruomi Hosono (b,synth), Yukihiro Takahashi (dr), Ryuichi Sakamoto (p,synth), Kenji Omura (g), Hideki Matsutake (cp) and Akiko Yano (p). The sound production, with its extensive use of electronics, is extremely radical. B1, with Koichi Makigami on vocals and Kato and Hosono on electronics, has a decadent and aesthetic atmosphere that recalls the situation in Berlin at that time. It comes with a limited edition single-sided 7" single, and the dub version on it is also excellent.
B1: S-Bahn EP: Around The World (Dub Version)