1 Happy End – Kazemachi Roman (1971)

Kazemachi Roman has the untouchable honor of receiving Rolling Stone Japan’s best Japanese album of all time (in a list made by the contributing editor Kawaski Dasuke). Something which inherently lobs it into the great pantheon of “important” albums like Sgt. Pepper or Highway 61 which would top our own Rolling Stones list. And while it’s probably quite unfair to do that to any album, the question has to be asked, does it stack up?

To understand such a placement, you really have to look at the larger picture of Japanese music before and after Happy End. They were, as all truly great bands are, both the beginning and the end all wrapped into one. Succumbing into international homogeneity while also becoming the first distinctly Japanese band, bringing life to the multinational/hyper-nationalistic existence that defined the Japanese zeitgeist in the 20th century. But let’s walk it back for a second.

After the unpredicted commercial success of their debut album, a psych-rock/folk-rock masterpiece in it’s own right, the band began turning their eye to the state of Japan as a whole. Happy End were, at the time, involved in one of Japan’s biggest musical growing-pains called the “Japanese-Language Rock Controversy”. A debate which saw Happy End pitted against other prominent Japanese rock bands, primarily the Flower Travellin’ Band, about what language rock and roll should be sung in. Many on the English side even posited that the Japanese language would never work with rock and roll rhythms as well as the English language, and would prevent Japanese music from having a cultural impact outside Japan. A decidedly complex argument that was tied to the fractured mentality of Japan in the decades following WW2.

With the mounting outward and inward pressure of Japanese identity looming over Happy End’s heads, along with the mounting commercial pressure they were now under, they headed into the studio to record what would become Kazemachi Roman, or Wind City Romance.

The album was a concept project, one which captured Tokyo during the 1964 Summer Olympics, a populist turning point for the country, as Japan re-entered the world stage after the tough post-WW2 years. The music was warmer and less prone to experimentation and harsh detours than their previous work, but the songwriting and playing had reached a level of refinement that transcended. Playing not towards international and bodily ends, but to the subtle perversions of dysphoria that plagued their home. The mix is beautifully sparse, with each instrument clearly sitting in their own space. All ephemeral drumlines and weightless guitar melodies which seem to drift in on a whim through the breeze of a window. It was a towering testament to a country’s dreamy melancholy. A feeling of nostalgia set aside with care as they pushed on to forge a new path.

If you’re looking for more Japanese music try this ‘Further Reading’ list by us for twenty more albums to continue your journey.

If you’re looking for more modern Japanese music try our list of 2018’s best Japanese albums so far.

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