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throatsprockets's review
3.0
If you want recommendations for Japanese prog, hard rock & psychedelic records, this is a funny, idiosyncratic and generally entertaining read and you'll find yourself looking up youtube clips of the artists and albums within.
If you want facts, look elsewhere - Cope has admitted that he made up a lot it up, including inventing some bands and creating fictional backstories for some of the real people involved.
If you want facts, look elsewhere - Cope has admitted that he made up a lot it up, including inventing some bands and creating fictional backstories for some of the real people involved.
maurocio's review
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
"Only barbarians are able to rejuvenate a world in the throes of collapsing civilisation." F. Engels
pastaviking's review
5.0
I want this man to review every genre of music. Unbelievably fun, badass, and crazy. Take the image of the book and imagine 300 pages along this language. Nuts!!
sarahnquigley's review
Recommended by a friend and I really wanted to learn about this topic. But the writing made me crazy so I put it down, intending to go back and finish. Alas, I don't actually think I will. It's time to admit it.
totally_different_head's review
4.0
Excellent reference to a scene that few knew little about until the Archdrude put in the major work as he did with Krautrocksampler. The chapters on major players like Flower Travelin Band and Les Rallizes are obviously essential but his attention to lesser known lights as J.A. Caesar, the Far East Family and Mako will lead many music listeners to search them out.
janhicks's review
3.0
Interesting exploration of Japanese post war political, economic, and social history as context for the cross-pollination of Japanese and Western experimental music via jazz, rock and pop. Cope's tastes take priority, naturally, and the focus is on experimental and psychedelic music, with Japanese rock and pop almost dismissed as being superficial and slavishly copyist. He's kinder about jazz, particularly in the creative collaborations between German and Japanese composers, and I'm now aware of more Japanese and German jazz musicians from the 60s and 70s than I was before. Clearly a subject Cope is passionate about, the only niggles I have are with the poor spelling/subbing and the repetition of stories that involve multiple bands in each of those bands' biographies.
erikinternet's review
4.0
found out about a bunch of cool bands, julian cope is a weird writer to be sure
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