Today’s compilation:
Big Lizard Stomp! Teen Trash from Psychedelic Tokyo 1966-1969, Vol. 2 1990 Group Sounds / Garage Rock / Psychedelic Rock / Freakbeat / Psychedelic Pop
Did you know that in 1966 there was a performance at the Budokan in Tokyo by The Beatles that proved to be so influential that a whole new music scene sprang up in Japan afterwards called group sounds? Well, now you know! And the group sounds scene and sound ended up being influential in its own right too, because as this crop of bands derived their own music from western rock and British beat fare, more and more Japanese acts started to incorporate western sounds and production techniques into their own music as well, opening the door for things like J-pop to arrive. So, not to sound like a total hack invoking some kind of “butterfly effect” thing here, but who knows what the Japanese music of today would sound like had it not been for that lone, very influential Beatles performance? 🤷♂️😅
Anyways, this compilation is amazing. It’s not fully emblematic of the group sounds sound though; there were bands that applied a bit more polish to their work. More specifically, this release captures the more rough hewn, fuzzy and scratchy psychedelic garage sound of this Tokyo-based phenomenon.
So many good highlights on this comp, but the bookends are probably my favorites. Opener’s a piece of garage punk psychosis that has an absolutely wild and totally unexpected harmonica solo in it, and the closer, a John Lee Hooker cover, presents something of a hybrid of blues, garage rock, psychedelic rock, “Green Onions,” and just a pinch of The Beatles. It’s so damn good. And if you’re more daring, check out The Golden Cups’ “Hey Joe,” which sounds nothing like the Jimi Hendrix song by the same name despite having similar lyrics. It’s too wigged-out, drugged, and out there for my personal taste, but I definitely appreciate how wigged-out, drugged, and out there it’s willing to go.
Interestingly, the large majority of these songs are covers that are actually sung in English, and it’s really endearing to hear these Japanese guys put forth a struggling effort to pronounce lyrics in the English language. But there’s another Golden Cups song towards the end of this comp that’s actually sung in Japanese that totally rips too. It sports a great combo of a buzz-scratchy guitar tone and cymbal-heavy percussion 😍.
Another thing I’ll say is that I love how most of these songs are structured overall. They tend to leave a lot of room in the middle for extended instrumental sections, which have a way of allowing the guitarist (usually) to get really fucking nutty with it 🤘🤘🤘🤘.
Oh yeah, and there’s cinematic, suspenseful, film-score-sounding interludes peppered throughout this comp as well. I don’t think those are actually parts of the songs themselves, but were added afterwards by the Planet X label to go along with the whole Godzilla-themed packaging and artwork that they were trying to market this comp with instead. To be honest, in hindsight, it feels a bit insensitive to just slap Godzilla on to this release to signify its Japanese-ness, when it really has fuck-all to do with Godzilla. It’s like putting a McDonald’s logo on some American cultural product that’s not tangentially linked to McDonald’s in any way. At best it’s just plain ignorant.
But don’t let that turn you away from the sounds that are packed within this release, because they really are just flat-out fucking incredible. So much energy and passion and so many unwieldy guitar solos too. Evidently, telling your friends you’re listening to Japanese garage rock from the 60s really is as cool as it sounds!
Highlights:
The Golden Cups - “Got My Mojo Working” Beavers - “Over Under Sideways Down” The Mops - “Haiku” The Spiders - “Johnny B. Goode” D'Swooners - “Purple Haze” The Jaguars - “I’m So Glad” The Golden Cups - “Hiwa-Mata Noboru” The Spiders - “Boom Boom”
