Needle Time

  Ryo Kawasaki - Juice [MRBLP252 UK 2022 24-Bit 176.4kHz FLAC] I was bowled over when British label Mr Bongo Records announced this repress of Japanese guitarist, Ryo Kawasaki's funk-fusion masterpiece, Juice .  Having searched out a 1976 original for many years, I was finding it impossible to locate a good clean copy from my usual sources, plus of course a new remaster would restore some of that funky bottom end which gets rolled off on many Japanese pressings at the mastering stage. This release was mastered by Heino Leja at Optimal in Germany and comes wrapped in a high quality tip-on jacket and obi. The sleeve is larger than most, so it requires the same size of protective cover you would need for MoFi, Analogue Productions or Tone Poet releases. At just 20 quid, this release is a bargain. Recorded in New York, with American musicians, the funky interplay between Kawasaki's guitar, Stu Woods' bass and Tom Coster's on the Arp Odyssey & Mini Moog is just superb. E...

  Ryo Kawasaki - Featuring "Concierto De Aranjuez" [PROZ-7902 JPN 2021 24-Bit FLAC] Recorded in a New York home studio with just a Yamaha guitar plugged into a home-made synthesizer, a TR-808, a Boss DR-55 and a Fostex 8-track, Japanese guitar virtuoso Ryo Kawasaki originally released this unique album on Philips Japan in 1982. Here is the first ever repress of this impressive solo album which was overseen by Canadian jazz supremo Gil Evans.. Side one works around the Spanish guitar and reinterpretations of classical work by Manuel De Falla, Joaquín Rodrigo and Ernest Bloch. Side two opens with a jazz-tinged interpretation of Antonio Carlos Jobim's  A Felicidade , before four electronic self-compositions revealing the flexibility & creativity enabled by Kawasaki's synthesizer. The up-tempo Marilyn leans into Tangerine Dream territory and then you get the wonderful chilled beats of  Hawaiian Caravan . Never released in the west, there is much ...