Japrocksampler: How the Post-War Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll

Japrocksampler is entertainingly written and it's fine if you're just looking for an intro to Flower Travellin' Band and some of the Fluxus-related stuff. However, I'm giving three stars because Cope writes as if he's more familiar with the material than he actually is. His sourcing is shady and he seems to have leaned heavily on just a couple of narratives available in English. He's also really biased against the Tigers for some reason despite not seeming to know much about them, including thinking Toppo was two different people because he uses two names at different points in his career.Cope's disdain for mainstream Japanese music and his constant referencing of Western rock bands (as if that's the focal point for all Japanese music) began to grate after a while, which also makes me lean towards three stars.You also get a distorted impression of Flower Travellin' Band, who were marginal to mainstream rock at best, and better known outside Japan. But, it's better than the NOTHING ELSE available on the topic. So go for it but be warned that the book isn't 100% accurate.

This is a great starting point for those curious about the now-defunct greats of the past, from Rallizes and their hikikomori frontman to Pepe and his howling stories about walking drugstores. Some have said that Cope's writing sits between tedium and masturbatory glee, and I tend to agree. Those who read Krautrock sampler will notice the many parallels Cope tries (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) to make between the two scenes, sometimes letting his own language trip him up. By the time he said "sub-sub-sub-Cosmic Jokers" for the 4th time, I was thinking of all the drinking game rules that could be made about coping with long exposure to UV rays (staring at sun similar to reading this book) and the -ahem- "Ur-babel" of Cope's writing. It leaves nothing to be wanted on the solo, but the rhythm and factual beats are sometimes pushed back in the wall of sound that screaming about your favorite bands makes--fair enough, I guess. Something to be said of this fun. Check out how you feel about these bands, then check the top 50 "mini-reviews" in the back, read one or two, and see if you'd like to dig further. Recommend the music HARDD--I just don't want to be blamed when your teardrop explodes.

The cover is quite enticing, and so is the subject matter, but the writing is cumbersome, boring, pretentious. The author takes quite a long time to get to the main topic. He needs a more hands-on editor.

A witty, well-researched and compellingly readable history.

It's okay. Buy it if you can get it cheap.

great item highly suggested

Awesome

Julian Cope, the great rock 'n' roll literary yeti, follows up a book flouting his passion for Krautrock (i.e. psychedelic/electronic German music of the Seventies) with a book flouting his passion for Japrock (i.e. psychedelic/electronic Japanese music of the Seventies). The book goes waaaaay back to the thirties, forties and fifties, getting into Stockhausen, John Cage, and the first Japanese musicians to make avant garde music. At some point, Yoko Ono comes into the scene, and eventually John Lennon. The Japanese, at another point, become infatuated with the Ventures, and eventually rock bands appear. This movement goes corporate, and at one point rebels appear and dream up their own mind-bending experiments in sound and amplification. Cope launches into descriptions of his favourite bands Flower Travellin' Band, Les Razllizes Denudes (whose bass player got involved with the highjacking of a plane to North Korea - really!), Speed Glue & Shinki, Taj Mahal Travellers, JA Caesar, Far East Family Band, and a bunch of other long-hairs. Cope's passion is abundant, and it's clear that he's spend tens of thousands of dollars buying Japanese vinyl of all eras, and has probably made use of many Japanese volunteers who translated material and explained situations to him, lingering in the country at many points in his life too, perhaps. His writing is fluid, amusing and creative, and the story is fascinating as it unfolds. The book is intelligent and highly entertaining and Cope's descriptions make me want to hear more of these bands. As criticisms, I'd say that parts of the book are uneven - some musicians are given long biographies, while others are left as mysteries; and considering that writing about music is like dancing about architecture, what we really need to accompany the book is a sampler CD. Cope overuses certain words, such as "melted plastic brain" (we sometimes feel like we need to have dropped acid to understand his descriptions of some of these bands and their musical world-views, as well as his description of their sonic output) and "komische," and there are altogether too many mentions of the Velvet Underground and the various Krautrock bands; I could have also put together a decent list of Japanese typos. But these are probably quibbles - Cope has busted open a field that needs more recognition with humour and verve, a cultural and musical anthropologist (it's a small field) extraordinaire.

If you've done Krautrock and looking for something else to learn about then this is highly recommended. Copey is a wonderful writer and he does a brilliant, and often laugh-out-loud job, of bringing this whole genre to life.Part 1 is background, history and cultural stuff (I have skipped a fair bit of this). Part 2 is all about the bands and believe me, there's some great music to be discovered here. My personal fave being Far Out / Far East Family Band.Yes, I've spent a few quid on Discogs on the back of this book and likely to spend a few more too! Grab it before it rises to an astronomical price that only the mega-rich can afford :-)

Much is said about whether or not half the anecdotes in this book are actually true or just products of Cope's vivid storytelling, but regardless it provides background on a seminal period and region of rock music that is not widely covered elsewhere. Worth it alone for Cope's run-down of essential Japanese rock albums. For those enthralled by Les Rallizes Denudes, Flower Travelin Band et al this is essential.

Interesting!

10/10 great book lots of info and well written.

Cope does enthusiasm with style. I would be surprised if you don't get hold of some of the music after reading this.