I don’t play guitar. I don’t know the technial aspects of what makes a guitarist great. However, what I can recognize is when a dude is, how you say, shredding. And man can Jeff Beck shred. If anyone checked out my Masayoshi Takanaka post you should definitely check out Wired. I’m pretty sure Beck is Takanaka’s American half brother.
An undated photograph of Jeff Back at one of his infamous afterparties.
***The MP3s are now a totally new rip. I did a better job cleaning the record up both physically and digitally this time around. I think you’ll be pleased with the bombastic Japanese sound. Thanks for listening and enjoy.***
Here’s another album where you can totally judge the content by its cover. First, let’s examine the title: Rainbow Goblins Story. I’m not entirely sure what a Rainbow Goblin is or how I might be lucky enough to encounter one but by the throws of ecstasy that Mr. Takanaka is displaying I would surely like to make their acquaintance. So I’m just going to imagine that Rainbow Goblins are magical creatures that explode from your temporal lobe after ingesting magical mushrooms which, at the time this recording was made, were completely legal in Japan.
However if shrooms were to account Rainbow Goblins Story I would expect to hear a lot more giggling in between tracks on this album. This is far from the case. The audience at Budokan might be the most polite group of spectators to ever enjoy a rockin Japanese symphonic trip into the world’s most delicious technicolor daydream. There’s no whistling, no cheering, no “OH MY GOD MASAYOSHI, THIS PLAYFUL GOBLIN IS CHEWING ON MY COLLARBONE…MAKE IT STOP!” anywhere.
I think I heard “Takanaka!” yelled once by a single raucous gentleman throughout the entire recording and I can only assume that he was forced to perform seppuku in the Budukan’s lost and found by an elite security force that was on hand for just such an occasion.
Budokan Arena
And while the whole silence thing seems sort of strange I’m certainly thankful for it. This album, in true Japanese fashion, is all about precision. Now that doesn’t mean that this is a dainty stroll through Goblin Country with a soundtrack of gentle electric strumming. No, Masayoshi Takanaka shreds hard. Really fucking hard. And with the kind of technical prowess I only thought possible on a synthesizer; you could set your Seiko to Takanaka’s ax. I couldn’t discern one note that should be confused as being off key. It’s a constant barrage of super precise, super fast super badass rocking accompanied by a full crew of strings, synth, and all sorts of percussion. My only gripe is that there wasn’t a Nintendo release based on this album. It would have made a most triumphant 8-bit score.
