Stomu Yamash'ta and his Red Buddha Theatre are a collective of very talented Japanese musicians.
The recordings on this album were made in France and England.
An interesting and full description of Stomu Yamash'ta and his Red Buddha Theatre is included inside the gatefold, along with some nice photographs taken during the production of The Man From The East
So what is "experimental"? I hear you ask...
First up, it is very melodic and not a jumble of what sound like unrelated sounds - it has structure. Many instruments are used and there is also vocal "sounds" (such as laughter, throat noises like "yip yip yip" etc) along with some female singing in what might be described as a typical traditional Japanese style. I listened to this album a number times, once is not enough. For me, I found it very interesting and often very smooth, flowing music - a real blend, at times easy listening then soft rock and even at times quite tribal in nature because of the rhythm and beats.
Some of the instruments used are:
Drums
Electric Piano
Bass guitar
Soprano Sax
Marimba
Shamisen
Hand Drum
Timpani
Violin
Claves
Triangles
Cowbells
Flute
Organ
Overall, I guess this might be described as musical theatre, Japanese style - they were certainly very well received back in the early 1970's
Stomu Yamash'ta's Red Buddha Theatre - Soundtrack from The Man From The East
Island Records
Cat# ILPS-9228
1973
UK release
Gatefold cover is in very good condition, includes the original black paper sleeve
New plastic liner sleeve
The dynamic range of the audio on this record is very wide, this means that there are very very soft passages and more "normal" level passages - along with the quiet passages is the low level surface noise. The recording is not compressed all to hell as is often the case with modern recordings.
Vinyl is in very good - excellent condition, inspected under a white halogen light source, I can see a few very light scratches. I then played both sides, and because the audio levels of the music are often so low, I can hear light surface noise at times and the occasional click & pop but in my opinion these are not significant to my ears.
Tracks: Sunrise, My Little Friend, What A Way To Live In Modern Times, Mountain Pass, Mandala, Memory Of Hiroshima
