No Frills Reviews

Having covered five of the most notable metal (or proto-metal) albums from 1970, we now move onto 1971. I’ve skipped over a fairly big one from 1970; Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. It’s rightly recognised as a classic, so I didn’t have much to add; one of the biggest rock bands ever don’t really need me hyping them up more. But, yeah, it’s good.

What is worth pointing out is how soon it came after their first album; barely half a year. When I reviewed their debut, I thought it didn’t really stand up as a classic. It felt like they were still finding their feet. But in such a short time, they managed to fully realise their sound. They cut out some of the meandering jam tendencies and found the sweet spot lyrically. The vaguely dark lyrics are replaced by anti-war rhetoric. And, while there’s still an element of fantasy, it’s less bullshit about wizards and more metaphors about man-made destruction. Which is provided a perfect backdrop by the doom metal sound which they pioneered. For me, it’s the first genuine classic of heavy metal.

But, this review is concentrated on something a bit more obscure. Based on the name, you may mistakenly think that Flower Travellin’ Band would be in the tradition of the 60’s hippy folk scene. However, that’s a bit of a red herring as they were another band who may not have found wide commercial success, but still acted as early pioneers (or at least adopters) of the metal sound.

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Imagine the bastard Japanese love-child of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, and you’d probably get something like Flower Travellin’ Band. Satori was the band’s first album of original material; they had previously released covers albums in their original incarnation of Yuya Uchida & the Flowers, plus the 1970 debut album, Anywhere, by the ‘classic’ line-up.

This line-up saw the introduction of singer, Jo Yamanaka. His life sounds like something out of a film. Born in a brothel, his mother was a prostitute for the Recreation and Amusement Association; a Japanese government initiative to provide organised prostitution catering to Allied troops following World War II. He never met his biological father, but believed him to be a US solider from Cuba or Jamaica. He would grow up in an orphanage following the death of his mother and step-father. At 16, he became a boxer, then moved onto acting; where he became known as one of the ‘real tough guys’ of Japanese cinema. Musically, in addition to the Flower Travellin’ Band and a solo career, he would become lead singer with The Wailers following the death of Bob Marley. I should probably link this into something about how his background is reflected lyrically or through his vocals. But the lyrics here are a bit of an irrelevance and his vocals combine an Ozzy-ish drawl interspersed with Robert Plant-style wails. So there’s no deeper point to be made here, but c’mon, that’s an eventful life for a dude you’ve probably never heard of.

Satori was fairly hastily recorded; completed in just two days as the band decided to relocate to Canada and wanted a record to take with them. There’s no song titles as such, with the album broken up into five parts, ranging from five to eleven minutes long.

The opener starts off fairly timid, before a Plant-esque scream announces that it’s time to rock. That welcomes in big Sabbath-style doom riffs, which then morph into a faster-paced, punk chug reminiscent of The Stooges. The five minutes continue along this course, often threatening to really take off, before dropping back into that doomy sludge.

Part II introduces a much more overtly psychedelic edge, beginning with big mystical riffs, and a marching rhythm signalling that you’re being taken on a journey. The song maintains that feel throughout its seven minutes, like you’re being guided through a desert trek. That big mystical riff keeps coming back as if to push the journey onto its next phase.

Part III again goes deep into psychedelia and it’s a perfectly decent psych rock jam, but doesn’t pull off the epic qualities of Part II despite its ten minute length. This is where you start to get the sense of the album being rushed as the band lean into slightly aimless improvisation.

Part IV is even longer, but it has more intent. It begins with harmonica-led blues, which spins off into six minutes of jamming, before they pick up where they left off to finish the tune as if nothing had happened. They go back to the slower Sabbath-style sludge on Part V; it’s perfectly ok but things fizzle out slightly as the album comes to an end. Although they do throw in a stereotypical Japanese gong to mark the finish.

Despite its strengths, it’s an album that too often meanders across its 42 minute runtime, making it more of an interesting artefact in rock history rather than a classic. It feels more notable as a reflection of the quick evolution of Metal as a genre; not long after Sabbath came onto the scene, you can already start to see bands emulating the style. That’s not to say this is just a case of imitation. They certainly incorporate elements from a number of heavy rock’s heavy-hitters; the Sabbath and Led Zep comparisons in particular hit you in the face with the vocals. But they use these influences to develop their own twist on the sound; more psychedelic and with a slightly indefinable Eastern quality … maybe it’s just the gong noise.

Best Tune: Part I (You could also just skip Parts III & V to make this a pretty great <25 minute album)

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