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Primitive Community (Red Vinyl)
New official vinyl reissue of one of the great and rarest Japanese psych/jazzrock/prog/?? albums of them all. Toshiaki Yokota is a respected flute player in Japan. Yokota dabbled in the more experimental side of the music spectrum often collaborating with rock musicians. If you are reading this, for the most part everything he's recorded will be of interest to you. Yokota had a band called The Beat Generation that made two great albums in 1970. Primitive Community was the next project and it came out in 1971. In addition to Yokota's exceptional flutework you get wicked guitar from Kimio Mizutani, lots of Hammond organ, and a hell of a lot of percussion. As initially stated the original vinyl goes for mega-bucks. There was a limited vinyl reissue in 2013 that also is quite expensive these days. Hell even the 2011 CD goes for good money! This album touches on so many elements that a prog/psych fan would have interest in that its a clear BUY OR DIE! album. Expensive but worth it.
Tom "Ashra Tom" Hayes summed it up well:
""Toshiaki Yokota and Genshi Kyodotai" is at the meeting place of jazz and rock. That exciting time at the turn of the 1970 decade, long before what is commonly referred to as fusion, when the ambition of free jazz met with rock's exciting psychedelic nature. It wasn't important to display Berklee-trained chops, but rather it was about texture, atmosphere and creativity at its most radical. But fortunately it stops short of free jazz's reckless abandon - that point where it's just noise for the sake of noise. There is meaning to every note, instrument and pattern. As well, we get a peek-through-the-bushes look at a Japanese sacrificial ritual as described by the tribal drumming, Hammond organ shards, wordless monk chanting, Yokota's flute and Mizutani's acid fuzz guitar blazing a wah wah trail all to be one with Kami. And that's BEFORE we get to the Hare Krishna chorus. An album like this becomes mythical because it is mystical. It's in the same league of sixth dimensioners like Älgarnas Trädgård's "Framtiden Är Ett Svävande Skepp, Förankrat I Forntiden", Lula Côrtes e Zé Ramalho's "Paêbirú" or Pierrot Lunaire's "Gudrun". If Rolf-Ulrich Kaiser had heard this band, they would have been signed to the Ohr label on the spot."
"TOSHIAKI YOKOTA is a Japanese flautist who was born in 1944 Tokyo and spearheaded a number of experimental bands since the 1960s. Probably most famous for his project The Beat Generation, he has also been a member of Love Live Life, Takeshi & Sound Limited and this short lived project called PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY also known in the Japanese language as GENSHI - KYODATAI. This sole album from this project emerged in the experimental free-for-all year of 1971 and featured a unique mix of avant-garde jazz, progressive rock and ethnic influences.
This was a huge project actually with seven percussionists, a Hammond organ, guitar, bass, trumpet and of course YOKOTA rockin’ the house with his flute and other woodwinds. Initially only pressed with 300 copies, the album’s cult status has allowed it find a 2011 reissue on the Think! label therefore much more affordable than the massive price the albums were going for before. The album featured eight tracks, originally titled in the Japanese language but Romanized since. The album itself is completely instrumental except for some spoken, shrieked and shouted vocals from time to time.
PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY may be a lot of things but PRIMITIVE is not one of them. This is some seriously cool avant-jazz mixed with progressive rock and perfectly fits into the psychedelic timeline of the late 1960s / early 1970s. Offering a transcendental type of musical motif which gets the album included in the world of raga rock although there are no Indian influences whatsoever, the album rather relies on a variety of bass led grooves and an army of tribal percussion to craft a festive vibe. Add some occasional acid guitar fuzz and a few bluesy licks along with some Hammond organ heft and it’s easy to comprehend on a single listen why this album has held up well after fifty years.
In many ways this album reminds me of a more experimental Santana especially from the “Caravanserai” era with tight-knit percussive grooves accented by psychedelic rock teased out into more progressive arenas as well as jamming sessions. The difference is of course that PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY featured more jazz sounds with an ambitious trumpet player as well as the folk elements delivered by the incessant flute runs. TOSHIAKI played not only alto and bass flutes but also added the subtle sounds of the piccolo and recorder. The rich percussive session featured not only a rock drummer but several ethnic percussive instruments although no taiko drumming despite being a Japanese group.
There’s little to indicate that this project emerged from Japan as it truly sounds like a mix of American avant-jazz mixed with European prog. The album drifts from jazz dominant motifs to drum and bass led rock. At moments when the band breaks into spiritual chants such as on “Hare Krishna” it starts to sound a bit like a religious sermon but these brief moments give a glimpse into the inner workings of the music which the jazz and rock parts build upon until unrecognizable. Overall this is a highly sophisticated yet enjoyable musical experience that is celebratory in nature and delivers a nice balance of accessible hooks but isn’t afraid to go for the experimental jugular either. Early Japanese experimental rock may not be as well known as Western releases but PRIMITIVE COMMUNITY is certainly stands out as one of the better underground releases of the era." - Rate Your Music