About

Flower Travelling Band was Japan's answer to Led Zeppelin meeting Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath at the Ash Ra Temple. Simply put, they played grand, spacey, tripped-out hard rock with a riffy base that was only two steps removed from the blues, but their manner of interpreting those steps came from an acid trip. Flower Travelling Band was an entity unto itself. There are five tracks on this set, originally released in 1971 as the band's second album proper. 

It has been reissued in Japan, with the cover depicting a silhouette drawing of the Buddha in meditative equipoise filled in with sketches of an inner universe mandala of the sacred Mount Meru, stupas, and the hash smoking caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, Japanese sci-fi robot cartoons, and more. And the music is reflected in this inner universal realm on five different sections of Satori. From power chords to Eastern-tinged, North African, six-string freakouts, to crashing tom toms, to basses blasting into the red zone, Satori is a journey to the center of someplace that seems familiar but has never before been visited. It is a new sonic universe constructed from cast-off elements of the popular culture of the LSD generation. 

Forget everything you know about hard rock from the 1970s until you've put this one through your headphones. It's monolithic, expansive, flipped to wig city, and full of a beach blanket bong-out muscularity. In other words, this is a "real" classic and worth any price you happen to pay for it. — (via AllMusic)

Originally envisioned as a female-fronted Japanese heavy rock cover act called the Flowers by entertainer and "entrepreneur" Yuya Uchida, the Flower Travellin' Band would eventually chart their own course, becoming an underground influence on later metal acts, and counting one Julian Cope as a disciple. As the Flowers, (original) vocalist Remi Aso, guitarist Hideki Ishima, bassist Jun Kowzuki, and drummer Joji Wada released their debut, Challenge, in 1969. Flower Travellin' Band had followed the seismic proto-prog metal of 1971's career-defining Satori album by allowing themselves to be significantly neutered by a jazz-loving keyboard-playing producer on 1972's Made in Japan - which was in fact recorded in Canada. 

Satori, changed the perception of the Flower Travellin' Band forever. With Akira 'Joe' Yamanaka as vocalist, the band stood out from other Japanese groups imitating British and American bands of the time. It's a conceptual hard rock-psych album with Hideki Ishima's furious guitar licks, a driving rhythm section, and Yamanaka's unique vocals. This album is a true rock classic that showcases the band's musical prowess. the music is reflected in this inner universal realm on five different sections of Satori. From power chords to Eastern-tinged, North African, six-string freakouts, to crashing tom toms, to basses blasting into the red zone, Satori is a journey to the center of someplace that seems familiar but has never before been visited. It is a new sonic universe constructed from cast-off elements of the popular culture of the LSD generation. Forget everything you know about hard rock from the 1970s until you've put this one through your headphones or speakers. It's monolithic, expansive, flipped to wig city, and full of a beach blanket bong-out muscularity. — (via Label)
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2024 Japan reissue from 2017 digital 96khz 24bit remaster
On white vinyl

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Label: Atlantic, HMV Record Shop
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Gatefold, White Vinyl
Reissued: 2024 / Original Release: 1971
Genre: Japanese, Rock
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Acid Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, Blues Rock, Folk Rock

File under: Psychedelic Rock
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