Flower Travellin´Band-Make Up (1973)

"Make Up" was the fourth album by the Japanese band Flower Travellin' Band, a double LP recorded due to contractual obligations with Atlantic Records. However, by the time they entered the recording studio, the band, led by percussionist Akira Yamanaka, didn't have enough material to fill all four sides of the double record. As a result, some of the tracks included here are live recordings and other takes that had been discarded from their previous albums. This hodgepodge of material gives the album a certain incoherence, despite containing memorable moments of great psychedelic hard rock and space rock. It begins with the vigorous, driving exercises in heavy rock, propelled by Nobuyuki Shinohara's Hammond organ and Hideki Ishima's lysergic and visceral guitar. Along this path are tracks like "All The Days", "Make Up", and "Slowly But Surely", which contrast with the more subdued "Shadows Of Lost Days", "After the Concert", and "Broken Strings". But it's the epic live recording of "Hiroshima" that best showcases Flower Travellin' Band's crushing hard rock during twenty-five chaotic and visceral minutes, where there's even time for a powerful drum solo by percussionists Akira Yamanaka and Joji Wada.