Casiopea (album)
| Casiopea | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Casiopea | ||||
| Released | May 25, 1979 | |||
| Recorded |
Studio "A", Shibaura, Tokyo from December 1978 to March 1979. | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion | |||
| Length | 36:28 | |||
| Label | Alfa Records ALR-6017 | |||
| Producer | Kunihiko Murai, Syoro Kawazoe | |||
| Casiopea chronology | ||||
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Casiopea was the debut album of the jazz fusion group Casiopea released in 1979. The album showed two racecars racing each other on a raceway.
Recorded between December 1978 and March 1979, "Casiopea" is Casiopea's self-titled debut album. The Album's release date, May 1979, marked a strong beginning in their Career, and even though the lineup in the band didn't remain as such, and some of the members were replaced a couple of years later, the band had already the sound that becomes its trademark in later albums, a sound provided by Frontman and Guitarist Issei Noro as well as Keyboardist Minoru Mukaiya, both of which are Original, Never Replaced, members of Casiopea. The album includes the participation of some notable contemporary Jazz players as David Sanborn on the Saxophone, giving a special touch to Issei Noro's compositions, tunes like Black Joke are part of the multiple performances and variances along Casiopea's career. In some of Casiopea's Later Albums, Black Joke and Midnight Rendezvous are 2 songs that Casiopea sometimes Re-records, and Performs, in different Variations.
"Casiopea" is an excellent debut album that absolutely will guide New Casiopea fans to their vast career. The album is undoubtedly a good point to start up, and it's important to remark that the band started to tour in Japan very early and an album in live was launched just a year later of their formation, being Casiopea's debut album a historic point of reference.
The Casiopea discography has become very collectible, the band is not as popular as many Jazz bands but counts with thousands of fans around the world. This album was recorded on LP in 1979 as ALR-6017 and years later in 1986 on CD under the 32XA-104 catalog numbers, being the first editions on both LP and CD.
Track listing
All tracks were written and arranged by Issei Noro except horn arranged by Jun Fukamachi and strings arranged by Hiroki Inui.
| Side A | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Time Limit" | 3:07 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Tears of the Star" | 4:32 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Space Road" | 5:14 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Midnight Rendezvous" | 5:20 | ||||||||
| Side B | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 1. | "Far Away" | 3:55 | ||||||||
| 2. | "Swallow" | 4:24 | ||||||||
| 3. | "Dream Hill" | 5:39 | ||||||||
| 4. | "Black Joke" | 4:17 | ||||||||
Personnel
CASIOPEA are
- Issei Noro - Electric guitar, Acoustic Guitar, YAMAHA SG2000, Vocals
- Minoru Mukaiya - Fender Rhodes, Piano, Synthesizers, YAMAHA EX-1, Vibe
- Tetsuo Sakurai - Bass, Fender Jazz Bass
- Takashi Sasaki - Drums
HORNS
STRINGS
- "Tomato" strings
Production
- Kunihiko Murai - Executive Producer
- Syoro Kawazoe - Executive Producer
- Shinji Sawada - Producer
- Kazusuke Obi - Producer
- Al Schmitt - Recording engineer
- Norio Yoshizawa - Recording engineer
- Yasuhiko Terada - Recording engineer
- Mitsuo Koike - Assistant engineer
- Neil Dorfsman - Recording engineer
- James Farber - Assistant engineer
- Yasuhiko Terada - Mixing engineer
- Art Direction & Design - ALPHABET (nh ad system)
- Photographer - Shigeru Wada
- Illustrator - Toshikuni Okubo
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | May 25, 1979 | Alfa Records | stereo LP | ALR-6017 | 30 cm |
| Japan | December 21, 1986 | Alfa Records | CD | 32XA-104 | |
| Japan | March 21, 1992[1] | Alfa Records | CD | ALCA-271 | |
| Japan | June 29, 1994[1] | Alfa Records | CD | ALCA-9001 | |
| Japan | July 23, 1998[1] | Alfa Records | CD | ALCA-9196 | |
| Japan | May 31, 2000[1] | Toshiba EMI | remastered CD | TOCT-24364 | LP paper jacket |
| Japan | December 19, 2001[1] | Village Records | remastered CD | VRCL-2201 | DSD, LP paper jacket |
| Japan | January 17, 2002[1] | Village Records | remastered CD | VRCL-2221 | DSD |
| Japan | May 27, 2009[1] | Sony Music Direct | remastered CD | MHCL-20003 | DSD, Blu-spec CD, LP paper jacket |
References
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