P-Model (album)

P-MODEL
Studio album by P-MODEL
Released	February 26, 1992 (1992-02-26) May 2, 2012 (2012-05-02) (Reissue)
Genre	Electronic Rock Techno Technopop
Label	Pioneer LDC, Polydor K.K. Tower Records Japan (Reissue)
Producer	Susumu Hirasawa Yuichi Kenjo
P-MODEL chronology
MONSTER (unreleased) P-MODEL (1992) big body (1993)

P-MODEL is the eighth studio album by P-MODEL and the first after the band was "defrosted". Instead of the band last lineup returning (Sadatoshi Tainaka, Teruo Nakano and Hikaru Kotobuki), a new lineup is formed, with returning members Katsuhiko Akiyama (P-MODEL founding member, first to leave, appeared on IN A MODEL ROOM and LANDSALE, joined Hirasawa' live solo band on 2 tours and provided vocals for The Ghost in Science) & Hikaru Kotobuki (last P-MODEL member to join, did not appear on MONSTER due it never being recorded and him not being part of the band when it was conceptualized, Hirasawa's solo live band keyboardist from 1989 to 1992) and new member Yasuchika Fujii (member of THE GROOVERS, who had collaborated constantly with Hirasawa, provided vocals for Virtual Rabbit, joined Hirasawa' live solo band on 1 tour and various events). Although P-MODEL had performed a show on the "ERROR FORCE" event, it wasn't either their last lineup or the Defrosted lineup (although it had Akiyama and Kotobuki in it), it was a joke revival of the band; they officially came back in the "ERROR OF UNIVERSE" show, with the style of this album, although they did not play any of the songs from this album; they performed one other time at the "I3DAYS" event, were they played "SPEED TUBE" and "2D OR NOT 2D".^[1] This album has P-MODEL returning to Technopop, which they had abandoned on Potpourri, however, they played a cyber-techno style, with lyrics focusing on science, technology and computers (although "VISTA" and "NO ROOM" use their early methods, and the album follows on where the group left off being being frozen); the position of bassist/other was replaced for a second keyboardist role, Kotobuki's voice has a robotic filter applied to it when singing backing vocals, the band started using the Sequencer, which was activated by Fujii using a trigger on his Bass drum; it shares this style with big body, which has a dual relationship with this album (similar to the one between IN A MODEL ROOM and LANDSALE). The album's liner notes feature photos of the band wearing black leather outfits with straps, which they used on their 1992 shows ("P-MODEL TOUR'92", "TOUR ON GRID" and "Nōritsu no Yokan"), which limited movement of the upper body.^[2] The album was remastered by Hirasawa and re-released on the Ashu-on [Sound Subspecies] in the solar system box set on 10 May 2002; it was put on CD 7, with big body. big body and this album were compiled and released as GOLDEN☆BEST in 8 September 2004; this release alters and/or removes elements from the albums' liner notes.

Track listing

Track information

• SPEED TUBE uses vocals from STONE AGE! played backwards in its bridge. Live versions by P-MODEL were included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video and the PAUSE album, a live version performed by Hirasawa as KAKU P-MODEL was included in the LIVE VISTORON video.
• 2D OR NOT 2D had a Promotional Video filmed for it, with CG models made on an AMIGA by Hirasawa, the band appears through the video by chroma key, dressed with the costumes used on the album's liner notes. Live versions were included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video (which also has the song's PV) and the PAUSE album; it was used as a tie-up song on WOWOW. The song has a big body counterpart in NEOTENY BOX.
• STONE AGE! had vocals played backwards in the bridge of SPEED TUBE. live versions by P-MODEL were included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video and the PAUSE album, a live version performed by Hirasawa as KAKU P-MODEL was included as a bonus in the LIVE VISTORON video (it includes a recording of the last KAKU P-MODEL show as the feature presentation, with recordings of songs that were played in other KAKU P-MODEL shows but not the last one as a bonus).
• WIRE SELF had live versions by Defrosted P-MODEL were included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video and the PAUSE album, a live version performed by Revised P-MODEL was included in the ENDING ERROR video. Hirasawa remade the song in a symphonic, orchestral, string-oriented style as part of "The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS" project, this version was released on the Totsu-Gen-Hen-I album, where Hirasawa used the English Amiga narration with Japanese VOCALOID narration overlaid on it; this version of the song had 4 sketches released by Hirasawa on the Kangen Shugi website as he worked on it;^{[3][4][5][6][7]} a live performance of this version by Hirasawa was included in the Tokyo I-jigen Kudou video.
• CLEAR has Akiyama singing lead vocals.
• VISTA uses composition similar to that of P-MODEL songs from IN A MODEL ROOM/LANDSALE.
• GRID had a PV filmed for it, with Hirasawa singing while green-screened on top of his AMIGA generated footage, with filters being heavily applied throughout the video; images of the other P-MODEL members appear occasionally through the video, it was included in BITMAP ～1979-1992～. A live version was included on the PAUSE album, where the song is stopped halfway through due to "Machine Trouble", which gives the album its title; a live version performed by Hirasawa as KAKU P-MODEL was included as a bonus in the LIVE VISTORON video.
• LAB=01 has both Hirasawa and Kotobuki singing lead vocals; the song has 2 sets of lyrics: "LAB-0" and "LAB=1", Hirasawa sings 0, while Kotobuki sings 1; 0 and 1 are played, on a stereo, from left to right on the channels. Kotobuki (with Phnonpenh MODEL) remade the song in a parodic, A cappella style as "LuLuLu-Man" (ルルル男, RuRuRu Otoko), this version was released on the Desk Top Hard Lock album, where Hirasawa does not receive any credit on the song. A live version was included on the PAUSE album, where it had a guitar solo added to it.
• ERROR OF UNIVERSE has heavily filtered vocals in English and Japanese (delivered as monologue), with the main vocal being low-pitched and secondary vocal being high-pitched, as if it was sung by a broken machine. A live version was included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video.
• PSYCHOID had a live version by Defrosted P-MODEL was included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video and the PAUSE album, a live version performed by Revised P-MODEL was included in the ENDING ERROR video. The song features Hirasawa groaning and an abrupt end.
• NO ROOM is a bonus/secret track, PSYCHOID, while lasting only 3 minutes and 20 seconds, has a track that lasts 8 minutes and 48 seconds, NO ROOM starts 3 minutes after the end of PSYCHOID. The song is a self-tribute of ART MANIA, the opening song of IN A MODEL ROOM, P-MODEL's first single and their biggest hit, with its intro and bridge being rerecorded for this song. A live version was included in the BITMAP ～1979-1992～ video; the song was played live in an up-tempo version, with new lyrics in the fourth set. The song also shares its name with Hirasawa's website. The song's lyrics were written in the inside of the back-jacket of the CD, but were omitted in GOLDEN☆BEST.

Personnel

• Susumu Hirasawa - Vocals, Guitar, Synthesizer, Computer programming, Amiga, Production, Mixing Engineer
• Katsuhiko Akiyama - Synthesizer, Computer programming, Amiga, Vocals
• Hikaru Kotobuki - Synthesizer, Computer programming, Amiga, Vocals
• Yasuchika Fujii - Electronic Drums
• Yuichi Kenjo - Production
• Masanori Chinzei - Engineering (Mixing/Recording)

References

1. ↑ "P-MODEL Live Data 1990-1993". MODEROOM. Fascination, inc. 
2. ↑ SPEED TUBE performance and Interview
3. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "WIRE SELF　スケッチ１". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union. 
4. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "WIRE SELF スケッチ２". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union. 
5. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "WIRE SELF　スケッチ１". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union. 
6. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "WIRE SELFスケッチ３". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union. 
7. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "WIRE SELFスケッチ4 ギター間奏". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union. 

External links

• P-MODEL at MusicBrainz
• P-MODEL at NO ROOM - The official site of Susumu Hirasawa (P-MODEL)