Water in Time and Space
| Water in Time and Space | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Susumu Hirasawa | ||||
| Released | September 1, 1989 | |||
| Recorded | April – May 1989 | |||
| Studio | ||||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:16 | |||
| Label | Polydor K.K. | |||
| Producer | Susumu Hirasawa | |||
| Susumu Hirasawa chronology | ||||
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Water in Time and Space (時空の水 Jikū no Mizu) is Susumu Hirasawa's first solo album. It is the first part of a trilogy, with The Ghost in Science being the second, and Virtual Rabbit being the third.
Background
In December 1988, P-Model, the post-punk/new wave band that Susumu Hirasawa was the leader of, was "frozen" after spending 2 years being unable to arrange a recording deal; the album they planned to record, Monster, would have continued the style built up in One Pattern & been themed around Jungian psychology and Japanese folk tales (Hirasawa was particularly inspired by Hayao Kawai's The Japanese Psyche: Major Motifs in the Fairy Tales of Japan[1]). Songwriting duties were shared among P-Model members, with Hirasawa writing 5 songs for it.[2]
While working with P-Model, Hirasawa also maintained some projects at the same time, namely Shun and Fukō Project, where Hirasawa made sampling experiments with the technology he was using; through those two and P-Model side-releases, Hirasawa also developed new arrangements of older songs. Hirasawa was also carving out a career as an amateur CG artist in the beginning of 1989, establishing the private label "Photon" to distribute tapes through a mail order circle; he also took to untying his other outlets from P-Model; he changed the names of his management office from "Model House" to "Octave" and (a month after the album's release) of his official fanclub from "Moire Club" to "Hirasawa Bypass" (Moire Club's newsletter's 12th and last issue was dedicated to P-Model's end, detailing the history of the band, reporting on their last show and listing what the other members would do after the band's end; Hirasawa Bypass' 1st, on the other hand, was dedicated to Water in Time and Space, detailing its recording, the support tour and Hirasawa's solo backing band[3]). In the 4th of April, Hirasawa signed a contract with Polydor and started recording the album in Polydor's studios, taking only a month to do so. His first solo tour took place one month later.
Composition
Since 1986, Hirasawa had been expanding his musical landscape, and his sampling experiments had gotten a different aspect from 1987 onwards. both of which is reflected on this album. The press release defines the genre as "Isotonic Pop" (アイソトニック・ポップ Aisotonikku Poppu).
Water in Time and Space features a large variety of styles, such as march, western and folk; influenced by some Jungian and Andean themes. Free from the constraints of P-Model, the album lacks the nerved energy of the band, having a light and brisk feel, featuring acoustic sounds significantly (being one of Hirasawa's least electronic works). The rhythms are often built on "found" sounds, such as bird chirping and coin rolling. Half of Water in Time and Space is original material, the other half consists of new arrangements of earlier Hirasawa songs that he worked with in then recent times (neither of them had received a major release before the album), a situation somewhat similar to the composition of In a Model Room a decade earlier.
Production
Water in Time and Space carries over the mechanical, lo-fi sound from P-Model's One Pattern and the Monster material; Hirasawa brought over, besides his trademark Talbo guitars, some of the electronic equipment from P-Model.[4] The album set up the general production style of Hirasawa's early solo career. The release of the Korg M1, a synthesizer with a built-in sequencer, led to a shift in Hirasawa's production style; with the M1, Hirasawa could work out arrangements at home and then go in the studio to record non-electronic parts. Hirasawa is given a blanket "all instruments" credit.
Additional musicians were employed by Hirasawa to make the album, only two tracks were done by Hirasawa completely solo. Some of the musicians were long time friends of Hirasawa (such as Akiro "Kamio" Arishima), some of them were part of the underground scene that P-Model was a part of (such as Keralino "Kera" Sandorovich). Hirasawa also used organic string and chorus sections for some songs, for most of the others he used synthetic equivalents. Two of the featured musicians, Kazuhide "Kitune" Akimoto (former P-Model roadie & Amiga CG apprentice of Hirasawa; listed in the "Thanks" section as "Akimoto-kun") and Shingo Tomoda (drummer of the disbanded technopop band Shi-Shonen) became members of Hirasawa's solo backing band.
Artwork
The artwork of Water in Time and Space was done by Kiyoshi Inagaki, who had done some graphic work for P-Model and Shun. The design of Water in Time and Space set up some general design characteristics for Hirasawa's solo albums. Water in Time and Space is Hirasawa's first album where a photo of him was used for the cover, with the colors heavily manipulated; the symbol on the cover is Hirasawa's autograph, which makes various appearances through his works, being heavily prominent in the early stage of his solo career. The art is themed around water imagery. The photographs in the booklet feature Hirasawa wearing a suit jacket with a large black vertical stripe on the middle of the jacket, two smaller white stripes running between the large black one and the sleeves, and lack sleeves; popping out of the main stripe is a gaudily-patterned ascot; Hirasawa wore this in his 1989 shows.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Susumu Hirasawa, except "Root of Spirit", with titling by Toshiaki Minejima and string arrangement by Jun Miyake.
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Haldyn Hotel (ハルディン・ホテル Harudin Hoteru)" | 4:32 | |
| 2. | "Root of Spirit (魂のふる里 Tamashii no Furusato)" | 5:42 | |
| 3. | "Coyote (コヨーテ Koyōte)" | 4:48 | |
| 4. | "Solar Ray (ソーラ・レイ Sōra Rei)" | 3:08 | |
| 5. | "No Workshop (仕事場はタブー Shigotoba wa Tabū)" | 4:02 | |
| 6. | "Dune (デューン Dyūn)" | 4:36 | |
| 7. | "Frozen Beach (フローズン・ビーチ Furōzun Bīchi)" | 4:53 | |
| 8. | "Water in Time and Space (時空の水 Jikū no Mizu)" (instrumental) | 2:17 | |
| 9. | "Skeleton Coast Park (スケルトン・コースト公園 Sukeruton Kōsuto Kōen)" | 5:52 | |
| 10. | "Venus (金星 Kinsei)" | 3:17 |
Track information
- Haldyn Hotel
An Andean-influenced march with an intro composed of train sounds (similar to "Station to Station" and "Trans-Europe Express"), the "Haldyn Hotel" mentioned in the lyrics is said to have been a Psychiatric hospital that once existed in Peru; the song's lyrics also mention the city of Trujillo, and "Haldyn" is a Japanese phonetic way of saying "Jardín" (Spanish for "Garden"). A bit of the song's intro was used as the coda of "QUIT" from The Ghost in Science. Hirasawa would later do a similar technique with the song "Parade" (which is in a similar marching band style to "Haldyn Hotel") from his Byakkoya - White Tiger Field and Paprika albums, using the song "Monster a Go Go" from the unreleased P-Model album Monster.
- Remixed in 1991 by Masanori Chinzei (of Magnet Records, by then Hirasawa's stablemate engineer) as "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]". A slightly different mix of the studio version with the crumhorn parts from the bridge being used standalone as the new intro, as well as some instrumentation and chorus having a higher volume than the original mix. This version was released as the b-side to the "Bandiria Travellers [Physical Navigation Version]" single (whose a-side was included on Disc 1 of the HALDYN DOME box set, together with Water in Time and Space).
- A brief snippet of the song's intro melody was uploaded as a "Standerd [sic] MIDI file" (uploaded on hqx, LHA/lzh and au file formats) on Hirasawa's "Ghost Web" site in 1995.[5]
- A live version was included on the errorvideo/error CD album; featuring orchestral backing, seguing off the extended intro to roll call Hirasawa's live band at the end of "FGG" and a guitar solo replacing the crumhorn-led bridge. A version played on Hirasawa's PHONON2550 show in 2007 was included in the PHONON 2550 LIVE album and the PHONON 2550 VISION live video, once again with a new intro, this time piano-based with hi-fi synth percussion and a more prominent guitar solo; this release's performance was that of the original version, which Hirasawa hadn't played live since the Thai version's creation in 1995 (and the first time that the song had been played by Hirasawa live since 1999). Other live versions, from 1994, were included in the making of tokyo paranesian & HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower live videos. A version played on Hirasawa's PHONON2555 show in 2012 was included in the PHONON 2555 VISION live video; this version has a new intro, led by Hirasawa's updated synths & Hollywood Strings and featuring mostly live timpani and Misa Kitara-controlled Zeusaphone (showcasing the two guest performers).
- Rearranged in a Thai style for the SWITCHED-ON LOTUS memorial album, this version was also released as a free MP3 on Hirasawa's website;[6] other Thai versions of the song were played during the INTERACTIVE LIVE SHOW SIM CITY TOUR and Unreal Soprano - INTERACTIVE LIVE SHOW Vol.5 ~ SIREN shows, which were released in their respective home video releases.
- Root of Spirit
Originally released on the April 1988 CHARITY ORIGINAL TAPE BY SUSUMU HIRASAWA cassette book, a charity release of mediation music made to help out the Gunma-based "Human Earth - Awakening Village" (人間大地・めざめの里 Ningen Daichi・Mezame no Sato) psychological counseling facility (listed in the "Thanks" section as "Mezame no Sato") that Hirasawa frequented; the original version is different from this one and has never been re-released. The song is, similarly to Hirasawa's work on Berserk, inspired by the works of Carl Jung, who Hirasawa is deeply influenced by. It's also the ending theme to Showdown, the third and final episode of the Original video animation series Detonator Orgun, whose music was composed by Hirasawa, whose soundtrack album, Detonator Orgun 3, closed off with this track. It was used on a Suntory Old commercial;[7] the source of the main title of the 1992 best of album ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS, it was its only single, whose cover is a photo taken during the commercial's production.
- A live version of the song was released on the error live video, featuring prominent drum work.
- Covered by Hong Kong musician Danny Summer (Chinese: 夏韶聲) for the 1991 album Acid Rain (Chinese: 酸雨) with the title "Childhood Reverie" (Chinese: 童年夢想).[8] The cover samples the original's "bird chirping" rhythm while keeping the overall structure and vocal melody, however, the new string parts (arrangemed by Dominic Chow) have a traditional chinese feel to them, the vocals, sung in cantonese (the new lyrics were written by Richard Lam) and the guitar solo are completely different. Hirasawa has said that he might have not been paid his royalties,[9] but he has given Summer proper permission to do the cover.[10]
- Coyote
Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster, "Coyote" is a Western-style song, following on One Pattern's "Astro Notes". The song developed out of a country-style arrangement of the song "BOAT" (from the album "SCUBA", a snippet of the country version can be seen in the BITMAP 1979-1992 video).
- A slightly altered version of the guitar riff was used by Hirasawa for a "Teijin WOW" commercial (released on the Model House Works tape included with the first issue of "Moire Club").
- A live version, performed by P-Model, at a faster pace than the studio version, had been released on the The Physical Atlas Of Three Worlds video before the studio version.
- A live version, by Hirasawa and his live band, was released on the error CD album, it incorporated a carnivalesque merry-go-round-breakdown passage as its intro.
- Solar Ray
A sound collage-styled song, mixing "found" percussion with classical guitar work and symphonic backing, the vocal melody is in pentatonic scale. The only track to not feature guest musicians.
- A live version of this song, with a live orchestra and a backing band, was included on the error CD album.
- Remixed as SPECTRUM 2 TYPE, featuring more prominent percussion work, this remake was released as the b-side to the World Turbine single.
- Rerecorded in the P-Model kernel as Solar Ray 2 for the album SOLAR RAY Hirasawa best recycling album Recycled by P-MODEL kernel; it is the album's opening track and might have been the source for the album's title; this rerecording was Rearranged by Hirasawa during a surge of surplus solar power and released as Audio File to Honor the Hunter.[11]
- No Workshop
Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster. The chorus on the P-Model version of No Workshop had its backing vocals sung by P-Model bassist/keyboardist Teruo Nakano, the version on this album has Jun Togawa singing the backing vocals on the chorus. Hirasawa had intended for Togawa to sing in the planned Monster recording, using a Mountain Hag style performance. The song's arrangement incorporates percussive elements used by Hirasawa on Shun・4. The chorus vocals are yodels; this was Hirasawa's second yodelling song (the first is the Yasumi Tanaka-penned "anothersmell" from Potpourri), Hirasawa was a fan of the yodeler Andore Anī (アンドレ・アニー) and, around the time he was trying the make Monster, was listening the compilation Alps Yodel.
- It was performed live by P-Model, with the verse structures being different from the studio version, although not a single live version of their performance has been officially released, there are bootleg recording of the band performing this song.
- Live versions by Hirasawa and his live band were included in the making of tokyo paranesian, HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower and PHONON 2555 VISION videos and the error CD album. On the error ENGINE and 2555 versions, Togawa sings the parts she did on the album version (on the latter it's a sample of her performance from the album version activated by a MIDI-triggering laser harp), in the tokyo paranesian version, the members of Hirasawa's backing band sing backing vocals on some of the verses. The 2555 version features a new intro and guitar backing by PEVO 1go (using a modded "Alumini Clear" Talbo, while Hirasawa uses ICE-9).
- Dune
Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster. The song was never performed live, existing only as an instrumental demo under the provisory title Gen (げん). The solo recording, inspired by the SF-Fantasy series of novels of the same name, features the Amiga program "Say".
- A live version of the song, performed by Hirasawa and his live band, was included on the error CD album, another live version, performed by Hirasawa, Yasuhiro Araki and PEVO 1go was included in the PHONON 2555 VISION video.
- Frozen Beach
Originally released on the 1984 P-Model album/cassette book SCUBA, which had been issued on CD with a new mix a few months before Water in Time and Space's recording started, "Frozen Beach" was a P-Model concert staple, being the last song played before the encore of P-Model's last show.[12] The version on this album had fuller arrangement, with live drums; the sound of crashing waves in this song (which were also present in previous versions) segue into the next track. The theme of the trilogy is taken from the lyrics of this song.
- Live versions performed by P-Model were included on the MOIRE VISION and The Physical Atlas Of Three Worlds videos.
- A live version performed by Hirasawa was included in the PHONON 2550 VISION video (the first time that the song had been played live since 1994).
- A slightly altered version of the SCUBA version's lead synth melody was used by Hirasawa for a "Yamamoto Kansai Prêt-à-Porter" commercial (released on the Model House Works tape included with the first issue of "Moire Club").
- Water in Time and Space
A relaxing, short, simple and sparse instrumental, built around acoustic guitar and piano playing, unlike anything else that Hirasawa has ever done.
- Remixed as Water in Time and Space (Full Size), with reverb on the piano parts and its running length doubled. This version was released on Detonator Orgun 3, the soundtrack of the Detonator Orgun episode Showdown; included on Disc 9 of the HALDYN DOME box set, together with the original material of its parent album and the Glory Wars image EP.
- Covered by Ichiko Hashimoto when she appeared as a guest on a Susumu Hirasawa live show on 28 September 1989 in the Inkstick Shibuya Factory (the last show of Hirasawa's "Water in Time and Space Tour Part 2"); on this live show Hirasawa played Hashimoto's songs on guitar, while Hashimoto played Hirasawa's songs on piano.
- Skeleton Coast Park
A large-scale, epic style song, pointing to Virtual Rabbit and some of Hirasawa's later works.
- A live version of this song was included on the error CD album.
- Rearranged by Soft Ballet (Ryoichi Endo, Ken Morioka and Maki Fujii) for two shows with Hirasawa on vocals & guitar, as well as session/touring member Wataru Kamiryo on drums. This version has a more dance-oriented style, incorporated a short new section before the first pre-chorus and features Endo singing wordless chants.
- Another live version was included on the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower live video. The intro of this version, while it still retains the "coin roll" sample, has a completely different melody and uses narration from Fukō Project's "Fukō Part One".
- The song's guest vocals were later re-used by Hirasawa in a slowed-down version for the title track of the KAKU P-MODEL album Vistoron.
- Venus
An acoustic ballad which touches briefly on the concept of philosophy (In philosophy, Venus is associated with water and the ocean and is the guide through the fearful world of the unconscious,[13] sharing a similar thematic to the song's lyrics), which Hirasawa would later explore with Philosopher's Propeller. Used as an insert song in Pursuit, the second episode of Detonator Orgun; the track was included on Detonator Orgun 2, the soundtrack of that episode.
- Live versions were included on the error CD album, featuring an extended coda led by Kazutoki Umezu (created mostly so that Hirasawa would have time to change costumes mid-show) and the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Upper video, performed by Hirasawa solo.
- Rearranged in a symphonic, orchestral, string-oriented style as part of "The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS" project, this version was released on the Hen-Gen-Ji-Zai album, this version of the song had 5 sketches released by Hirasawa on the Kangen Shugi website as he worked on it.[14][15][16][17][18] This arrangement was later performed live and released on Tokyo I-jigen Kudou.
- Performed live on the "I3 DAYS'94 TOKYO & OSAKA" festival as a guest on Takanori "TAKA" Yamaguchi's solo live show (TAKA was Hirasawa's backing keyboardist at the time and Hirasawa produced and played guitar on his second solo album).
- Covered by Jun Togawa and Missa Fukuma (sister of P-Model member Hajime Fukuma).
Personnel
- Susumu Hirasawa - Vocals, Guitars (Classical and Electric Talbo), Crumhorn (on "Haldyn Hotel"), Bass (Aria Pro II), Timpani, Percussion, Synthesizers (Casio FZ-1, Korg M1), Drum machine (Yamaha RX-5), Sampler (Akai S900), Ozonotech Computer ("Say" program - Computer voice on "Dune"), Programming, Arrangements, Production[4]
- Additional musicians
- Minoru Yoshizawa - Crumhorn (credited as "Krumme Horn") on "Haldyn Hotel"
- Akiro "Kamio" Arishima, Masahiro Furukawa & Hisayuki Makanae - Chorus on "Haldyn Hotel"
- Kazuhide "Kitune" Akimoto & Michäel Saturnus - Chorus on "Haldyn Hotel" and "Coyote"
- Asuka Kaneko's Section - Strings (Violin, Cello, Viola, Contrabass)[4] on "Root of Spirit"
- Shingo Tomoda - Percussion on "Coyote", Drums on "Frozen Beach" and "Venus"
- Kazumi "KERA" Kobayashi - Chorus and Coyote Voice on "Coyote"
- Jun Togawa (courtesy of Teichiku Records) - Chorus on "No Workshop"
- Kayo "Kokubo" Matsumoto - Acoustic Piano on "Water in Time and Space"
- Tsuneo Imahori - Bass on "Skeleton Coast Park"
- Hiroshi Harada - Min'yō styled vocal on "Skeleton Coast Park"
- Production
- Yoshiaki Kondo (Gok Sound) - Recording & Mixing Engineer
- Shinichi Tomita (Mix), Nobuhiko Matsufuji (Mix), Atsushi Hattori (Mix), Masanori Ihara (Gold Rush Studio) and Yoshikatsu Takatori (Sound Inn) - Second Engineer
- Kiyoshi Inagaki - Art Direction
- Mado & Vincent - Photograph
- Akemi Tsujitani & Michiko Aoki - Styling
- Kazunori Yoshida - Hair & Make Up
- Mitsuo Nagano (for Octave) - Artist Management
- Mitsuru Hirose - Publicity Coordination
- Office Moving - Concert Coordination
- Kazuyoshi Aoki (Polydor Records.) - A&R
- Osamu Takeuchi (Polydor Records.) - Assistant
- Thanks: Yasumasa Mishima, Yumiko Ohno, Masaya Abe, Mezame no Sato, Kei Fukuchi, Akimoto-kun, Kazumi Sawaki, AC Unit, Ice Grey, Nobuyoshi Matsubara, Akira Ito, Aria, Casio, Signifie
Release history
| Date | Label(s) | Format | Catalog | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 1, 1989 | Polydor K.K. | CD | HOOP-20343 | |
| July 1, 2005 | Universal Music Japan, Universal Sigma | Digital Download | none | |
| February 29, 2012 | Chaos Union, Teslakite | CD | CHTE-0054 | Remastered by Masanori Chinzei. Part of Disc 1 of the HALDYN DOME box set, alongside "Solar Ray (SPECTRUM 2 TYPE)" and "Bandiria Travellers [physical navigation version]". |
| September 24, 2014 | Universal Music Japan | SHM-CD | UPCY-6909 | Part of Universal's "Project Archetype" (supervised by Osamu Takeuchi & Kasiko Takahasi). Remastered by Kenji Yoshino (supervised by Chinzei) with both original liner notes and new ones.[19] |
- "Haldyn Hotel", "Root of Spirit", "Coyote", "Frozen Beach" and "Venus" are included on the ADVANCED ROCK 3 promotional sampler.
- "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]", "Root of Spirit", "Skeleton Coast Park" and "Venus" are included on the Root of Spirit～ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS～ compilation.
- "Haldyn Hotel" (and "Fractal Terrain Track"), "Root of Spirit", "Solar Ray (SPECTRUM 2 TYPE)", "Frozen Beach", "Water in Time and Space (Full Size)" and "Venus" are included on the Archetype | 1989-1995 Polydor years of Hirasawa compilation.
References
- ↑ Moire Club (in Japanese) (Model House) 4. 1987. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "キミの祖母細胞はステージ上から土足で踏み入られたか?". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ "平沢博物苑 : 書籍・ブックレット・公式ファンクラブ会報". 平沢博物苑 (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 November 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "奇跡のスキマに...: 平沢 進 - 新讃インタビュー". バンドやろうぜ (Let's Start a Band) (in Japanese) (Takarajimasha) (9). September 1989.
- ↑ "Everything is Unlocked! You can pick them up anytime.".
- ↑ "NO ROOM - HALDYN HOTEL - Downloads". TESLAKITE FREE MP3s. Chaos Union.
- ↑ "【CM 1992】SUNTORY OLD 30秒".
- ↑ "童年夢想 - 夏韶聲".
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ "ハンターを称える音声ファイル". Hirasawa Energy Works. Chaos Union.
- ↑ "P-MODEL Live Data 1987-1988". MODEROOM. Fascination, inc.
- ↑ Gillabel, Dirk. "Alchemy 2, Nigredo, Albedo and Rubedo". House of the Sun. Soul Guidance. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「金星」スケッチ １". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「金星」スケッチ ２". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「金星」スケッチ 3". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「金星」スケッチ 4". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu. "「金星」スケッチ 5". The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS. Chaos Union.
- ↑ Takeuchi, Osamu. "wilsonic works 41". wilsonic journal. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
External links
- Water in Time and Space at NO ROOM - The official site of Susumu Hirasawa (P-MODEL)
- 時空の水 at MusicBrainz
- 時空の水 at iTunes Japan
- 時空の水 at amazon.co.jp
- 時空の水 at Universal Music Japan's official site
- 時空の水 at Tower Records Online
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