Nippon Guitars

Guitarist Takeshi Terauchi has done many recordings in numerous styles since the late 50s, though he is not well known outside of his native Japan. This 25-track compilation, on a British label with lengthy English liner notes, focuses on the part of his discography most apt to interest international collectors. In accordance with its title, its mostly instrumental rock, with debts to surf music and psychedelia. As befits a Japanese artist, however, the Ventures (massively popular in Japan) are the overseas band with which it will be most readily compared, though Terauchi denies that he was influenced by them. However, his records certainly have a Ventures-like bent toward moody melodies and tight arrangements to create a lean yet dark atmosphere. While there arent songs here as catchy as the Ventures biggest hits, Terauchi is a little wilder and edgier in his guitar work, often employing effective (and sometimes freaky) fuzz and distortion. Too, his tunes often have a distinctive Japanese flavor not to be found in the work of the Ventures or other major American and British instrumental guitar groups, sometimes adapting traditional Japanese folk songs. Though Terauchi was a frontman (of the Blue Jeans and the Bunnys on the tracks here) and not simply a lead guitarist in a band, hes complemented by some other fine guitarists on these cuts, as well as, at least some of the time, suitably creepy organ. You probably have to be a fan of Ventures-like instrumental rock, or at least 60s guitar instrumental rock in general, to really get knocked out by so much of this stuff at once. If you do dig that heavily, though, theres plenty to chew on here, and the tracks from the early to mid-70s have a retro feel (whether echoing back to surf and psychedelia or a combination of the two) that makes them sound more like mid- to late-60s recordings to Western listeners. The closing "Tsugaru Eleki Bushi" in particular is a tour de force of updated surf-style picking, and the one vocal track, "Summer Boogaloo," is actually a real cool slab of garage-psychedelia-sounding music. ~ Richie Unterberger