The 1970s attempt at turning an English folk band from Japan into the next Beatles: the Japanese invasion?
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What can one find on a strange bootleg from Thailand? The Byrds? The Grateful Dead? Pink Floyd? How about the New Frontiers? More akin to the Kingston Trio and the the Brothers Four... EAST (usually written as "EAST") was an interesting Japanese obscurity that briefly emerged in California in 1972. One of those psychedelic footnotes of rock music that tells more from its existence than the music it produced (though that is a forgotten tale too). "EAST" was a identity branded and manufactured in the United States to sell a group that had much more talent than just being a cut-and-dry product to be sold in the United States. "EAST" emerged from a talented medley of folk players that had their roots in 1960s folk music in Japan. Interestingly, they were more influenced by English folk music from California rather than the Japanese folk music of the time. Unfortunately, "The New Frontiers" often found themselves sidelined in both the 1960s with a missed appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and then against with that singular, strange album "EAST" (1972) on Capitol Records in the 1970s. Their talents were strong, their personalities robust, but their songs were odd... Was EAST an obscure gem of Asia or little more than music magazine copy?
The formation of the New Frontiers that became "EAST" featured: Ruese (Ryusuke) Seto, Noboru Asahi, Ted (Chuei) Yoshikawa, Gen Morita, and Fumio Adachi. The multiple personalities in the group would go to have on-and-off successful single careers of their own in Japan. There were collaborations with Yellow Magic Orchestra, successful ambient and jazz albums of their own, and even global popularity for the New Frontiers as a folk band. The United States though? The United States was always another what-could-have-been to the New Frontiers and East. The sun simply never rose on that "EAST". Fifty years is a long time for meditation over a strange album that barely breached the charts: "Geese on the Road", "Beautiful Morning", "Deaf Eyed Julie", a "Jar", and even the misspelling "Shin-Sorllan" (Soran Bushi).
So why did a Japanese folk band try to go psychedelic in the United States?
#japanesemusic - #rockhistory - #psychedelic
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- Intro Animation by Scott Luís Masson/SLM Illustration: https://slmillustration.com/ / Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/slm_illustration/ / Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ScottLMasson
- Intro Music by Ben Elliott: https://twitter.com/BenElliottSound
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