FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND - KIAMIKAZE

KAMIKAZE

FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND

SONGWRITERS: HIDEKI ISHIMA & YOKO NOMURO

COUNTRY: JAPAN

ALBUM: MADE IN JAPAN

LABEL: ATLANTIC

GENRE: PROGRESSIVE ROCK

YEAR:1972

Flower Travellin' Band are an esoteric psychedelic rock / heavy metal outfit from Tokyo, Japan, first active from 1969 and early 1970s until 1973, consisting of Akira "Joe" Yamanaka (vocals), Hideki Ishima (guitar), Joji "George" Wada (drums) and Jun Kozuki (bass). As of January 12th, 2008 they have officially reunited. The band was initially organized by Japanese entertainer and entrepreneur Yuya Uchida as The Flowers, a cover band, and featured two vocalists - male vocalist Yuya Uchida, and female vocalist Remi Aso, who was touted as the Japanese version of Janis Joplin.

Made In Japan is the third album by Japanese rock band Flower Travellin' Band, released in 1972.

After meeting Lighthouse at the Expo '70 festival in Osaka, Flower Travellin' Band were invited to visit Canada. While there, the group recorded Made in Japan with Lighthouse keyboardist Paul Hoffert helping produce. Vocalist Joe Yamanaka later stated that the process was very easy, with everything flowing well.

Due to George Wada becoming ill with tuberculosis, Canadian drummer Paul Devon plays on some tracks on this album. The lyrics were written by Yoko Nomura, the wife of the band's manager, who translated conversations she had with the group and their ideas into English. "Heaven and Hell" was written by Yamanaka in Japanese and she translated it. The song "Hiroshima" is a re-imagining of "Satori Part III" from their previous album Satori. The introductory first track is an advertisement for a concert at Stanley Park Stadium by Flower Travellin' Band, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Bob Seger and Teegarden & Van Winkle, with a clip of "Lucky Man" playing in the background.

"Hiroshima", "Heaven and Hell" and "Aw Give Me Air" were covered by Cult of Personality, 9, and punk band Pulling Teeth respectively, for the 2000 Flower Travellin' Band Tribute album.

Both Mason Jones of Dusted magazine and Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic claimed that following Satori was a difficult task and that Made in Japan was "doomed to fall short of expectations," respectively. Both reviewers also cited the same three songs, "Kamikaze", "Hiroshima" and "Spasms", as the highlights and being on par with the band's best work. Although he felt it inconsistent, Rivadavia called the album "pretty darn good!" and gave it a 3.5 star rating out of 5. 

The princess in her flower bed

Pulled the jungle underground

Where cherry bombs stained the blackbirds red

And explosions never make a sound

Oh comet, come down

Kamikaze over me

And I come alive

My midnight melody

Oh comet, come down

My captain on a snowy horse

Is coming back to take me home

He's coming back to take me home

I'm finally fighting back a terrible force

'Cause I'm not afraid to die alone

Oh comet, come down

Kamikaze over me

And I come alive

My midnight melody

Oh comet, come down

Break down the open road

Maybe I’ll ride

And fight back the over tow

To save my life

Bring in the amber glow

Maybe I’ll fly

And go where you wanna go

With your eagle eye

Break down the open road

Maybe I’ll ride

And go where you wanna go

With your eagle eye

Break down the open road

Maybe I'll ride

And fight back the overthrow

To save my life

Bring in the amber glow

Maybe I'll fly

And go where you wanna go

With your eagle eye 

Eagle eye, eagle eye

Eagle eye, eagle eye

Eagle eye, eagle eye

Eagle eye, eagle eye

Eagle eye, eagle eye

Eagle eye, eagle eye.