Made in Japan (Flower Travellin' Band album)

Made In Japan is the third album by Japanese rock band Flower Travellin' Band, released in 1972.[1]

Made in Japan
Studio album by Flower Travellin' Band
Released	February 10, 1972
Recorded	Canada
Genre	Progressive rock
Length	34:59
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Yuya Uchida, Ikuzo Orita, Paul Hoffert
Flower Travellin' Band chronology
Satori (1971) Made in Japan (1972) Make Up (1973)

Production

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.[2]

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.[2] The song "Hiroshima" is a re-imagining of "Satori Part III" from their previous album Satori.[3] 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.[4]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]

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.[5] Although he felt it inconsistent, Rivadavia called the album "pretty darn good!" and gave it a 3.5 star rating out of 5.[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Hideki Ishima and Yoko Nomuro, except track 7, by Ishima, Nomuro and Joe Yamanaka.

Side A

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Introduction" (advertisement for a concert)	0:27
2.	"Unaware"	5:51
3.	"Aw Give Me Air"	3:20
4.	"Kamikaze"	4:16
5.	"Hiroshima"	5:13

Side B

No.	Title	Length
6.	"Spasms"	5:23
7.	"Heaven and Hell"	3:50
8.	"That's All"	6:39

Credits

• Joe Yamanaka – vocals
• Hideki Ishima – guitar, sitar
• Jun Kozuki – bass
• Joji Wada – drums
• Paul Devon – drums
• Yoko Nomura – lyrics
• Flower Travellin' Band – arrangement
• Ikuzo Orita – producer
• Paul Hoffert – producer
• Yuya Uchida – producer
• Gilbert Kong – mixing
• Kiyoshi Sunamori – artwork
• Yoshio Niwano – artwork
• David Ohashi – photography
• Toyo Nakamura – liner notes
• John & Yoko Nomura – supervision

References

1. "FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND // フラワー・トラヴェリン・バンド". Flowertravellingband.com. 2008-09-17. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
2. "We just stopped, took a break. It turned out to be for 36 years!". jrawk.com. Archived from the original on 2009-01-01. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
3. "Made in Japan - The Flower Travellin' Band". Allmusic. Retrieved 2016-03-20.
4. "VA ／ FLOWER TRAVELLIN'BAND tribute [CD] [アルバム] - CDJournal.com". Artist.cdjournal.com. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
5. "Flower Travellin' Band - Made in Japanese". Dusted. Retrieved 2016-03-20.