Flower Travellin' Band - Satori (Import Vinyl LP) * * *

Originally issued by Atlantic Records in Japan in 1971, the Flower Travellin' Band's second album Satori is a conceptual hard rock/psych offering driven by Hideki Ishima's furious guitar licks which erupt and explode over the harmonic heart beat of the drums and bass. Yamanaka's banshee-like vocal style turned him into an occidental Iggy Pop or Robert Plant while the band itself was rapidly becoming Japan's answer to Led Zeppelin. Satori is a huge album in every way. From power chords to Eastern-tinged North African six-string freak-outs and crashing tom-toms, the band flexes its collective muscle from start to finish. In short, this is a real rock classic of the type they simply don't make any more!