{"title":"Happy End","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"happy-end-2","title":"Happy End","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe legendary band Happy End, consisting of Haruomi Hosono, Eiichi Otaki, Takashi Matsumoto, and Shigeru Suzuki, is indispensable in the history of J-pop.  Their last album, \u003ci\u003eHappy End\u003c\/i\u003e, released in 1973, was recorded at Sunset Sound Recorders Studios in Los Angeles, and has gained worldwide support beyond  national borders and generations as a work that offers a glimpse into the musicality of each member at the time, which led to their subsequent solo activities.     This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original release, and on the occasion of Black Friday the album is being reissued in a limited-edition, heavy-duty LP  format as the \"50th Anniversary Edition,\" complete with the original jacket and inner sleeve design.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"King Records","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50390534062411,"sku":"2052765","price":47.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/image003_8ffce549_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726391940"},{"product_id":"machikaze-roman","title":"Machikaze Roman","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2007, Rolling Stone Japan declared Happy End’s \u003ci\u003eKazemachi Roman\u003c\/i\u003e to be the greatest Japanese rock album of all time. For a band that can boast such an accolade, Happy End still isn’t all that well-known in the West. If you’re a hardcore J-rock fan, you probably think Happy End aren’t as interesting or cool as noisier artists from the 1970s like, say, Flower Travellin’ Band. Today Happy End are celebrated in Japan, yet Kazemachi Roman sold fewer than 10,000 copies the year it was released, and it’s still not available on streaming services. By this point, Happy End should be as documented and famous as Love or even Os Mutantes, but they are rarely if ever mentioned in the same breath. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e When Happy End first formed in Tokyo in late 1969, the Beatles were basically kaput, which should give you an idea of how much had already happened in Western popular music. In Japan, pop music transformed more slowly, to some degree because it was constantly being measured against the West.  Aside from fringe experimental psychedelic outfits like Speed, Glue \u0026amp; Shinki and Les Rallizes Dénudés, Japanese countercultural pop music in the mid-to-late ’60s was largely divided into two camps. On one side were “Group Sounds” acts, basically the Japanese equivalent of bands you’d find in the Nuggets box set; they combined skunky garage rock with kayōkyoku, a mix of Western scales and traditional Japanese music. The other faction was folk, either “campus folk” amateurs trying to reconstruct mid-’60s West Coast coffeehouses, min’yo artists attempting to re-create indigenous and traditional Japanese music, or unvarnished protest folk in the vein of early Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Language was another demarcation: Group Sounds bands would often sing or perform covers in English, on some level in the hopes of appealing to American listeners, while folk acts sang in Japanese, a purposeful act of resistance toward U.S. cultural dominance.  The members of Happy End weren’t interested in either side, let alone the debate itself. Actually, they thought it was all pretty lame. Guitarist Shigeru Suzuki puts it bluntly in a 2014 documentary for the Japanese TV station NHK BS Premium: “Honestly, I thought Group Sounds was pretty boring. In the end, it was just an extension of the traditional Japanese ballad. The folk musicians had good melodies, but … their rhythms were just boring.” At heart, Happy End felt that in trying so hard to either win over America or defy it, both sides were defined by their relationship to the West. The message of rock’n’roll might be universal, but the music is inescapably Western; you had to bring Japan to rock’n’roll, rather than try to force rock’n’roll to be Japanese. Pitchfork.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Japan","offers":[{"title":"Clear LP","offer_id":50426387398987,"sku":"2171367","price":49.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/image001_5cecab41_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726808697"},{"product_id":"happy-end-3","title":"Happy End","description":"\u003cp\u003eHappy End's eponymous debut is a crucial piece of the J-Rock puzzle and a turning point for Japanese music. Originally released in 1970 on URC (Underground Record Club), Happy End finds creative mastermind Haruomi Hosono aborting the short-lived psychedelic rock project Apryl Fool, for a new direction in sound. Here the future YMO head teams up with former Apryl Fool drummer Takashi \"Rei\" Matsumoto and two new guitarists, Shigeru Suzuki and Eiichi Ohtaki, to deliver pioneering Japanese folk rock that remains influential in Japan to this day. While rock music certainly existed in Japan previous to this album's release, it was almost always sung in English. Happy End changed this and sparked what is known as the \"Japanese-language Rock Controversy\" - a series of high profile debates on if Japanese rock music sung in Japanese would be sustainable. This album's success (and the follow-up Kazemachi Roman) proved the sustainability of rock in Nihongo, and gave the world two brilliant slices of fuzzy J-folk in the process.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Survival Research","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50434474279243,"sku":"2119377","price":21.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/0637913544583_63d5e8e2_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726889807"},{"product_id":"kazemachi-roman-2","title":"Kazemachi Roman","description":"\u003cp\u003eA-Wind\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. Dakishimetai\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. Sorairo no Crayon\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. Kaze wo Atsumete\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4. Kurayamisaka Musasabi Henka\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e5. Haikara Hakuchi\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e6. Haikara Beautiful\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eB-Street\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. Natsu Nandesu\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e2. Hana Ichimonme\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3. Ashita Tenki ni Naare\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e4. Taifuu\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e5. Haru Ranman\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e6. Aiueo\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Great Tracks","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50922928374091,"sku":"2235009","price":54.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed_-_2024-12-03T113855.509_c350f047_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1733228055"},{"product_id":"happy-end-5","title":"Happy End","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe original release of YMO's second album dates back to September 25, 1979. Featuring hit singles such as \"RYDEEN\" and \"TECHNOPOLIS,\" along with \"BEHIND THE MASK,\" later covered by Eric Clapton and Michael Jackson, the album sparked a technopop boom that became a cultural phenomenon. The members' red Mao-style costumes and techno-cut hairstyles depicted on the album cover garnered attention for their fashion-forwardness, turning YMO into icons of the era. Spanning into 1980, the album topped both the Oricon weekly and annual album rankings and won the Best Album Award at the Japan Record Awards, becoming a million-seller. To this day, it stands as a legendary album in the history of Japanese rock and pop music.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Great Tracks","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50923013407051,"sku":"2235006","price":54.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed_-_2024-12-03T113400.792_d6ac74ba_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1733229771"},{"product_id":"happy-end","title":"Happy End","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHappy End’s first album, the timeless masterpiece “Happy End” released on heavy weight 180g vinyl for the first time! Latest 2024 cutting from the original master. Pressed at Sony’s Shizuoka factory.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Sony Japan","offers":[{"title":"LP - Black","offer_id":53546759160139,"sku":"2235006","price":39.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/Screenshot2025-10-06at11.09.58PM.png?v=1759806646"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/happy-end.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}