{"title":"Osamu Kitajima","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"benzaiten-2","title":"Benzaiten","description":"\u003cp\u003eWorld music and ethno sounds with an obvious Japanese origin meet progressive rock and psyche. The result is a captivating piece of melodic and deeply atmospheric music that paints pictures of life in ancient Japan into your mind when you lay back, close your eyes and listen closely with your thoughts turned off. If PINK FLOYD were Japanese their music might have sounded like that. The frequency of the arrangements on „Benzaiten“ reminds of what our English heroes have created in the early to mid 70s just with a different ethnical approach. „Benzaiten“ is even a more progressive effort than anything most British bands have ever managed to fabricate and still utterly natural and vivid concerning the flow of the music. All participating musicians here are professionals and their performances are tight and still passionate. The sound is warm and vivid, the song structures are wide open and welcome you to slip inside. East meets West on this record and Osamu Kitajima and his companions really grab you by the soul. Electronic elements in the percussion section add some oddity to the whole musical picture. Not sure what Osamu Kitajima and his band intended when they recorded this record but I am certain they achieved it. The cool aspect of „Benzaiten“ is the rocking guitar which keeps the whole album together. Must be the Japanese pendant to German acts like AMON DÜÜL II, EMBRYO and GURU GURU. Well, there is definitely some truth in this comparison. Anyway, this album will enchant you!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Everland","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50428950053195,"sku":"2174523","price":32.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/getImage_56_db825e42_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1726836576"},{"product_id":"beyond-the-circle","title":"Beyond The Circle","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn official re-issue of the 1996 album, Beyond the Circle, from Dr. Osamu Kitajima presented by Forest Jams on vinyl for the first time.As the title suggests, Japanese music explorer Osamu Kitajima takes the listener beyond the known on a musical voyage into new territory where his compositions are a synthesis of Western electronics and ambient dance rhythms, tempered by the wisdom of ancient Japanese traditions. \"Beyond the Circle\" is music that is as energizing as it is spiritual and melodic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"No Label","offers":[{"title":"Black LP","offer_id":50447039562059,"sku":"2186555","price":34.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/unnamed_18_00a5acec_thumbnail_4096.png?v=1727069430"},{"product_id":"the-osamu-kitajima-boxset","title":"The Osamu Kitajima Boxset","description":"\u003cp\u003eEverland Music will release a mind-blowing, strictly limited and hand numbered boxset with Osamu Kitajima's first 5 highly acclaimed and super-rare albums, as well as separately from the box a very special leather-look edition of Osamu's famous “Justin Heathcliff“ LP from 1971. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll 6 albums are taken from the original masters, provided by Mr. Kitajima himself. All LPs come in embossed, coated and hot-foil printed super-heavy 1200g\/m2 carton covers. The 5 LPs will be housed in a beautiful box with magnetic lock, the box will also contain all inserts of the original LPs. The 5 CD boxset will contain the 5 albums as high quality digipak editions.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOsamu Kitajima was born in Chigasaki, Japan on February 3rd 1949 and studied classical guitar and piano already in his childhood days. Later on in the 1960s, when Beat and Rock music became the hot stuff in the popular music circuit, he joined his cousin's band \"The Launchers\" with his brother, before graduating from university. Osamu's cousin, Yūzō Kayama, is a famous Japanese film actor and musician. In 1971, when Osamu was already a successful composer of TV advertising jingles, he moved to England for a year and developed an obsession for British Rock music, especially in the Psychedelic field. The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple and The Zombies became his major influences and inspired him to start a solo career under the name JUSTIN HEATHCLIFF, which he adopted for it’s typical English sound. His 1971 eponymous album was a typical Pop Psyche effort for its time, but not long after he returned home to Japan, Osamu abandoned the English sounding name and further on merged Western Progressive and Electronic music with Japanese Folk sounds. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eShinchugoku (1972) This is a beautiful early 1970s Psychedelic Folk Rock effort, on which Osamu Kitajima cooperated with Fumio Miyashita (aka FAR OUT) and members of the very popular FAR EAST FAMILY BAND, to create a bunch of mind altering colourful tunes with a mellow, yet intense approach. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBenzaiten (1976) This album is called his masterpiece by many aficionados of 1970s Progressive Rock, with its mixture of haunting Japanese Folk elements and skilfully played spacey Rock music that takes you on a spiritual journey to the centre of your mind. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOsamu (1977) His third album marks another change in direction. Still Japanese elements and some haunting melodic Space Rock elements flow gently into another, but by incorporating Jazz, Funk and even Reggae, Osamu broadens the whole musical colour palette by far. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMasterless Samurai (1980) Osamu completely abandons the Space Rock aspects here and takes a turn into Jazz-rock with a Progressive edge, that he still combines with these totally exotic sounding Japanese Folk elements. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDragon King (1981) The step from Masterless Samurai to Dragon King has not been such a big one as it has been with the albums before. We experience a softer version of Osamu’s jazz-rock \/ Japanese Folk Fusion, that often even shows Soul Pop aspects, typical for it’s time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Everland","offers":[{"title":"CD | x5","offer_id":50449152999755,"sku":"1064840","price":74.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/de\/collections\/osamu-kitajima.oembed","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}