Stomu Yamashta - Go Too

Japanese percussionist drums up support from heavy friends

Successive generations may well marvel at just what intoxicatingly strange times the mid-to-late 70s were. Just as the punk explosion was reminding everyone of the visceral thrill of first principles, projects such as Stomu Yamashta’s Go were, unthinkably, still commonplace. Jazz meets the avant-garde at the disco? Sure, why the hell not.

Yamashta, scion of the Japan National Symphonic Orchestra, had built up sufficient reputation as percussionist, composer and bandleader by 1976 that he was able to call upon the services of first-stringers Steve Winwood, Al Di Meola, Michael Shrieve and Klaus Schulze, forming Go – one of the unlikelier supergroups of the era.

Go Too saw Winwood’s departure but the arrival of criminally overlooked ex-Alan Bown Set vocalist Jess Roden and the ironically unsung Linda Lewis – utilising all five octaves of her extraordinary range to stratospheric effect on Madness. In truth, the album is a bizarre but generally pleasing combination of contrasting elements, ranging from the plangent balladry of Mysteries Of Love to the oblique Zappa harmonies and logicdefying Di Meola guitar solo which fuel Seen You Before. The jittery lockstep funk of Wheels Of Fortune, meanwhile, betrays an eternity worshipping at the altar of Tower Of Power.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Esoteric | ECLEC 2151

Reviewed by Marco Rossi
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