CASIOPEA — Casiopea (review)

CASIOPEA — Casiopea album cover Album · 1979 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
dreadpirateroberts
Casiopea do fairly slick fusion that can get spacey but is mostly funk-influenced. Their first album includes a horn section on several songs, and even strings at times, but the chief focus is on the guitar of leader Issei Noro and the keys of Minoru Mukaiya, both which spend as much time establishing texture, working on riffs and melody as they do soloing or digging into anything tangled. But that’s not a weakness, the accessibility and melody are nice features, and it’s also not to say there are no solos at all. ‘Swallow’ for instance has some great solos from both players, and in fact, I’m reminded of Al Di Meola at times.

I do feel like this is a good album rather than an essential release. It’s got a nice amount of punch from the bursts of lockstep playing or up-tempo numbers like ‘Black Joke’ or ‘Space Road’ and contrasts this with cruising moments, even including a nice ballad of sorts, in ‘Tears of the Stars’ where Noro brings out the acoustic guitar. Opener ‘Time Limit’ is great, but my favourite piece is probably the fantastic ‘Midnight Rendezvous.’ Not every song is as distinctive as some of those mentioned, and at times the album seems ‘safe’ and I found myself wondering what Casiopea would sound like if they approached some of the pieces in a less composed manner. (I ought to check out some live tracks and do a bit of a comparison.)

At a production level, the ultra crisp and reasonably trebly bass sound does date the album a little, it has a bit of an 1980s feel that doesn’t sit all that well with me, but this is nitpicking to some extent. Because it doesn’t truly detract from the better compositions, and probably my chief concern is with the overall slickness of the songs, both in terms of sound and composition, which is clear from first listen.

Casiopea were one of the most durable fusion bands from Japan, releasing over thirty albums in their career, and this is certainly an impressive debut, even if I don’t think it’s essential. It’s still a good album and would probably work as a fitting (and logical) introduction to the band, so slowly, I'm going to dig into the rest of their discography.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Nebbia. Salvo, Alarcón, Vogel : Pnkstrasse53 Avant-Garde Jazz
CAMILA NEBBIA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Wunderkammer Jazz Related Improv/Composition
JAN BANG
Buy this album from MMA partners
Moving On Eclectic Fusion
ETERNAL TRIANGLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Gravity Fusion
ETERNAL TRIANGLE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Samuel Blaser / Marc Ducret / Peter Bruun : Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground Avant-Garde Jazz
SAMUEL BLASER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

1+1=3
FLORIAN WEISS
js· 2 days ago
Bright Diminishing
HENNING SIEVERTS
js· 2 days ago
Tension
MULATU ASTATKE
js· 2 days ago
NRG 2 -The Future's Ours -Chiminyo + James Mollison, Axel Kaner-Lidstrom, David Mrakpor, Wonky Logic
CHIMINYO
js· 2 days ago
Jonathan Scales Fourchestra - The Trap [Official Video]
JONATHAN SCALES
js· 2 days ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed