V/A: Far East New Rock Invention 1969-1975 [180G]

Why you'll love it

This 180g LP comes from fully licensed Nippon Columbia masters, cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab in Helsinki and housed in a reverse board sleeve. Sally Kubota compiled it and wrote track-by-track liner notes.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Licensed from the original Nippon Columbia masters
• Cut at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki
• Reverse board jacket
• Track-by-track liner notes

About the album

Around 1968, Japanese record labels started selling the heavier Western rock coming over the water as "New Rock," and a few local musicians took the hint rather personally. Yuya Uchida had heard the European scene in 1967 and came home to form The Flowers, a band with a steel guitar pushed through wah and fuzz; by 1970 they had become Flower Travellin' Band. In 1972 Nippon Columbia launched Propeller, its first dedicated rock and folk label, and jazz players started plugging in too.

This set follows that thread across nine tracks. Hideki Ishima opens with the long, searching "Depending By The Time," Far East Family Band drift in with "Birds Flying To The Cave Down To The Earth," and Flower Travellin' Band team up with the Terumasa Hino Quintet for "Dhoop," where rock and jazz meet halfway. Bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, who later played in Free and Faces, turns up with "Wiki Wiki," Kimio Mizutani & The Better take on "I Wanna Be Your Man," and Yuya Uchida & The Flowers close it out with "Summertime."

Many of these records have since become prized classics on the rare groove scene. This one arrives with the notes already written, which saves you learning the catalogue numbers off by heart.

Also at Kops: more Far East New Rock Invention on vinyl · browse World

Tracklist

Listen

On 180g, a reissue of the 2026 compilation.