Have you ever listened to an album that felt like a piece of history? Maybe it's that acclaimed album everyone already knows that you finally got around to listening to? Or maybe it's just some hidden gem that you discovered? There's a small handful of albums that feel like relics of another age. You can't exactly put music albums in a museum (well technically you can...), but if you could, those sorts of albums that are historical landmarks would easily find a spot. In 1974, a band named 四人囃子 (Yonin Bayashi) released their debut album, 一触即発 (Isshoku Sokuhatsu). They had actually previously released a soundtrack for a TV show at the time, but Isshoku Sokuhatsu was their first, true mature work. This album marks one of the earliest and best examples of Japanese progressive rock.
Of course, there were already multiple entries to the progressive rock canon by 1974, but hey Isshoku Sokuhatsu came out before Neil Peart joined Rush so it was still in the early days of the genre. In terms of Japanese rock, there's a handful of earlier examples of proggy rock (like Flower Travellin' Band of course), but Isshoku Sokuhatsu is probably the first "pure" 70s-style progressive rock album from Japan. Guitarist and vocalist, Katsutoshi Morizono, has some Pink Floyd-sounding guitarwork at times, but trying to attach any more influences beyond that is doing them a disservice. Yonin Bayashi was highly unique, and Isshoku Sokuhatsu is unquestionably a landmark in Japanese rock history.
The album has a bit of a dramatic opening with the first track, but much of it is playful and light-hearted in spirit. The succeeding song, 空と雲, sets the mood with its lofty chorus and accompanying guitar leads. But of course, this is a progressive rock album so the real fun begins with the epics. The first of these is the ludicrously titled おまつり（やっぱりおまつりのある街へ行ったら泣いてしまった）. It is the lesser of the two big tracks on the album, but over time I learned to appreciate its subtleties and greatness. It's very much a bona fide progressive rock song featuring long extended structures and instrumental breaks. おまつり begins softly with a gorgeous guitar solo from Morizono, but overall it acts like one big crescendo. Near the middle, heavier guitars start to kick in and the song ends in an unusual manner on a completely new theme.
The real masterpiece, of course, is the self-titled track 一触即発. It's nothing less than 12 minutes of pure 70s prog rock greatness. I consider to be no less than one of the very best from that era (there's no shortage of competition there). The songwriting is basically flawless as essentially every portion of the song grips you from start to finish. The opening thrills you with the intense heaviness and the guitar solo. The part with the keyboard melody and drum fills at the end of the intro will be stuck in your head for days. The chorus of the song is ludicrously catchy and even pretty easy to sing along to despite the language. There's multiple extended instrumental breaks showcasing lots of interesting ideas that take the song to new places. One common criticism of long progressive rock songs is that sections sometimes feel randomly tacked together with no cohesion or flow. 一触即発 doesn't suffer from this. Every idea is logically developed and ties together perfectly. The callback to the intro section at the end is the perfect icing on top that closes out the song in the best way possible.
Now technically the album originally ended after ピンポン玉の嘆き, basically a long outro, but practically every copy has a couple of extra bonus songs from a later single tagged on the end. Both of these are worthwhile entries (and notably Masahide Sakuma joined on bass at that time). 空飛ぶ円盤に弟が乗ったよ is a fun, lighthearted romp that amusingly features a fairly early example of the well-known dual-guitar lead/solo. ブエンディア is another outro-type song with a bit of a laid-back jazzy feel to it pleasantly closes the album for good.
The band, of course, would release other good albums later in their career, but Isshoku Sokuhatsu is probably their most well known work as well as their best release. It's not hard to understand why. This album is just pure, quality 70s progressive rock at its absolute best. Keyboardist Hidemi Sakashita sadly passed away about a couple of weeks ago leaving only 2 surviving members of the original lineup, but without question Yonin Bayashi left their mark in music history. The people behind the music may eventually leave us, but the songs they created will always live on.
Rating: 95/100